Month: February 2021

February 9, 2021

Will My Life Ever Be Normal Again?

Posted by Jaywalker in Insights, Recovery
the new normal

This is a common question among those of us who are new to recovery. It’s a legitimate concern and quite the philosophical bombshell. After our alcoholism and addiction and the newness and unfamiliarity with the rooms of recovery, it’s understandable to wonder if life will ever be normal again. Is life ever normal, for anyone? What do we mean when we say normal? There’s a lot of good news to answer this question. But much like life itself, it might not look the way you’d expect. What Does “Normal” Mean Anyway? Everyone has an idea of what normal life looks like for them, but rarely do people share the exact same definition. However, there are some common themes. Most people want a happy relationship with a significant other, a group of friends to share life with, good relationships with their family, a healthy body and mind, a job that they…

Continue Reading

February 8, 2021

An End to Loneliness

Posted by Jaywalker in Lifestyle, Recovery
end to loneliness

No matter who we are or what our life circumstances may be, every human being has experienced loneliness at one time or another. We may have felt it briefly or perhaps as a child, teen, or adult for quite some time. We may still be feeling it today. Loneliness hurts, it’s sad, and it can become a place where we get stuck. Particularly for those who are alcoholics and addicts, loneliness is often a frequent, common, and painful theme for us. Let’s delve into what loneliness really means and how we can address and heal from it. We Get Really Lonely The book Alcoholics Anonymous talks about loneliness quite often, so common and hurtful a thread it is amongst us. The Big Book talks about the point most of us reached where we could not imagine our lives going on drinking or using as we were, nor could we imagine our…

Continue Reading

February 5, 2021

Beyond the Physical Addiction

Posted by Jaywalker in Recovery
more than physical addiction

Providing the groundwork for successful long-term recovery from alcoholism and addiction is far from a simple task. This particular disease is one of the most complex and misunderstood conditions that people suffer from. Never mind the highly common conditions that frequently co-occur with alcoholism and addiction, such as trauma and emotional health issues. For many decades prior to the modern era, treatment for alcoholics and addicts was either barbaric or judicial. That era has passed to the betterment of all, but the rehabilitation industry has gotten itself stuck in another common rut. In more recent decades, the chosen methods for helping those with alcoholism and addiction has had a primary bias toward the physical, focusing on physical sobriety, physical coping mechanisms, and physical treatments for other issues in the form of pharmaceuticals. None of these methods are bad, and most have positive effects on people. All possible avenues of healing and…

Continue Reading

February 4, 2021

How Can I Celebrate Safely?

Posted by Jaywalker in Lifestyle, Recovery
celebration when sober

As alcoholics and addicts, many of us have always had a heightened relationship with both celebration and sorrow. The book Alcoholics Anonymous talks at length about how our typical behavior pattern usually went something like this: If we were low for one reason another, it was the perfect reason to seek out a drink or drug and drown our sorrows. But when things were great and we were happy, that was an equally good reason to drink or drug as a way of increasing or celebrating our triumph. Being alcoholics or addicts, of course, we took these behaviors to extremes and usually went too far. However, in the normal course of life, we will find occasions worthy of celebration. We also find times when grief or sorrow is appropriate. Both of these events can trigger the desire to engage in our old behaviors. Essentially, they are so ingrained with our disease…

Continue Reading

February 3, 2021

The Connection Between Body And Mind

Posted by Jaywalker in Lifestyle, Recovery
body and mind connection

The connection between our bodies and our minds may seem obvious at face value. Still, integrating all our parts as physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental beings have long been one of the most explored elements of human life. The reason this topic has been pondered and discussed for so long isn’t lack of information or experience, but the sheer vastness of it. Science has discovered remarkable things about how each aspect of our being relates to the other aspects and even relates to other beings. There is reason to believe that not only is each part of our individual being deeply connected but perhaps we are all connected in similar ways. The Obvious It seems pretty obvious that the body and mind are connected, right? We all just kind of realize that it’s true, but maybe we don’t explore much of what it really means. What is the mind, really?…

Continue Reading

February 1, 2021

Connecting With Your Higher Power in Nature

Posted by Jaywalker in Alumni, Recovery
higher power in nature

For people worldwide, from all walks of life, connecting with our own personal higher power is an important and rewarding pursuit. Whether we are alcoholics, addicts, or otherwise, many of us recognize some sort of power in the universe that is greater than ourselves. Especially for those of us who are in recovery, discovering and connecting to a higher power is a vital element of our success. Indeed, the connection to and reliance upon our higher power is one of the most central and important elements of recovery. This is not a roadblock to recovery for those who dislike the concepts of religion or spirituality or are unfamiliar with them. Simply working the 12-Steps will help us with any issues we have in this area. The wording of recovery says that we will have “a spiritual awakening as a result of these (12) steps…” It comes as we work the…

Continue Reading

Read more

Archives

Tags