Enjoying sobriety is about living life to the very fullest without the need for drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately, drug addicts and alcoholics become so used to self-medicating that they forget what it means to enjoy things without being under the influence. As a result, many no longer remember how to enjoy life sober. Working a … Read More
There is plenty of discussion around the legalization of cannabis in the United States. Part of the debate is due to the medical effects that the plant can have. The cannabis plant has two main active ingredients, THC and CBD. THC is the main compound in marijuana, and it’s the one that gets you high. … Read More
Weed. Cannabis. Pot. The devil’s lettuce. Reefer. Grass. The names for it are endless, as is the debate over whether or not it is a gateway drug. So what’s the truth about marijuana in relationship to other drugs? Is it a gateway drug? Honestly, it depends on the person. Some people have addictive personalities, and … Read More
There is an expression in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous: “No matter how far down the road you go, you’re always the same distance from the ditch”. There are people that put together a significant amount of time in recovery, only to relapse and fall into a deeper and darker place than they had before. … Read More
Dating in recovery is an interesting subject, and a topic of heated debate in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous. Obviously we are human, and crave human connection. In fact, one could argue that the desire for human connection is the single most powerful driving force in the history of the human race, and that it … Read More
Everyone’s program looks different. Part of the experience of recovery, and really part of the experience of living life, is that everyone is in a different place in terms of their growth as people, and so placing a definitive timeline on certain things when they are determined by personal growth is a bad move. Determining … Read More
Meditation is a powerful tool. Not just for people in recovery, but for anyone that wishes to use it. It is always beneficial and never detrimental. Meditation is slightly different for everyone, but the basic idea is the same. Listening. Listening to the world around you. Listening to God. Listening to your heart. There is … Read More
With the increase of the demands of a workplace in corporate America comes the increased need to work harder, better, and faster, and unfortunately with those needs comes the increase of the abuse of stimulants to compensate for the highly competitive atmosphere of a high energy workplace. Adderall is a psychotropic prescription drug that increases … Read More
The ego must be destroyed. Addicts and alcoholics run on ego in active addiction. It fuels all manner of delusions surrounding the way things are, have been, or will be. Ego clouds judgment and comes from a primal need to be secure at all times, whether that means being secure in the delusion that “things … Read More
Benzodiazepines are the cause of some very serious addictions around the world. Benzodiazepines like alprazolam (Xanax), clonazepam (Klonopin), diazepam (Valium), and lorazepam (Ativan), are a sedating class of prescription drugs used in the treatment of anxiety and panic disorder, and have sedating properties that come from their effect of increasing the activity of GABA, which … Read More
Xanax bars are the most common term used when referring to alprazolam 2 milligram tablets. Alprazolam is a benzodiazepine medication used to treat severe anxiety and panic disorder, and is commonly abused for its sedative effects. Xanax bars, also referred to as planks, school buses, ladders, or bars, are extremely habit forming, and are the … Read More
1. Changes in mood and erratic behavior Mercurial mood swings is a classic indicator of substance abuse, and is directly related to whether or not a user has the ability to get high. Pills such as morphine, hydrocodone, dilaudid, oxycontin and others have the effect of creating vast valleys of moods that line up with … Read More
Methamphetamine has been declared the most commonly abused hard drug in the world, according to a study conducted by the World Health Organization in 2006. The meth problem in America has been consistently overshadowed by the opioid epidemic, due to the explosive amounts of opioid deaths in comparison to meth overdoses, but the problem remains … Read More
Ketamine, known as “Special K” is a dissociative anesthetic used in a variety of medical scenarios for humans and animals, and it is also a common “club drug” like ecstacy. It produces a feeling of dissociation, and can also have sedative and hallucinogenic effects, making it popular in club settings as a drug of abuse. … Read More
Things like remaining firm and setting real boundaries are very important when navigating through the emotionally taxing territory of an intervention, and avoiding these common mistakes will lead to a successful intervention. Not upholding boundaries It can be difficult, especially when intervening on a loved one, to set and hold boundaries, but it is paramount … Read More
Relapse is one of the biggest fears for someone in recovery. Through all of the trials and tribulations that we encounter on our path to sobriety, many of us have a good idea of just how bad it can get if a relapse were to occur. The fact that addiction is a progressive disease means … Read More
There is a common misconception that treating substance use disorder is the same as treating a mental health disorder. The two are very different, but there are a lot of people who go about treating them the same way. Substance use disorder is a very specific problem to deal with, and it cannot be treated … Read More
Sometimes it can be hard to tell the hard drinker form the alcoholic. In essence, when the hard drinker stops drinking, their life gets better, and when the alcoholic stops drinking, their life gets worse. The hard drinker is categorized by someone who drinks a lot, but when it starts to become a problem, they … Read More
Are you an alcoholic and drug addict? The question plagues some; those of us who use drugs and alcohol so much that they question the meaning of their very lives. The answer is simple. Ask yourself a couple of questions. Do you obsess about drinking like a “normal person”, or when you start drinking or … Read More
Are you white knuckling your recovery? This is a very important question to ask yourself if you are going through the trials of early recovery, and a question that you must continue to ask yourself throughout your life as a recovered person. White knuckling is dangerous territory to be in, as it may mean that … Read More
Many people get clean and sober of drugs and alcohol and remain miserable. A lot of such people don’t end up staying clean for very long, and due to the continuously bad state of their lives, they turn back to the drugs and alcohol, as the only real relief that they have every known, to … Read More
People hate hangovers. I know. Not very insightful, but it’s the truth. People hate them. There are countless supposed cures to hangovers; anything from gatorade to plenty of water to even drinking alcohol in the morning, and even after the misery of vomiting and waking up with a splitting headache, some people still feel the … Read More
There are many among us who drink. Some drink rarely, some drink moderately, some drink a little too much, and some simply can’t control their drinking. It is a common phenomenon to discover that, even after a few drinks, you still want more. You find that you can easily pick up a drink, but putting … Read More
1. Tell on yourself Secrets are a dangerous thing to have when you are on a path to recover from drug and alcohol addiction. Keeping secrets means that you have something to hide, and in recovery there should be nothing that you feel you have to hide. Whether it is telling your sponsor when you … Read More
There is a question that has stirred many fires throughout the history of addiction; a question that has been raised by lobbyists, people in recovery, and the government, as well as countless others. Can marijuana – a drug that is often regarded as nothing more than a medicinal herb, or even excluded from the category … Read More
There are certain conclusions that parents tend to draw about addiction and alcoholism; ideas that are derivative of how it is portrayed in the media. There is a notion that drug addicts and alcoholics are doomed to suffer and die at the hands of their addiction. While this may be true for some, there is … Read More
In most cases, moderate alcohol consumption or occasional drug use are not life-threatening patterns of behavior. However, there is a subset of the population that exhibits habits that go beyond the threshold of moderation or even heavy use. If you think it’s possible your son might be struggling with a serious substance abuse problem, look … Read More
Austin, Texas is famous for having a community that has made getting sober fun, and has chronically high success rates for getting and staying sober, particularly for young people. There is a culture that has not only made recovery possible, but even singularly desirable, and even downright trendy. Many people who see recovery in Austin … Read More
Relapse is one of the greatest fears that people in recovery have, and understandably so. So many drug addicts and alcoholics suffer the insanity and hell that characterizes a terrible using spree, and it becomes such a horrible experience that when they finally get sober, naturally there would be a fear surrounding going back out … Read More
Individuals that enter into recovery often think that recovery is an area of their life. As the disease of addiction gets worse and worse over time it becomes a way of life for the addicted individual. By entering into recovery, the individual who has suffered from the disease of drug addiction/alcoholism must find a sufficient … Read More
When an individual who is showing signs of addiction or alcoholism makes a decision to reach out for help, there is a very small window of opportunity to offer a solution for their recovery. Getting connected with the right treatment facility is of the utmost importance during this time because of how quickly an addict … Read More
When it comes to drug addiction, enabling is like pouring gasoline on a fire. Enabling perpetuates the addiction and often makes it worse. When family and friends enable a drug addict, recovery becomes nearly impossible. Much like trying to put out a fire, the addict needs to lose all of the resources that continue to … Read More
Any Length Retreat works diligently with families of addicted loved ones. Often times during an intervention the loved one becomes the center of attention, because that is the center of the current crisis. After the “crisis”, the loved one using and engaging in harmful actions is in recovery, meaning they are now in the care … Read More
When I used drugs and alcohol, there were many negative side effects that go beyond the physical and spiritual effects, including emotional trauma. Over the years of addiction, I gained a couple of unwanted best friends- Shame and Guilt. Guilt is the emotion that we feel when we have done something that we perceive as … Read More
Part of the baggage that comes along with being a drug addict is the perfected skill of lying and dishonesty. It is practiced in every area of life when you are suffering with a drug or alcohol addiction. Lying is a way to avoid responsibility for actions, manipulate others for money or drugs, and way … Read More
You may have heard that a parent can only be as happy as his or her unhappiest child. If you have an adult son or daughter who is recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, and you apply that saying to your life, then you are most likely going to be an unhappy parent for a … Read More
If you are a recovering drug addict, dealing with a recovering drug addict, or even just a normal non-addicted person, wrapping your mindset around living in the present can bring a lot of peace and joy into your daily life. Staying present can help ease any big changes in your life and keep you less … Read More
If we are being honest, anyone who is sitting in the rooms of an alcoholics or drug addicts anonymous meeting has been through a lot of heavy or even traumatic experiences. Addiction and recovery from drugs and alcohol is serious. In most shares, you hear tales of homelessness, suicide, arrests, overdoses, loss of loved ones, … Read More
Setting boundaries in any situation is important but can be complicated. Boundaries are necessary to remind you what is and is not acceptable- whether that’s in your diet, your relationships, or with your loved ones struggling in addiction. In early recovery it can be frustrating to figure out what boundaries to set, how to create … Read More
In drug and alcohol recovery, being open-minded is an essential way of framing your thought process that can make a huge difference in your ability to succeed. Open-mindedness means being willing to accept new ideas and different ways of seeing the world, as well as other people’s ways of thinking. It come from an awareness … Read More