Many men and women enter into the process of recovery thinking that they will stop using drugs or alcohol and go about life as usual. This is a frightening concept, considering that our reliance on substances was often an attempt to self-medicate our emotional problems. When drugs and alcohol are removed from our lives, we may fall victim to …
Few of us ever experienced real happiness or joy until we embraced a life of sobriety. We came to realize that our conception of happiness was skewed– we had been confusing the pleasure and relief provided by drugs and alcohol with genuine happiness. Our reliance on external pleasure and validation became our greatest source of motivation. In sobriety, however, …
One of the greatest fears of an individual coming into a life of recovery is that they will not be happy. They fear that they will be resigned to a boring life of recovery-based activities and miss the perceived sense of happiness provided by intoxication. The idea that we can experience happiness without the pleasure and relief provided by …
In the early stages of recovery, anxiety can seem overwhelming. As our brains and body heal, we often experience symptoms of anxiety and stress from even the most normal of situations. Grounding is a coping strategy that can work to relieve or lessen these symptoms, making it easier for us to manage our day-to-day activities and continue undeterred on …
