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gorgeous Black woman with short hair reading a book by lamp light in her bedroom - mindfulness

If You Don’t Mind, Here’s a Reading List for Discovering Mindfulness

Mindfulness & Your Mental HealthWe have written before about the ways in which mindfulness can support your mental health and recovery from a substance use disorder. On the surface, the practice of mindfulness seems both straightforward and simple. The goal is to be present in the current moment rather than ruminating about the past or...
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bad habits in addiction recovery, two young men and a young woman with arms around each other, posing for a picture - habits, Overcome Bad Habits in Addiction Recovery

Establishing New Habits In Recovery

Both good and bad habits in addiction recovery can be powerful. Sometimes the power of a habit is good for us. Other times, the power of a habit is a problem. Take, for example, a habit like brushing your teeth in the morning and before bed. The odds are good that you don’t spend a...
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beautiful young Black woman in a bright yellow sweater smiling and reading a book outdoors - boredom

Hold Boredom at Bay to Boost Your Ongoing Recovery

What Is Boredom? It happens to all of us from time to time. You are simply going about your day when suddenly you find yourself feeling restless or distracted. Whatever you are doing right at that moment isn’t any fun—and worse, you can’t really think of anything else to do that would be fun. Maybe...
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illustration of 4 people in a 12-Step group meeting - getting treatment

Why Willpower Is Not Enough: Getting Treatment for Addiction

Drug and alcohol addiction treatment in a professional setting is critical for anyone with a moderate to severe addiction. It may seem like the solution is simple – just stop using the substance. But willpower alone is not enough. Addiction is a chronic brain disease that responds best to medical and therapeutic intervention.What Happens in...
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senior man and his son bonding - talking sitting close on couch - make a plan

Make a Plan for Sharing Your Plan to Seek Treatment

You have decided now is the time.You are going to get the help you need for your substance use disorder.That’s great news. It is also news you are going to need to share—in greater or lesser detail—with a significant number of people. That might seem scary. Especially if you have been effectively hiding your addiction...
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man in his early thirties sitting at home with laptop and files of paperwork - returning to work

There Is Work to Do When Heading Back to Work After Treatment

Heading back to work after you have been away can be challenging. Think about the final day of a vacation. No matter how relaxing your time away has been, the odds are pretty good that on that last day, you are already thinking about all the emails and projects that await you when you get...
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computer drawn illustration of a woman at therapy - willpower

It Is Not About Your Will, But There Certainly Is a Way to Reclaim Your Sobriety

You have heard the expression, “ Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” It is an idea dating back to the 1600s—and many of us simply accept it as true. We believe that if we apply our willpower, we can find a way to accomplish just about anything. It’s a nice, motivational idea. But it...
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boxing ring inside a gym - core principles

The View From Inside the Ring: Thinking About Recovery via Ali’s Six Core Principles

Core Principles There are times when advice becomes so familiar that it is easy to stop hearing it. For example, if you are in recovery from a substance use disorder, you are likely familiar with the 12 Steps (or some variation on that theme) associated with Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous. You might even be overly...
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pretty brunette young woman sitting at coffee table at home smiling and making notes - languishing

Limiting Languishing Is Important to Your Ongoing Recovery Efforts

To Languish Is to Struggle Many people are struggling right now. The public health emergency (which is, unfortunately, ongoing) has upended our lives in so many ways. And while we have dealt with all of the changes—and the changes to those changes—brought on by the pandemic, there have been plenty of other things that have...
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two male friends smiling - one has his arm around the other's shoulders - friend

Finding and Being a Friend Is a Key Component of Maintaining Sobriety

The modern world—and social media in particular—has changed the way we think about the word “friend.” Heck, in current usage, the steadfast noun can even be used as a verb, as is: “Hey, I friended you. Why haven’t you accepted my friend request?” Friends vs Acquaintances But let’s face it, the vast majority of people...
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