Hope is the ability to look forward to something with the expectation of fulfillment. It is the belief that something is survivable and that, no matter how difficult things are now, they will work out. Some people seem to have a natural tendency toward hope. Others seem to choose optimism. It is possible to learn…
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While drug abuse and addiction can strike at any stage of life, teenagers and young adults are at particular risk for substance use. In fact, by the time they reach eight grade, 28 percent of adolescents have consumed alcohol, 15 percent have smoked cigarettes, and 16.5 percent have smoked marijuana (1). There are many reasons…
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Getting sober can be complicated, as it involves a lot of change and a lot of learning or relearning things. Early recovery is the part of our lives where we become something new- it can last from 90 days to a year or two and requires strength, humility, and courage. Most importantly, it takes a…
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Entering recovery can feel like a huge challenge, as it is a restructure of our whole lives. It involves not only giving up drugs and alcohol but to succeed in early recovery, we have to completely change how we live our lives, deal with stress and emotions, both good and bad, even how we spend…
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While non-fiction books can be intellectually enriching and even emotionally compelling, fiction has a special way of making us feel connected. The brain makes sense of things through story. It is one of the reasons people are generally more drawn to fiction of all kinds. It is why we watch movies and TV shows when…
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Human beings are social creatures, in order to maintain our mental and physical health, we need to interact with people whom we share interests. We need close friendships and healthy relationships and need to experience love, both romantic and familial. Some surveys indicate that 75 percent of adults in America struggle with loneliness. Long term…
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Often, people assume that self-harm and suicide are the same things. They are not, although separating one from the other can be difficult. With suicide, the goal is to end the pain with death while self-harm is more of a coping mechanism. Most people who attempt suicide live, but carry the scars (physical or emotional)…
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One of the hardest things about recovering from substance abuse disorders is the feeling that you are alone and/or misunderstood in your struggles. You may feel unable to articulate both your experiences with addiction and your experiences with recovery. As you start to analyze and think back to the onset of your addiction, you may…
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People struggle with substance use for a variety of reasons- for some, it’s trauma or inadequate coping mechanisms, for others, it’s how they deal with a psychiatric disorder. According to the National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI), 37 percent of people living with alcoholism and 53 percent of those addicted to other drugs also live…
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We’ve learned through experience things don’t improve simply because we hope they will- the Optimistic Addict is an oxymoron. Our addictions teach us tomorrow will simply be a repeat of today: a scramble to feed our addiction, to cover it up, to put on the face we think the world expects to see. When we…
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