Recovery Blog
How to Thrive in Stressful Times
Stress attacks us all, no matter the time of year. While stress and trauma do not seem helpful, these two forces in our lives are not in opposition to recovery. You can live a full life despite...
Being Relentless in Pursuit of Recovery
We have the decision to pursue recovery; we can either stay in our mode of self-destruction or fight to recover from addiction to alcohol and/or other substances. Seeking recovery requires fighting...
Why Setting Goals Works Better than Making (and Breaking) Resolutions
It's that time of year again - the moment we look at ourselves in the mirror and say, "I'm going to accomplish all of my New Year's resolutions." And, just like every year before this one, by...
Humility Means Walking in Love
So many of us believe in the power of self-loathing. We believe in not liking ourselves. This self-deprecation is defined as humility in our minds. The less we believe in ourselves, the more humble...
The Problem With Perfectionism
According to Malcolm Gladwell's research, expertise takes 10,000 hours to learn. He explains this theory in his book: Outliers: The Story of Success. An important focus relative to this finding is...
Reframing Struggles Into Challenges
Isaac Lidsky started going blind at age 12. He believed he would live a sad and lonely life. Only when he chose to focus on his blindness not as a disability, but as something to be overcome, did he...
Being Authentic in Pursuit of Recovery
We have all heard the saying, “Honesty is the best policy.” This saying is especially true in facing recovery. We cannot expect full recovery if we are not fully honest. The first step to recovery...
What Is a Good New Year’s Resolution?
We have survived the past year and are looking toward the new year with trepidation. For many of us, maintaining our wellness seems like the first goal. We make resolutions to go to the gym, lose...
Recovery Is a Journey, Not a Destination
You do not exist in the future, only in this present moment. One of the principles of most 12-Step programs is the idea of "one day at a time," which is one of the main facets of sustainable...
Gaining Confidence in Recovery
In the beginning stages of recovery, we are all at a loss about how to cope and interact with others; being ourselves is a task with which we are suddenly unfamiliar. We now have to navigate social...
Accepting Help in Troubled Times
Social worker and researcher Brené Brown explains, "Shame cannot survive being spoken. It cannot survive empathy." We all experience shame, and those experiences can lead to relapse unless we are...
Developing Creative Coping Skills
According to a review in the Behavioral Sciences Journal, stress is the most prevalent health risk. With stress being an overwhelming risk for multiple health conditions, including relapse,...