In the early months of recovery, you’ve given up a lot — your go-to coping strategy, your social network, your approach to life. It’s natural to look to the comfort of new love to counteract the loneliness. Relationships can be part of healing, but finding healthy partners who support your recovery is a challenge.
Adam Daar remembers what he was thinking when ordered by the courts into addiction treatment at age 14: “I’m never going to have fun again.” How could he? Partying was how the young had fun, and that just wasn’t possible without drugs and alcohol, he believed. “I was even thinking ahead to college. How am…
For individuals in recovery, managing alcohol cravings can be a daily struggle, but certain foods can help. The key, addiction experts say, is to choose foods that do one of three things well: improve digestion, promote steady blood sugar throughout the day or support brain chemistry.
Consumption of cannabis/marijuana leads to the onset of drug addiction in a significant number of users, even when use only occurs on an occasional basis. As is true with other forms of addiction, people recovering from cannabis addiction run the risk of relapsing back into active substance intake after establishing an initial pattern of abstinence.…
Now that David Clark has run 100-mile races through mountains and deserts, it’s hard to picture him during his first weeks of sobriety. To the stunned clerks of a running store, he announced his plans to run a marathon. His basketball shorts had a waist size of 50. He weighed 320 pounds. When he got…
If you have been through the alcoholism acceptance stages, you asked for help, went through rehab and joined a support group, you have done everything right to get and stay sober. These are just the basics, though. How do you plan to live the rest of your life without alcohol? Do you know how to…
When you’re in recovery from alcoholism or drug addiction, you’re on a continuous journey of learning to live life sober. Each day presents new lessons on coping with life chemical-free, and some lessons are more challenging than others. One of the biggest challenges people in recovery may have to face is dealing with illness and…
“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” — Hal Borland
Many recovering alcoholics and addicts do a lot of traveling during the holiday season, and traveling can be challenging when you’re trying to stay sober. You’re away from everything and everyone that’s familiar, and it may seem like alcohol is everywhere. Vacations are supposed to be a time for relaxing and having fun, but instead…
For many people, Veterans Day brings to mind celebratory traditions such as parades and family gatherings. It’s a day that marks the service of all U.S. military veterans, so if you or other members of your family are veterans, celebrations may be even more wild or intense.