When you are no longer able to turn to alcohol or drugs to alter your mood, at times you may feel like you are being swallowed up by bad feelings. In sobriety, negative feelings can quickly grow in intensity and feel like they are consuming you. A negative attitude can show up as road rage…
There are many types of mindfulness practice. Some are meditative and draw on traditional practices such as transcendental meditation, Zen Buddhist meditation, yogic meditation, and the walking meditation popularized by the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Some types of mindfulness practices are task-oriented and rooted in daily life. Mindfulness teachers urge their students to instill…
“Change is inevitable, change is constant.” — Benjamin Disraeli Humans never stop changing — which means we never stop coping with change. From the moment we’re born, we must learn to adapt to our environment in order to live and thrive, often without even being conscious of this instinct. By the time we’re old enough…
Going to rehab for addiction is an important step in learning to live a sober life, one that is satisfying and full without drugs or alcohol. In rehab you will learn how to let go of your addiction, how to dig deep inside and find your motivations for abusing substances and how to move past…
This is the first in a two-part series. In many addiction recovery programs, regular physical exercise is considered to be a top line behavior. Extensive research in exercise physiology demonstrates that exercise helps alleviate stress, increases a sense of well-being and boosts self-confidence. In recent years, addiction treatment centers, addiction therapists and addiction experts have…
As the song goes, “We all need somebody to lean on.” This is especially true when it comes to recovery. You cannot go it alone. Beating addiction is one of the most important things you will ever do for yourself and your family in your lifetime. But once you place yourself on the path of…
In 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, each of the 12 steps contains words such as “we,” “us” and “ourselves.” These words help to remind each individual in the program that recovery is not a solo journey and that together we can do what none of us can do alone. In order…
The prospect of dating as a recovering addict is daunting. In the past you relied on drugs or alcohol so much that meeting and getting to know someone while sober must feel like a foreign experience. You might lack confidence when you’re sober or worry that no one will want to get to know you…
If you are a recovering drug addict and single, you will probably eventually consider dating other addicts. At meetings, you come across a wide assortment of people, and some may seem pretty interesting or attractive. Before you jump in head first, you may want to consider whether dating another addict is a good idea. There…
When you’re overcoming an addiction, staying sober is a full-time job. Whether it’s the rigid schedule of a rehab center or your own internal battles with cravings, you have a lot on your mind in the earliest stages of recovery. But then it all falls away—fewer rehab commitments you’re just spending less time thinking about…
