I love what Oprah Winfrey said about telling our stories being the most powerful tool we have. Of course, she hasn’t been the first person to say this, but she is most definitely right. I’ve been hearing it for ten years from different camps during my long and sometimes treacherous crusade to recover my mental

When I was 16, I was 5’8 and 115 pounds. I was able to run a five minute mile and had complete control over my eating habits. Fast forward 12 years later, I am 28-years-old and over 200 pounds and cannot even jog a block before getting winded, I don’t know where things exactly went

Most of my recovery path started behind a keyboard. Clear minded for the first time in longer than I wish to remember, my brain eagerly absorbed all there was to learn about addiction and recovery. Countless hours navigating the latest trends, epidemics and tragedies of the thousands of lives lost from this forbidden curse we call addiction. And just as much time was spent wandering

    Addicts of all types almost universally experience an increasing tolerance to the mood-altering effects of their substance/behavior of choice. As a result, they must, over time, use more of that addictive substance/behavior or a more intense substance/behavior to achieve and maintain the escapist high they seek. If you’re struggling to understand this, consider

There is a slogan in every 12 step recovery program (although it originated elsewhere) that says “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.” Since most slogans have at least a morsel of truth in them, I thought it might be a good idea to look at this one. This

What do I mean by Recovery? Recovery is the process of being able to consistently abstain from a problematic substance or behavior, to correct control over behaviors that damage personal relationships, and to repair dysfunctional emotional responses. (Adapted from the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s definition of addiction.) In finding control over behaviors we also

Have you ever lost someone that you loved very much…..and he/she is still alive? Has one of your loved ones ever completely changed their personality, and thus your relationship is not the same? Do you love someone who you cannot be with, because it will jeopardize your recovery? If you answered, ‘Yes’ to any of

  “I amz what I amz and that’s allz that I amz.” (Every freakin’ episode?) – Popeye T. Sailorman    Rarely did I go down without a fight. As a result, acceptance in any area of my life was always a struggle proportionate to the current unpleasant episode I was confronted with. My drinking was the

      Relapse and Triggers What is Relapse? Lapse describes a short “fall off the wagon,” and relapse describes a longer and perhaps more permanent “fall off the wagon.”. Hendershot et al. describe it this way: “a setback during the behavior changing process” (2011 www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1747-597X-6-17/pdf) . If you re-engage with sugar or sex, codependent

    Early in my recovery I went to an NA Convention and I heard a girl share. “All my life I kept the right ones out and let the wrong ones in.” That was a life changing moment for me that lead to the writing of “Amazing” with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. After an