Here’s a challenge; Be more #tolerant, #patient, & #compassionate than u were the day b4. Do this everyday!! #IceBucketChallenge #Ferguson
— Christian L. Aviance (@angelindiskies)August 21, 2014
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#hate #racism #addiction #ice bucket challenge #ferguson #bigotry #noh8 #recovery #sobrietyMore you might like
God might be optional, but so-called spiritual experiences—and an increased attitude of forgiveness—seem to give alcoholics an edge during the first year of recovery, say psychiatric workers at the University of Michigan Addiction Research Center. Like it or not, AA and most other 12-Step programs have a “God as you understand it” clause. Sometimes the emotional impulse that kicks off a successful recovery comes in a form identified as “spiritual.” Recent arguments over the issue have threatened to split Alcoholics Anonymous into warring camps. While AA diehards battle with secular 12-Steppers over the issue of spirituality and religion, Elizabeth Robinson and coworkers at the University of Michigan have been trying to look at the picture apart from the AA universe. As Robinson puts it, “prior studies have been limited to treatment-seeking and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) samples.” So the Michigan group recruited 364 volunteers from abstinence-based treatment centers, a moderation drinking program, and untreated individuals from the local community.
The researchers measured the spiritual and religious belief structure of the alcoholics at the beginning of the survey period, and again at six months. They collected reports of spiritual and religious experiences during that time, and used this data to predict who would show a “good drinking outcome” at nine months. Robinson says that participants who reported “increases in day-to-day spiritual experiences” were the most likely to be free of heavy drinking episodes 3 months later. The definitions are vague, and the study is fraught with “confounding variables,” as the researchers like to say, but Robinson and her co-workers say that the best outcomes were found in volunteers who had daily spiritual experiences, and who showed increases in psychological measures of “forgiveness” and “purpose in life.” The three-year study suggested to Robinson that spirituality, so called, “was not necessarily a matter of believing in one interpretation of God, or even belief in a God of any kind…. The relationship between spirituality and likelihood of recovery was unrelated to whether a person took part in AA or not.”
I haven’t signed up yet. I am actually nervous about it for some reason. A Social Network for those in Recovery?!
Addiction is a disease, that being said - there are many networking sites for people suffering from various maladies. I see how this could be a great resource for the newcomer.
February 3rd - In Thought
I am find myself in states of euphoria in recovery and this feeling is now welcomed and appreciated in my life. Happiness was something that was lost to me in active addiction.
A power greater than me rushes over me. Where does it come from? I don’t know. Why am I having it? I truly believe staying clean is a big part of it. The work I put into my recovery comes back to me as rewards of serenity and happiness.
My miserable existence, when I was using, included happy feelings only when I got what I wanted. Even after that was accomplished I soon wanted something else and would go about getting my way whatever way I had to. I was never satisfied. Chasing after what I thought made me happy (validation, success, love) still feeling that I didn’t deserve any of it. I feared all of it (I could accept a compliment I thought everyone was just being nice to me; I didn’t feel that I was good enough to make it in this world; I felt that I found love that it would be taken from me because i am destined to be alone). Those things I feared, I chased.
Today, I have given myself permission to be happy. To enjoy living, even with life’s ups and downs (it’s not all Rainbows and Unicorns) and that’s OK. Staying clean is given me a high that I could never achieve on drugs. I am going to continue to work on my happiness - one day at a time.
Recovery Month promotes the societal benefits of prevention, treatment, and recovery for mental and substance use disorders, celebrates people in recovery, lauds the contributions of treatment and service providers, and promotes the message that recovery in all its forms is possible. Recovery Month spreads the positive message that behavioral health is essential to overall health, that prevention works, treatment is effective and people can and do recover.
The struggle is real #addiction #recovery The Bus Stops Here
January 3rd - In Thought
We do have a voice when we come into recovery, and we learn to use our voice in a healthy manner. When we are in active addiction the drug speaks through us or sometimes keeps us from speaking at all. Any harms that we feel have been brought upon us become minimized because we feel that we deserved it or getting loaded was more important than whatever grievances we have. On the other hand, the smallest thing, that would interfere with us getting what we wanted and when wanted, we turn it into a catastrophic event as if the whole world was plotting against us or about to end.
They say that feelings are not facts, yet it is a fact that we do feel…
We learn to be honest with others about how we have been affected by their behaviors or a particular situation. After becoming willing to listen to gain a better understanding we may find that things are not as bad as they appear. Also, in more serious matters, being in recovery we learn to assess situations and make rational decisions and take action. Less and less do we get into shouting matches, or react in harmful ways on impulse. In learning to listen, we begin to respect the voice of others; we not only harmed ourselves in our active addiction. Our behaviors affected our relationships with our family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors.
No longer do we need to run to our cop spot because we believe that someone hurt our feelings. We take ownership of our shortcomings and try daily to change our behaviors. Staying clean gives us the chance to recognize these behaviors in us that have caused havoc in all aspects of our lives. We stay away from people, places, and things that could affect our emotional, physical, and spiritual well being. In turn, affecting our recovery.
We begin to learn how and when to use our voice - one day at a time.
January 4th - In Thought
The social stigma attached to being an addict may keep many of us from coming into recovery. Today we have scientific proof that addiction is a treatable disease. However, society still views those suffering from addictions as weak or that they have a moral deficiency. Because of this we hide our problem from our loved ones and others we are in contact with; going into isolation as our disease progresses.
The stigmatized are often rejected by society. Coming into recovery we gain new coping skills to deal with the rejection that often produces feelings of shame, guilt and low self-esteem. We begin by actively listening to how other recovering addicts, that have had similar feelings of not fitting the mold of society’s ‘norm’, live their lives on life’s terms. We learn that we can not control how those who do not understand addictions feel about us but we can control how we react to being stigmatized. Through self-honesty; admitting to ourselves that we suffer from the disease of addiction. Empowering ourselves by accepting this and taking action to treat our chronic illness whether through self-help fellowships and/or professional mental health service we begin the work to free ourselves from active addiction; bringing us out of isolation and closer to being productive members of society.
“I am a recovering addict and what you think of me is none of my business.”
We have many advocates in recovery that are helping to reduce stigma and increase treatment for those with addiction. Your best advocate in recovery to reduce stigma is your own recovery by empowering yourself with the tools to keep you from returning to active addiction and finding a new way to live and helping others to do the same.
It will take time to and it will take work. At first we may not see the change in ourselves but with continued work on our recovery; others will see the change in us. We are not bad people trying to be good; we are sick people trying to well - one day at a time.
addiction #recovery #sobriety
#recovery #addiction #sobriety #meditation #wellness #quote
True story
#recovery #addiction #photography #quote #sobriety #drugs #instaquote #instagay #ChristianLedanPhotography #drugs #clean #xl #instasize
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