Addiction Recovery

How Drug Addiction can Ruin Your Life

On September 14, 2017

Many people take harmful substances without giving any thought to the damage that will occur to their body or their life. It is only those who get to the stage of drug rehab that realise the truth. For those people have already experienced losing just about all the things that make life worthwhile, including loved ones and their sense of self worth.

While it is true that taking one harmful substance once won’t make you an addict, it can still cause severe health and even mental problems. Addiction often starts through peer pressure, especially if a young person is having trouble or perceived trouble at home. They take the substance once and when it makes them feel good, they want to repeat that feeling.

However, over time they need more of the substance to get the same good feeling and this is when they are addicted, whether they believe it or not. Many people don’t believe they are addicted; they are convinced that they can stop at any time, it’s just that they don’t choose to stop. In reality, they could not stop even if they tried.

Most people try to hide their addiction until it gets to the stage where it is impossible to hide it or they become too ill from the side effects of taking it to hide their condition. Or when their life falls apart due to the neglect of their loved ones, then they seek help and may go into drug rehab.

A Drink is a Drug is a Whole Pan of Brownies

By HEDC-Author

On June 13, 2017

In Addiction Recovery

If I stop using drugs, can I still drink?

Although I identify as an alcoholic, for several years marijuana was my first drug of choice – until it stopped working for me. All of a sudden, smoking pot made me paranoid and miserable. This was when I learned to drink alcohol. And, alcohol was what brought me to my knees.

Throughout my years in recovery, I have watched people get sober and work to identify the driving factors behind their alcohol or drug addiction, only to see them relapse after a while. I went through this myself.

I got sober but suffered from deep depression and debilitating anxiety. I was honest with my Doctor about being an alcoholic in recovery. My Doctor put me on an antidepressant and a Benzedrine for anxiety. I was feeling better but began to misinterpret normal anxiety about a given situation in life and anxiety that was abnormal. I was used to numbing my feelings, used to not feeling much of anything.

How Service Can Aid The Road To Recovery

By HEDC-Author

On June 10, 2016

In Addiction Recovery

Volunteering is a powerful way to aid you on the path to recovery from an addiction. Following a treatment program, it’s as natural to feel invigorated and ready to jump back in and reclaim your life and live a healthy lifestyle as it is to be confused about your next steps. Getting back into a normal routine can be equally as exhilarating as it is daunting. This is why it is important to have a purpose, and to contribute in some valuable way to society. One of the best ways to do this is through volunteer work. Volunteering can bring many different benefits, and you’ll find yourself growing and receiving much more.

Get Yourself Back Into A Work Regimen

After treatment, jumping back into the workforce isn’t always the easiest bridge to cross. You may find yourself between a rock and a hard place trying to explain gaps in your resume to prospective employers. This is where volunteering can really help. The benefits are three-fold: you can aid those in need (whether it’s helping those less fortunate in soup kitchens or at animal shelters), you’ll feel better about yourself and your contribution to society, and you can rebuild your work regimen by getting into the habit or working as a team, taking command, and committing yourself to a schedule. Lastly, it can be helpful in applying to jobs and demonstrating your work ethic and growth. For example, if you’ve been volunteering consistently, it’s possible to have the program coordinator provide a letter of recommendation on your behalf.

Managing Expectations

By HEDC-Author

On April 16, 2016

In Addiction Recovery

Expectations can be a real stumbling block in early (and even later) sobriety – especially after a stint in a drug rehab.

Expectation is defined as a belief that something will happen. When someone is active in the disease of addiction, beliefs or expectations can be, and typically are, extremely out of line. This distorted thinking can lead to disappointment, anger, frustration, or worse.

It’s been said that expectations are premeditated resentments.

To look at this statement and come to terms with what this means and why it’s important is one key to finding serenity in recovery from addiction.

When there is an expectation about how someone will behave or react to a certain situation, the expectation typically comes from how you perceive that you would act in that situation. This form of thinking can be dangerous. When you look at a situation this way, you are taking into account your own intention, your own experience, and your own thought processes. The person with whom you are projecting the expectation on to may or may not have any of these things in common with you and therefore, may or may not react in a similar way as you.

When you have created a picture in your mind of how a person or situation will be, you have set yourself up for disappointment or resentment.

Letting Go Of Resentment And Why It Matters

By HEDC-Author

On April 1, 2016

In Addiction Recovery

Resentment is the “number one” offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. [Alcoholics Anonymous, pg 64]

Resentment is toxic to alcoholics and addicts. The longer a resentment festers, the more damage the resentment can do to our psyche, and harboring a resentment can lead to all kinds of absurd behaviors, including using so that we don’t have to feel the feelings of the resentment.

…this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die. [Alcoholics Anonymous, pg 66]

Resentment is like a thief, taking your energy, emotions, thoughts, and any hope of joy or serenity. The person or institution that you resent is not hurt or bothered by your resentment. The only person hurting over this resentment is you.

I’ve heard it said that having a resentment toward someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. This is a pretty good analogy for me to use when I’m looking at a resentment. It’s pretty easy to see how the other person is not going to feel any ill-effect of my resentment (poison) toward them.

How Anyone Can Learn to Meditate

By HEDC-Author

On February 28, 2016

In Addiction Recovery

In your recovery journey, you’ll more than likely hear about meditation. If you are like a lot of others in early recovery, sitting still and clearing your mind seems like an uncomfortable idea and a nearly impossible task.

According to Merriam-Webster, Meditation is to engage in contemplation or reflection, or to engage in mental exercise (as concentration on one’s breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness.

Meditation, whether sitting alone on a beach in Bali, or in your luxury villa from Easy Bali Villas, has been proven to have many benefits, including lowering stress and blood pressure, to becoming more self-aware, and improving concentration and acceptance. In addition, meditation has proven to be an effective tool in drug rehab and maintaining sobriety.

There are some effective ways to begin to learn how to meditate without becoming overwhelmed with the idea of sitting quietly and trying to slow down all the thoughts and chatter in your head.