For many teens, high school is a time of experimentation. Sometimes this experimentation is harmless, like a new haircut or a change in style. Other times, these experiments can have a darker impact. The 2019 Youth Risk Behavior survey found that 29% of high school students reported drinking in the last 30 days, with 14% reporting binge drinking in the …
What is Step 3 in AA?
In step two of AA, you were exploring your relationship with God or another higher power and beginning to wrap your mind around the idea of surrendering control to this power. In step three of AA, you’re making the conscious decision to actually do this. Made a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of God …
What is Step 2 in AA?
If you’re at all familiar with the 12 steps of AA, you probably know that they’re a very spiritual program. But what is step 2 in AA, the second step is where participants begin to create a relationship with a higher power, a relationship that they’ll explore more deeply as they move on to other steps. Step one is all …
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 stay abstinent from alcohol after …
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 than simply stopping the use …
How to Talk to A Loved One About Their Addiction
It is never easy to start the conversation to someone you love about their addiction, so how do you talk to a loved one about their addiction? It’s not something that comes naturally to most people, and it’s something most people hope they’ll never have to do. Certain ways of communicating produce better results than others. The goal, of course, …
How to Get A Loved One Into Treatment
If someone you love is suffering from a substance abuse problem, the idea of helping them recover can be intimidating. How do you talk to your loved one about it? Do you need to stage a full-on intervention? How long should you wait before getting them into a treatment program? Why do people even become addicted in the first place? …
What is the Difference Between Supporting and Enabling an Addict?
Loving an addict is hard. Of course, you want to show them you still love them and support them through their recovery journey. Knowing exactly how to support him or her can be tricky, though. Sometimes, it may feel like you’re helping them when you’re actually enabling their addiction. It can seem like a fine line sometimes, but there is …
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 strength sets with a personal …
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 hoping. Each person’s recovery process …
How to Support Someone Through Recovery
There is absolutely nothing easy about having a loved one who is suffering from an addiction. Even when they are in recovery, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed wanting to help but not knowing how. There are plenty of ways for you to support your loved one through his or her journey to lifelong recovery: Educate and Care for Yourself Helping …
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, don’t delay in helping them …
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 to tune into the live …
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 cases, it may be impossible …
Foods to Prevent Getting Sick While Promoting Recovery
It’s certainly an interesting time to be in recovery – adjusting to a new normal is difficult thanks to COVID-19, which is making life anything but normal. One thing we often suggest as a way to ease into your new, addiction-free lifestyle is eating in a way that will support you through recovery. Now, during the pandemic, health experts are …
The Importance of Hobbies in Recovery
For a lot of people, a part of recovering from their addiction is rediscovering who they are without the substances that they used to rely on. Some people might feel like they need to find a whole new identity outside of drugs or alcohol. This process can take time and be incredibly difficult. That’s especially true now, in the middle …
How to Channel Your Energy into Productivity While Self-Isolating
At this point, the COVID-19 pandemic has been running rampant across the United States for about a month. In order to slow the spread, many people are social distancing and self-isolating. In our last post, we talked a bit about how, even though self-isolating is effective at slowing the spread of a virus, it can be difficult for people’s mental …
How to Support Your Loved One Through Recovery During COVID-19
COVID-19 has changed the concept of “normal” for nearly everyone in the United States. Many people may be struggling with extended periods spent indoors or without seeing certain friends or family members. If someone you love is currently in recovery for substance addiction, you may feel a bit of extra concern regarding how well they’re adapting to this strange new …
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 time to readjust to living …
Concentration of Recovery Centers by State
If you or someone you love is suffering from a substance addiction, you may have done a bit of research into treatment and recovery options in your area. We took a look at how many substance abuse treatment centers there are in each state and compared those numbers to the number of people who have experienced a fatal overdose in …
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 clinical source of support, you …
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 later. Unfortunately, this isn’t how …
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 surrendering our power. Surrendering, as …
A Brief History of the 12 Steps
When it comes to beating an addiction, the 12-step recovery model is one of the most effective tools used in treatment. They were created by Alcoholics Anonymous as a guideline to working through and overcoming an addiction. The 12 steps, as defined by AA, are as follows: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives have become …
Trendy Diets & Their Effects on Recovery
Thanks to the Internet, we’re living in a world of diet trends and fads. In the last few years, we’ve seen a huge increase in people following keto diets, veganism, and more. A lot of people roll their eyes at others who jump on these diet bandwagons, but what if they actually work? More specifically, what if some of these …
What Does Addiction Do to the Brain?
We know the basics of what constitutes an addiction: a compulsive need for a particular substance that takes priority over things like relationships, work, and the person’s financial situation. To many people who have never had a brush with addiction, it can seem a bit surprising that a person’s need to drink or use drugs can feel more important to …
What Are Cross Addictions?
“Cross addiction” is a term to describe someone suffering from two or more addictive behaviors. In most cases, the person will have addictions to multiple substances, like drugs or alcohol, but it also includes when a person is addicted to, for example, alcohol and sex or gambling. Other terms for cross addiction include addiction transfer or Addiction Interaction Disorder. These …
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 your own health in favor …
Carrying the Message
Remember how far you’ve come from the moment you stepped into your recovery program and how far you’ve come since then. According to the twelfth step of Alcoholics (or Narcotics) Anonymous, in order to fully recover and take your sobriety to the next level, you must share yourself and your story with those who are still struggling. Having had a …
How has Drug Abuse Changed in the Last Decade?
For hundreds of years, drugs have been abused all over the world. As the years go by, trends in the types of drugs and demographics of users often change. The data we have on drug use can help us have an idea of what drug use will look like in the next few years, and can help us become better …
How to Help an Addict Without Enabling Them
When you’re watching someone you love suffer from an addiction to drugs or alcohol, it’s common to feel very helpless. Because of this, it’s also common for people to try to do too much, get too involved, and accidentally end up enabling the addict despite acting with good intentions. Behaviors that enable an addicted person may include: Lying for them …
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 year of sobriety and be …
Why Marijuana is Dangerous for a Drug Addict
Marijuana is the most commonly used drug in the United States and the rest of the world. It’s used medicinally in many cases and can help treat symptoms of chronic illnesses like HIV, multiple sclerosis, cancer, Crohn’s disease, and seizure disorders. Other cultures around the world use it because they believe it has spiritual properties. When used recreationally, marijuana has …
Signs and Dangers of Complacency in Sobriety
Getting sober can be an amazing feeling after months or years taken up by addiction. However, there’s such a thing as being too comfortable with your sobriety, and it’s not necessarily a good thing. When a person begins feels complacent, they feel they’ve already done enough to improve their situation and no longer feel in danger from the risks of …
How Sleep Heals the Brain
Any article you may come across about living a healthy lifestyle points out how important it is to get enough sleep. During sleep, the body has the chance to rest and recover so it can continue functioning properly day after day. Often, people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol don’t have healthy sleep habits. Many drugs give the user …
What to Expect When Detoxing from Heroin
Most of us know the United States is in the middle of an opioid crisis. The crisis refers in large part to prescription medication being abused, but there’s another common opioid that’s been around for decades: heroin. Just under a million Americans reported using heroin in the past year, according to a 2016 survey. Between 2010 and 2017, heroin-related deaths …
Why Reliance on A Higher Power is More Helpful than Willpower for Beating Addiction
Many people who have completed a 12-step addiction recovery program go on to sing its praises once they’ve recovered. One of the key differentiators between 12-step programs and other recovery programs (and arguably one of the reasons it’s so effective for so many people) is its incorporation of spirituality. Spirituality and religion are not necessarily the same thing. 12-step programs …
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 any way a person’s diet …
How Does Exercise Help Addicts in Recovery?
For most people in recovery from an addiction, treatment involves some sort of counseling: speaking with another individual or a group of people to figure out the root cause and to learn how to manage any feelings or emotions that could lead to a future relapse. Recovering from an addiction is all about making lifestyle changes. It turns out, there’s …
What Age Do You Have to Be to Enter Residential Treatment?
Often, when we imagine someone addicted to drugs or alcohol, we picture a person in their 20s, 30s, 40s, or 50s. Rarely would we imagine a young teen or an older person as an addict. However, it’s entirely possible for people at either end of the age spectrum to suffer from an addiction. What treatment options are available for these …
Why Can’t My Spouse Stop Using Drugs or Alcohol?
Finding out someone you love has been abusing alcohol or drugs can be heartbreaking. Your spouse may have already tried to stop drinking or using to no avail. It can leave you feeling scared and asking a lot of questions – does he or she even care? Are these substances more important to him or her than family? How did …
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 sober. Convincing an addicted person …
What Should I Do if I Suspect My Loved One is Using Drugs?
Nobody wants to believe someone they love could be using drugs. It’s easy to let panic set in and worst-case scenarios take over your mind. Thinking about everything that might go wrong can be scary, but it’s important to remain calm and not let your fears take over. Here’s what you should do if you suspect your loved one is …
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 territory. You’ll experience countless physical, …
How Does Sober Living Help Maintain Sobriety?
If you’ve been looking into or have recently completed a treatment program for drug or alcohol addiction, you’ve likely come across sober living programs. Maybe you’ve wondered whether sober living is actually helpful. Sober living homes provide residents with a stepping stone from inpatient treatment to “normal” life. In the 18 months following completion of treatment, statistics show the rates …
Why is Being Involved in the Community So Important for an Addict’s Recovery?
By nature, humans are social creatures. Because of this, we crave connection with other humans. While it’s absolutely possible to achieve success individually, we’re often able to achieve better and faster results when we’re working with a group. If you think about it that way, it makes complete sense that so many addiction recovery programs, most famously 12-step programs, incorporate …
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 recovered from addiction in their …
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. Sponsors are used in 12-step …
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 at how addiction begins. Why …