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Knowing some of the stumbling blocks of recovery will help prepare you for some of the obstacles that may be ahead. You can never be too prepared, especially when first entering recovery. Here are a few of the stumbling blocks you might encounter in recovery and ways to overcome them.

1. The “Looking Good/ Feeling Good” trap. There’s a point in recovery when you start to get healthier. You feel healthier and you look healthier, so much so that from your appearance people might not be able to tell you ever had a substance abuse problem. The problem is sometimes your looks can improve faster than your ability to stay sober. Be careful if you feel others tempting you to slip or relapse or if you start to doubt that you ever had a problem in the first place. It’s a trap.    Read more →

Valentine’s Day is a holiday that brings up all kinds of emotions whether you are new to recovery, have been on this road for sometime now, or are thinking about entering recovery. It can be a painful reminder of the strain that substance abuse can put on relationships, or for some it is a day to celebrate the love in their life that has overcome their darkest days. Regardless of whether you tear up or cringe at the endless jewelry commercials, or swoon at the sight of heart-shaped candy boxes or one look and your teeth begin to ache, the one person who can be your Valentine is yourself. Celebrate YOU This Valentine’s Day Read more →

January has come and gone and so have many New Year’s Resolutions. The promise to lose weight, exercise more, and get one’s health back are all popular resolutions. So is the promise to find sobriety by stopping how much you drink or use drugs. And by February many find that their desired sobriety is more difficult to obtain on their own than they realized. It leaves many wondering, why is it so hard to change? And asking when to seek professional help?

It’s important to stress that being unable to stop drug or alcohol use on one’s own is not because of a lack of willpower or moral failing. To understand what you’re up against, you have to realize what drugs and alcohol do to your brain. They hijack the reward center of your brain, the part that controls motivation, desire, pleasure, memory, impulse. All of the things you need working for you, are working against you because of an imbalance in your brain chemistry caused by chronic use of drugs or alcohol. Read more →