Reaching step eight of AA means that you’ve spent a great deal of time working on yourself, reflecting inwardly on your character flaws, admitting them out loud, and finally turned control over to your higher power to remove them. In step eight of AA, we begin to turn our focus outward. In steps eight and … Read More
Recovery
The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
Even those who have never had first- or second-hand experience with addiction are likely somewhat familiar with the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. This is one of the most well-known programs for addiction recovery and for good reason: it’s also one of the most effective programs. According to AA, up to 75% of its members … Read More
What is White Knuckling & How to Overcome It
AA’s Big Book states that “We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem had been removed. It does not exist for us.” Recovering from a substance addiction is more … Read More
How to Get Your Loved One to Stop Doing Drugs
Unfortunately, if your loved one is addicted to drugs or alcohol, they probably won’t wake up one day and decide to stop using. They’ll need the help of someone they care about (you!) to help them realize they have a problem and get them into treatment. So, how can you get your loved one to … Read More
What is Collegiate Recovery?
Binge drinking, late-night partying, and experimenting with drugs are seen as a normal part of the American college experience. But it’s not all harmless fun. College students in the United States are at a high risk of developing addiction or abusing substances. Approximately 80% of U.S. college students have abused alcohol, while the number of … Read More
5 Benefits of Exercise for A Recovering Addict
Exercise has a ton of benefits for a person’s mental health and can do a lot to aid an addict in recovery. It doesn’t have to be complicated, either! Simply heading outside for a 30-minute walk each day is enough to receive the benefits. Alternatively, training for a marathon, taking up yoga, or working on … Read More
How Long Does it Take to Recover from Addiction?
If you have a close friend or family member suffering from addiction, you might be wondering how long recovery takes. It’s certainly an understandable question – addiction is hard to cope with, both for the addict themselves and for their loved ones. Unfortunately, the answer to that question is not as clear-cut as you’re probably … Read More
What is Al-Anon?
Having a friend or family member who suffers from addiction or alcoholism is hard. It can be a roller coaster of emotions, and you may find it harder to cope some days. Addiction and alcoholism are family illnesses, because they don’t just affect the addict – they affect the whole family. In reality, loving an … Read More
The Cost of Rehab vs. The Cost of Addiction
Dealing with an addiction in a loved one can be a roller coaster. It’s common to try to rationalize and normalize your loved one’s addiction and behavior, to make excuses for them, or to try and minimize the severity of the addiction. However, once you know your loved one is indeed dealing with an addiction, … Read More
Any Length Webinar Recap: Q&A With Anthony
Back in April, we hosted our first-ever national webinar. It was a privilege to orchestrate a Q&A session with one of Any Length Retreat’s alumni, Anthony Brooks, about his experience with addiction, his time at the retreat, and what his life is like now that he’s two years sober. If you didn’t have a chance … Read More
Applying the HALT Method During Recovery in Self-Isolation
Over the last month, we’ve posted a lot about different ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic can affect those in recovery. We’ve talked about the feelings of loneliness and boredom that may arise during self-isolation and how to be proactive about reducing these feelings to avoid triggering a relapse. However, we know that in some … Read More
3 Ways to Maintain A Sense of Community Virtually
Recovering from addiction during a worldwide lockdown presents a unique set of challenges to overcome. Many recovery programs (including us!) speak about the importance of being involved in a community. However, it can be hard to feel a connection with other people when you’re not able to physically see them in person! You may want … Read More
Continuing Your Recovery During COVID-19
For most people over the last few weeks, everyday life has completely changed thanks to COVID-19. To slow the spread of this deadly virus, people are practicing social distancing: limiting contact with other people. Many companies have their employees working from home while others have completely shut their doors for the next few months. Large … Read More
How Effective is Sober Living?
Recovery from addiction to alcohol or drugs is a journey, and that journey looks different for every individual. For many people, one stop on that journey is a sober living facility. Sober living homes act as a transition stage for people who have completed their time in inpatient recovery but still require a bit of … Read More
What is a Recovery Coach?
If you’re currently suffering or in recovery from an addiction to drugs or alcohol, you may be looking for different types of professionals who can help support you through your journey to sobriety. You may have come across licensed therapists or treatment centers that can help you overcome your addiction. If you prefer a less … Read More
Why is Long Term Treatment More Effective than Short Term?
If you or someone you love is looking to get help for a drug, alcohol, or any other type of addiction, you’ve probably seen that both long and short term options are available. You may be tempted by a 30-day treatment program, thinking you can go into treatment and come out cured just a month … Read More
Compliance vs. Surrender
If you were to read through the twelve steps, you might find that the wording, at least for the first few steps, has a distinct feeling of “surrendering” to it, particularly surrendering to a higher power. There are two ways we can approach recovery: by simply complying with what is being asked of us, or … Read More
How Meditation Can Aid Your Recovery from Addiction
At Any Length, we’re big believers in the effects of the twelve-step program for overcoming drug and alcohol addictions. One of the most important aspects of the twelve steps is turning to a higher power and practicing prayer. Meditation is an amazing supplemental tool for prayer – praying helps you establish a connection to God … Read More
3 of the Worst Foods to Eat While in Recovery
Over the last few months, we’ve talked a lot about the importance of diet – not just for your overall health, but also particular foods that contain specific vitamins and minerals that can support your brain and body through your recovery. We’ve told you that it’s important to nourish your body with lots of fresh … Read More
Tips For Daily Mindfulness Practice in Recovery
Being in recovery from addiction requires you to make major changes to your life if you want to remain recovered. Building an entirely new mindset is much easier said than done. Changing your mindset can be made easier by becoming more mindful – that is, learning not to associate so heavily with your thoughts and … Read More
5 Wellness Tips for Recovering Addicts
Completing a treatment program is only the first step in achieving lifelong recovery from an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Once your treatment is over, there’s still work to be done – it’s likely that your entire lifestyle will have to change. When you were in the thick of your addiction, you were probably neglecting … Read More
How to Handle Employment in Early Sobriety
One of the biggest steps to putting your addiction behind you and returning to a “normal” life is going back to work. Starting to work after treatment is a great way to create structure in your new life, and this is vital to maintaining long-term sobriety. It’s important to be especially careful in your first … Read More
What to Expect When Detoxing From Alcohol
Alcohol may be one of the easiest substances to begin abusing because of how easy it is to obtain. It’s legal and it’s a normal part of a lot of people’s everyday lives, so it might take a while for people to think twice about a loved one’s drinking habits. More than 15 million people … Read More
Tips for Your Diet in Recovery
Recovering from drug or alcohol addiction is a gradual process that involves making many lifestyle changes. We’ve recently talked about how exercise affects the body and can help a recovering addict manage cravings. There’s another major lifestyle change that a lot of people are making at the beginning of a new year: diet. Is there … Read More
How Do I Tell My Loved One They Need Help for Their Addiction?
It can be extremely tough watching someone you love suffer at the hands of drugs or alcohol. They may not believe they have a problem, or they may not want to get help. Having the support of you, someone who loves them, can make it easier for an addict to begin taking steps to get … Read More
Setting Expectations for Yourself in Sobriety: The Do’s and Don’ts
If you’ve lost yourself to an addiction, the concept of sobriety can be a hard one to grasp. You may not remember what it feels like to live a life free from the influence of drugs or alcohol. The idea of achieving sobriety may even feel a bit intimidating, as if you’re venturing into unknown … Read More
3 Ways to Help Others Who Are Struggling With Addiction
So you’ve recently beat an addiction and are excited to declare yourself recovered. Congratulations! That’s no small feat. Since you know how it feels to struggle with an addiction and possibly doubt yourself through recovery, you probably want to help others who are recovering from an addiction themselves. Your story and advice could be a … Read More
Why You Can’t Force Someone to Get Treatment for an Addiction (& What to Do Instead)
Watching someone you love lose themselves to an addiction is never easy. You might find yourself beginning to act out of fear or desperation, trying to manipulate or control your loved one, or trying to force them into treatment. Unfortunately, these fear-based behaviors don’t help anyone, and will likely only make the situation worse. You … Read More
Is it Possible to Find Lifelong Recovery from Addiction?
Anyone who has struggled with addiction knows it can be hard to imagine what a future free from substance dependency looks like. It’s easy to let yourself be consumed by negative thoughts: “getting sober is too hard”, “only certain types of people have it in them to overcome addiction”, etc. Remember, almost everyone who has … Read More
What is the Importance of a Sponsor in Recovery?
Even if you’ve never battled an addiction yourself, you’ve likely heard the word “sponsor” in connection with addiction recovery. A sponsor is a mentor or a guide who has gone through the journey to recovery themselves and is able to mentor or guide another person, known as a sponsee, who is working toward recovery themselves. … Read More
What Makes Addiction So Difficult to Overcome?
There’s no doubt that recovering from addiction is rarely easy. It’s also difficult to answer the question of why addiction is so hard to overcome. Addiction has many layers, and each addiction is as complex and unique as each person suffering. To best guess why addiction is so difficult to beat, let’s take a look … Read More
Why Do 12-Step Programs Have Such Success?
Many different programs and roads to recovery from alcohol and drug addictions are available to help people heal. Arguably the most popular method, known about even by people who have never had a brush with addiction, is the 12-step program. The 12 steps were first established by Alcoholics Anonymous way back in 1939. How have … Read More
How Do I Bounce Back from A Relapse?
Experiencing a relapse after completing treatment for addiction can be disheartening at best. It’s easy to allow negative, self-destructive thoughts into your head, and feel discouraged from trying again. It’s important to remember that a relapse is not a failure. Relapsing can be part of the recovery process for many people, and that it’s still … Read More
What is the Recommended Time for Residential Treatment?
There are probably a lot of people reading this article and are considering checking into treatment for drug or alcohol use, and they are all wondering the same thing. “How long should I be in there?” Unfortunately the answer is probably not as straightforward as you would probably like. There are lots of factors involved … Read More
Can Somas be Abused?
As we enter into the later part of 2019, some people, especially in the younger generation, have never even heard of carisoprodol, or “Soma”. It is a drug that was popular in the 80’s and 90’s for its sedative effects, but it has all but been replaced in terms of medical use and illegal abuse … Read More
Is Tramadol Addicting?
Tramadol is an opioid analgesic that is used for the management of moderate to severe pain in a medical setting, and is generally considered safer than other opioids such as Vicodin and Oxycontin. It can also be abused as a drug that creates a sense of euphoria at high doses, going by the street name … Read More
K2 Overdoses On The Rise In Austin Texas.
K2 a common misconception that this will be safe because I can pass a drug test. K2 has been made attractive along with its easy accessibility in local gas stations, head shops, and adult stores. K2 has been a problem on the rising as well as the popularity of synthetic drugs as a whole. This … Read More
ALCOHOLIC FINDS RECOVERY AT ANY LENGTH
I am the Mom of a Recovering Alcoholic. Our lives Changed on February 8 2012. This is Our Story from Alcoholism to Recovery I worried every time that phone rang, especially late at night. Heading home from work I was expecting 3 of my kids to be heading to Houston, I always loved when they … Read More