How to Make Gratitude Part of Your Daily Recovery

 Being grateful may seem like a piece of cake but in fact it takes practice. By working to incorporate gratitude into your daily life, you’ll boost your immune system, mood, recovery and more. Here are a few ideas to get started:

• Start a gratitude journal. Each day, jot down three things you’re grateful for – and keep a running list that you can refer to when you feel as if you have no blessings to count.
• Shift your mindset. You have control of your thoughts, so instead of thinking about what you don’t have, think about what you do have. This isn’t to say that you can’t strive for more, but take time to be thankful for the little treasures found in daily life.
• Make time for loved ones. Even if it’s a quick phone call, check in with your loved ones and let them lift you up. Talking with or spending time with family and friends who support you and your recovery journey is a surefire way to make you feel grateful.
• Remain teachable. With gratitude comes self-awareness or the ability to recognize how far you’ve come in your recovery and how much learning you still need to do. We never know it all and being humble and teachable will help you to feel grateful for the chance to learn more about yourself during recovery.
• Recall tough times. When it feels like you have nothing to be grateful for, think about a bad time in your life and how far you’ve come since then. Embrace these moments to make you grateful for the sober life you’re now living.
• Volunteer or simply help a fellow recovery peer. When you give rather than receive you become more grateful for what you have. In fact, volunteering has been linked to numerous benefits including decreased depression and increased well being.
• Meditate. Carve out time daily to sit quietly give thanks to all of the small gifts in life; you can even use the running list from your gratitude journal to help. 

Meditation and More
At Complete Harmony, we encourage the use of many different cutting-edge techniques to help clients heal the mind, body and spirit and cultivate a sense of gratitude, including mediation. To learn more about our treatment center and our approach to addiction recovery, call today: 866-930-4673.

PAWS: What to Expect

You’ve been drug or alcohol free for a month or more and now you’re having trouble sleeping, focusing and remembering things. What’s more, you’re dealing with extreme cravings and feel irritable and anxious. You’re not imagining this. This is pretty common and it’s called PAWS, or post-acute withdrawal syndrome (protracted withdrawal syndrome). 

Like its name implies, PAWS happens after the period of acute withdrawal ceases and your brain attempts to stabilize or re-organize without alcohol and/or drugs. 

Alcohol, benzodiazepines, antidepressants, opioids and stimulants are all known to cause PAWS. The severity and longevity of PAWS depends on how much damage your brain incurred during active addiction as well as your drug of abuse. 

Recognizing the Symptoms
Learning to spot the symptoms of PAWS will help you better prepare and have a plan should these symptoms strike without warning. Here’s a look at some of the most common signs: 

• Alcohol or drug cravings
• Difficulty concentrating and making decisions
• Anxiety
• Sleep difficulties
• Problems with short-term memory
• Persistent fatigue
• Impaired executive control
• Anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure from anything beyond use of the drug)
• Dysphoria or depression
• Irritability
• Unexplained physical complaints
• Reduced interest in sex 

How to Cope With PAWS

In addition to working with your addiction specialist, there are several steps you can take to help minimize the symptoms of PAWS. 

• Stay active: A regular exercise routine can help restore balance to the brain and ease a lot of the emotional turbulence of PAWS. 

• Recognize and record triggers: Make an effort to notice the people, places, events or situations that seem to worsen your PAWS symptoms – and keep an ongoing list that you can share with your addiction counselor. 

• Don’t struggle alone: Successful recovery hinges on support. You don’t have to cope with PAWS alone; share what you’re experiencing with your addiction counselors, peers or loved ones. 

• Be patient with the process: Your mind and body need time to fully recover. Do your best to stay calm and focus on your recovery tasks as well as all of the positive things ahead in your new sober life. 

Comfortable Detox at Complete Harmony

Our team can help you or someone you love detox and restore your whole body using holistic therapies for symptom management and improved well being. To learn more about our alternative rehab program and natural detox methods, call today: 866-930-4673.

The Link Between Self-Esteem & Recovery

Many people in addiction recovery struggle with self-esteem, or confidence in your worth and abilities. And, in fact, low self-esteem may have played a role in your addiction in the first place. 

Learning to rebuild your self-esteem is essential for your long-term sobriety and your overall mental health. This is because full recovery requires that you value yourself enough that you don’t risk relapse. It also requires satisfaction with your new sober life, which is difficult to achieve when you’re struggling with low self-esteem. 

How You Can Improve Your Self-Esteem

A big part of improving your self-esteem is self-awareness. Learning about yourself and being more mindful about how you treat yourself as well as how others treat you can help set the foundation for healthy self-esteem. 

Self-care and negative self-talk also play a role in self-esteem. Remind yourself that you deserve to be healthy – mind, body and spirit. To do so, you’ll need to participate fully in your recovery, eat well, stay active, sleep, practice stress management and engage in activities that make you feel alive and fulfilled. 

You also deserve to be treated well – and this includes making a bigger effort to treat yourself with kindness and compassion. Make a big effort to stop negative self-talk. For example, the next time you find yourself beating yourself up over something you did or did not do, stop and think of something more positive. 

Learning to change your mindset and learn from (not dwell) on mistakes is an important process for a successful recovery and healthy self-esteem. 

Building Self-Esteem at Complete Harmony
We offer our clients a variety of holistic and alternative therapies that will help you or someone you love improve your self-esteem and boost your chance at lasting sobriety. For more information about our cutting edge treatments, call today: 866-930-4673.

How to Get Out of a Recovery Rut

We all have good and bad days and we all get into ruts once in awhile. While this is completely normal, it’s also risky to your recovery if you get stuck in a rut. Here are some tips to help you pick yourself up and push through.

• Show yourself compassion. Beating yourself up is never the answer. Especially during recovery when you’re fragile, it’s important to show yourself kindness and view any bumps in the road as learning experiences. 
• Reengage in your recovery. Ask yourself: What have you done today to help your recovery? For example, did you meet with your therapist, write in a journal, meditate or attend a support group? Making sure you complete your recovery task on a daily basis can help keep you out of a rut.
• Practice self-care. Whether you carve out quiet time to pray or meditate or just go for a brisk walk in nature, taking 10 minutes to mind your wellbeing will help keep you inspired and motivated.
• Be more mindful. Without judgment, consider any feelings that could be causing your rut. Try writing them down in a journal and then putting it aside. This exercise can help you move past any emotional roadblocks that may be in your way. 
• Avoid comparisons. No one’s recovery is the same and so don’t get caught up in comparing your progress with someone else’s. This can just foster negative feelings and unrealistic expectations. The result: a rut!
• Remember, you’re not alone. Again, we all get into ruts now and again. Do your best to stay positive, seek support and push on through.

Staying Inspired at Complete Harmony

At Complete Harmony, we provide the tools you or someone you love needs to endure the ups and downs of recovery. To learn more about our cutting edge treatments, call us today: 866-930-4673.