The folks who make and sell mattresses invest a lot of money into letting us know that their products will transform the quality of our sleep. Maybe you can adjust the firmness of the mattress—and even have separate settings for each sleeper. Maybe you can press a button to raise your head or your feet...Read More
When you are struggling with drugs or alcohol, it is always tempting to tell yourself some lies so that you do not have to face up to the problem.“I could quit anytime I want.”“I don’t really have a problem because nothing bad has happened.”“I’m just a social drinker.”No doubt you could list even more half-truths...Read More
Not Wholly Sober: Functioning Alcoholics, Dry Drunks,In one sense, the idea of sobriety is pretty easy to wrap your head around. If you are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you are sober. By extension, if you have given up drugs and alcohol entirely, you can also be described as sober. Seems fairly cut...Read More
Budgeting goes way back. When you think of Popeye the Sailor Man—and surely you do—you most likely think of spinach. You know his old line: I’m strong to the finish ’cause I eats me spinach.But spinach is not the only food on offer in the Popeye cartoons. Indeed, a fellow named Wimpy is frequently in...Read More
An addiction to gardening is not all bad when you consider all the other choices in life.That quote, attributed around the internet to either Cora Lea Bell or Cora Lee Bell, might just resonate with you if you are a person in recovery from a substance use disorder. While we never make light of any...Read More
Many things in life are challenging—and sometimes we convince ourselves that something that is hard or challenging is, in fact, impossible. But most challenges can be overcome if we put our minds to it. Many things that seem all but undoable may, with effort and dedication, turn out to be…well…doable.Here’s an example: Imagine someone came to...Read More
A Ring, an Oath, and a Whole Lot of WillpowerAre you familiar with the superhero known as Green Lantern? The most famous version of the DC Comics character is a fellow named Hal Jordan who (and you will just have to take our word for this if you aren’t a comics fan) is given a...Read More
When you think about getting treatment for a substance use disorder, you probably think of two key components: detoxification and rehabilitation. Those first two portions of treatment programs are so well known, they go by nicknames—detox and rehab. You probably noticed that we just called them the “first two portions of treatment.” Maybe you are...Read More
Looking backwards and forwards — what does it have to do with sobriety? All of us seem to be predisposed to thinking about the past and worrying about the future. We lose sleep over things we regret and also over things we are worried about. We let past mistakes lower our self-esteem, and we let future...Read More
We have all had it happen. A song gets stuck in our head, and it seems like nothing can shake it loose. Some songs are well known earworms, and others might be specific to a given individual. Either way, once you hear an earworm of a song, it can stick with you for hours—or even...Read More
