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Thursday, October 24, 2019

How a Recovery Journal Can Help You Maintain Your Sobriety

If you have kept a journal or diary at any point in your life, you are probably already familiar with how therapeutic it can be to write down your thoughts and feelings. Doing so not only makes you feel calmer and more in control, but in going back and reviewing previous entries, you can put your progress in perspective.

Keeping a journal can benefit your mental health, but it can also be a tremendously useful tool if you’re working through the daily challenges associated with addiction recovery. Let’s explore some of the top advantages of keeping a journal, and you can decide whether to use this writing exercise to strengthen your recovery efforts.

1. Getting to Know Yourself

If you are trying to work on the root causes of your addiction, it can be helpful to spot patterns behind your triggers, cravings and the issues you struggle with most. You might also benefit from being able to identify specific negative thoughts and emotions that can put your recovery efforts at risk. When you can recognize harmful self-talk creeping in, you can take steps to reframe it into more positive language.

It’s both unhealthy and unconstructive to keep difficult emotions pent up inside. Retaining bottled-up feelings can overstress you and threaten your sobriety. Your journal, therefore, can be a quiet, safe place for you to express yourself with no worry about external judgment or criticism.

2. Evaluating Your Progress

If you are still in the early phases of your recovery, you might be relying on your journal as an outlet for your most complex, confusing emotions. Given enough space and time, you’ll see a bigger picture start to emerge as you get a more complete sense of what you need to navigate the waters of recovery. Your journal entries will reflect your growth and development one day at a time.

As you continue to make progress in your recovery, your journal can begin to serve as a series of inspirational messages from your previous selves. When you have a few moments to spare, take a few minutes to review your earliest journal entries and compare them to the more recent ones you’ve written. You will probably be pleasantly surprised by the progress you’ve made, which can enable you to let go of your past and begin starting over.

3. Freeing Your Mind of Burdens

If you struggle with anxiety, you already know the rush of unwanted feelings and intrusive thoughts it can bring on. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed with stress and a near-constant stream of worry, journaling can help you unburden yourself. In many cases, the straightforward act of putting your worries into words will calm your racing mind and enable you to relax and let go of tension.

4. Protecting Your Privacy

One other noticeable benefit of journaling is that it allows you to put your thoughts and feelings on paper, while still keeping them private. Unless you want to, you never have to share your journal with anybody else. That means you can be as honest as you need to be about the challenges you’re having from moment to moment, or even in the long term.

Think of your journal as a conversation between your current self and your past self. There is no “wrong” or “right” way to keep a journal. Just put your fingers on the keyboard – or your pen on your paper – and let the thoughts flow out of your subconscious mind.

A Proud History of Recovery Results At Complete Harmony, we combine traditional, evidence-based therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy with holistic approaches like massage, meditation, acupuncture and yoga to create a highly effective, non-12-step addiction recovery program. If you’re ready to discover a fresh beginning without relying on the crutch of drugs and alcohol, contact us today.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

How to Explain Addiction to a Non-Addict

Millions of people have experimented with drugs, and many people regularly have a few glasses of wine with dinner. Most of those people can use these substances in moderation, and don’t overindulge to the point of jeopardizing their health, happiness and well-being. However, the situation is quite different for someone who develops an addiction. Once the powerful pull of a substance use disorder takes over your life, you lose the ability to say no.

As a person in recovery, you will eventually reach a point where you meet someone new and have to explain the difference between occasional substance use and a full-scale addiction. A casual user who has control over when and how much they drink or use drugs may say offhand things such as, “Just one won’t hurt,” without understanding how much harm it can do. What can you do when those around you don’t understand how challenging it is to walk the path of recovery?

Addiction Isn’t a Lack of Willpower

There is a persistent stigma around addiction that it stems from a place of weakness. However, addiction is a chronic, progressive disease. As with other such illnesses, there is no cure, but someone who has developed a substance misuse disorder can learn strategies to manage it and keep its symptoms at bay.

Many people, including some living with an active addiction, chalk substance misuse up to a lack of willpower. When you accept that you have a lifelong sickness, it becomes easier to stand by your convictions, avoid temptation and do what you need to do to protect your sobriety.

Become Your Best Advocate

As with any other chronic disease, there may be various times when your symptoms flare up. In recovery, you could struggle more during stressful times at work or with family members. Other triggering events could involve places or people that remind you of when you used to drink or use drugs. At these times, you must stay attuned to your triggers and take additional steps to protect yourself. If you encounter a situation that puts your sobriety at risk, give yourself permission to walk away. Tell people around you that you may need to leave an event suddenly if you feel endangered in any way.

Be an Educational Resource

Some people may not understand addiction as a disease because nobody has ever adequately explained it to them. With their permission, explain that many diseases and disorders may not display obvious symptoms, but that doesn’t make them any less genuine. People living with these conditions learn to develop strategies to help them manage their symptoms and live as close to a normal life as possible. No one would attempt to downplay the severity of heart disease, depression or diabetes. Addiction requires the same compassionate response.

Accept That Not Everyone Will Understand

No matter how thoroughly you spell out why addiction is an illness that requires you to manage it for the rest of your life, you will still encounter people who don’t believe you. You must be tolerant and have realistic explanations for what people will be able to accept. Some people you meet will not appreciate how many obstacles you have faced in achieving sobriety, and that’s OK.

What matters most is that you know what you’ve been through, what you need to be healthy and that you never compromise your health and happiness to meet other people’s expectations. Surround yourself with people who offer you the love and support you deserve. Your life is in the balance, and you deserve to live free of the burden of substance abuse.

Your Recovery Awaits

At Complete Harmony, we offer a holistic, non-12-step approach to treating substance misuse issues. To learn more about how we can help you achieve mental, physical and spiritual health, speak to a recovery advisor today.
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