People in Recovery

Once the support of the treatment program no longer surrounds you, dealing with life’s challenges can be overwhelming. That’s when tools for recovery count.

Calm is a tool we learn to use so that we can deal more successfully with life and the problems we all face.

Relapse doesn’t mean failure, but it does mean a great deal of pain and effort.

It might be a friend, or a colleague. Maybe an ex, or a sort-of relationship. Might be a relative who doesn’t live with you. In any case, their problems are draining YOU of energy and time, and the stress is mounting. It’s a toxic relationship.

One large survey of alcoholics found that some 14% had actually become dependent within a year of the first drink. The percentage almost doubled when the time period was extended to two years.

Mindfulness therapies are a way of stepping outside your everyday attitudes and beliefs — those automatic to your thinking — in order to consider alternatives that might improve your life.

Medication may help, and we shouldn’t automatically rule it out because it’s “taking pills.” Some pills are okay, if we take them under supervision and according to directions.

With some people, it’s better not to answer,because they’ll just argue with you anyway. In that case, smile and depart the scene.

The trick is to find another reward to replace the one that’s no longer available. For instance, if we’re no longer going to have a cigarette with coffee after dinner, what other reward could we substitute in its place?

Many of us have deliberately set the bar too high to encourage ourselves to jump. Obviously, we don’t always reach it.