Getting Clean Living Sober
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    • Relapse Prevention
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    • Self Esteem
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  • Addiction Education
    • Addicted Body
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Getting Clean Living Sober

  • Getting Ready
    • Hitting Bottom
    • Ability
    • Attitude
    • Motivation
  • Getting Clean
    • Getting Help
    • Drug Detox
    • Drug Addiction Treatment
  • Living Sober
    • Relapse Prevention
    • Emotional Self-Control
    • Life Coping Skills
    • Self Esteem
  • Your Health
    • Fitness
    • Nutrition
  • Addiction Education
    • Addicted Body
    • Addicted Brain
  • Articles
Category

Living Sober

Changing your lifestyle to support long term sobriety.

Emotional Self-Control

Who Else Wants To Control Emotions And Feelings? Secrets To Help You Gain Control Of Emotions Revealed

Will you ever gain control of your feelings? Can you ever gain control of your emotions?

Will you ever gain control of your feelings? Were you ever gain control of your emotions?I hope so. Not letting your emotions control you is a necessary skill that needs to be mastered to sustain long-term recovery. Feeling emotionally out of control or having mood swings in early recovery is perfectly normal. So don’t be surprised when they either bubble up or erupt like a volcano.

People in recovery are dealing with a massive amount of change. Change generates emotions. Big changes generate big emotions.

Emotions are such a big part of being a human being, it’s kind of surprising that people don’t pay more attention to the idea that they can control their emotions and feelings.

In this post we will reveal where feelings come from initially and give you some tips on controlling emotions. Just because you’re feeling a certain way doesn’t mean that you have to run with it and stay stuck with it. It is possible to gain some control over your emotions and feelings.

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Where Do Feelings And Emotions Come From, Anyway?

Most people don’t really have a clue or care where feelings come from. They notice their feelings sometimes, but it’s kind of like poof –I feeling popped up – ‘ I’m depressed’ for example. Feelings don’t just pop up they come from anywhere. There is actually an identified progression that helps identify why a person is feeling a certain way at a certain time. Let’s use an example.

Who Else Wants To Control Emotions And Feelings? Secrets To Help You Gain Control Of Emotions RevealedA friend Alex says to me ‘I’m feeling really depressed and don’t know what to do about it.’ I certainly would not Alex he shouldn’t feel depressed and because he has a lot of good things going on their life etc. He, (and you) have a right to feel your feelings, there are no good or bad feelings they just are.

If Alex wanted to talk about being depressed, I might start with an observation something the effect of “Wow, that’s a shame, you’re not usually depressed. What you thinking about that has you feeling depressed?’ Alex might reply “Well Christmas is coming up pretty soon and my family is 1500 miles away and I’m feeling all alone and left out.”

I could understand that.

I might continue in a gentle probe saying “So what was going on around you that had you thinking you’re all alone and left out?” His answer might be: “Well I was watching one of those sappy movies on the Hallmark Channel about a guy going home at Christmas time for a family reunion and I kind of wish that was happening to me.”

Let’s leave the example for just a moment and look at the process. This is really important. Here’s how feeling show up in your life:

  1. An event occurs. (Watching the Hallmark Channel)
  2. You think about it this way or that way. (I’m all alone, not like the show)
  3. Your thoughts generate feelings. (I feel depressed.)

Events >>>Thoughts >>>Feelings

Notice what happens here. Alex first identified the feeling of being depressed. We had to then backtrack to identify what kind of thoughts were generating those feelings. Going back one step further we identified the event that was generating the thought, that led to the feeling of depression. It is kind of like doing a little detective work. But once you know the formula feelings are easy to puzzle out.

Where do feelings come from? Quite simply, an event occurs we have thoughts about it, and that generates feelings. Only all the time.

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How Do You Control Your Feelings And Not Let Your Feelings Control You? The Theory.

In the previous section we look at where feelings came from and it looked something like this:

Events >>>Thoughts >>>Feelings>…

Well, I think you’re ready for the rest of the equation – two that we are going to add:

 Actions >>> Results.

So it now look like this:

Events >>>Thoughts >>>Feelings>>> Actions >>> Results

control emotionsIn my previous example with a person who is feeling depression I might’ve asked so what did you do because you were feeling depressed? An answer might be ‘I was feeling so depressed I went to bed early and slept all the next day, it cost me a days pay of work’.

So, that feeling of depression actually generated a course of action  – which was to climb into bed and that generated the results of losing a days work.

That formula above is the way human beings are designed to work. If I put it into plain language it run something like this: something happens and we think about it, that generates our feelings about the event and then we act out of that emotional state and get the results of our actions.

We drifted away from the original question how do you control your feelings? There are several answers to that:

  1. Become aware of your feelings be able to identify exactly what it is you’re feeling. Addicts are notorious for not being able to separate feelings from thoughts, and having extremely poor vocabulary for feelings. They usually I die identify their feelings as “good or bad”.
  2. Decide whether you want to change your feelings or not. Not everybody wants to change negative feelings there might be a payoff in there somewhere.
  3. Identify and change the thoughts that are creating those feelings in the first place. In the depression example we are using the fellow actually changed his thinking to this “Well I might be lonely for a little while my family really does love me even though they’re not here. Maybe I can go visit”. He did not stay stuck he changed his thinking.
  4. You can also not subject to yourself to the events that cause certain feelings. Don’t watch sappy movies on the Hallmark Channel. Stop doing shameful things to support your drug habit. Raise your standards.
  5. Feelings can also be changed by taking action. There’s an old saying in the 12 step rooms move a muscle change a thought. If you’re feeling lonely and depressed, stop eating Cheetos, get off the couch, and go to a 12 step meeting and be around some people.

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6 Practical Tips To Gain Control Of Emotions

You can practice gaining control of your emotions with these tips and strategies:

  1. Negative emotions don’t last forever. If you’re angry about something right now, you’ll probably be over it by next year, next week, or even by tomorrow. But emotions tend to focus our attention right here and now. We don’t consider the potential long-term consequences that a temporary emotional state can create. This is especially true in taking action when you’re in a highly emotional state.gain control of your emotions
  1. Examine and become aware of your emotions. Learn to notice when you’re getting emotional. When you notice yourself reacting strongly, ask yourself why. Try to label the emotion. Analyze why you’re feeling that particular emotion and then admit it to yourself. Just acknowledge it. It’s okay to feel any given way, but you don’t have to stay stuck in it.
  1. Take some time for you act. Many of the challenges created by our emotions could be eliminated if we could just take a moment before reacting. There is a huge difference between considering a few different ways to react and going with the first thing that comes to mind. My sponsor used to say to me all the time “bill, first thought wrong.” What he was saying is don’t fly off the handle and the first thing that pops into your head consider some alternatives..
  1. Find a role model with a great attitude. Would you take your car to an accountant to get it fixed? Probably not! Learn emotional control from those that maintain their composure regardless of the circumstances. When you find such a person, ask them how they do it. The answers you receive could make all the difference.
  1. Find a healthy way to release negative emotions. Don’t stuff them down inside our actions can influence our moods. If you’re feeling bored while watching TV, there’s no reason to continue watching TV. Exercise is great for working out and emotional state and it is a great way to release energy. Suppressed or repressed emotions are a common relapse trigger.
  1. Try altering your breathing. Many people assume that emotions are entirely psychological, but there is a physical component. Realize that all emotions are ultimately experienced as physical feelings in your body. You’ve just learned to label certain body feelings with names like “anger” and “fear.”

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Highly Recommended:

Healing for Damaged EmotionsHealing for Damaged EmotionsLiving Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Emotions So They Don'tLiving Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Emotions So They Don’tEnemies of the Heart: Breaking Free from the FourEnemies of the Heart: Breaking Free from the Four

Video - Manage Your Emotions | Change Everything In Your Life. This Is A GREAT 7 Minute Video

https://youtu.be/SPtmJt9_3sU

addiction recoverySummary:

Controlling your feelings and emotions is one of the essential social and life skills for adults that needs to be mastered. If you’re used to being controlled by your emotions, you know that it’s not easy to maintain your composure. But you can choose to respond differently to your emotions and make wiser choices. Negative emotions exist to inform us that something might be wrong. They are not there to control us.

You don’t have to passively accept your mood. Go do something else and change it!

 

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We would love to have you Share Your Comments with us and our readers. Please leave a comment. Our form is at the end of this post.

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Some Really Good Resources

Free Resources:

  1. Drugs, Brains and Behavior: The Science of Addiction (Drugabuse.gov) – In my opinion this is the best short read on addiction. I have used the content for many therapy groups and lectures…check it out.
  2. Understanding Drug Use and Addiction Many people don’t understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. This explains it nicely.

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Who Else Wants To Control Emotions And Feelings? Secrets To Help You Gain Control Of Emotions Revealed was last modified: April 18th, 2017 by Bill_Urell
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Relapse Prevention

Get Rid Of Boredom In Addiction Recovery | Stop The Boredom Relapse Once And For All

boredom relapse

Question: Why did you relapse? Answer: ‘I got bored – I had a boredom relapse.’ Are you kidding me?

Rationally, logically, or to a person who is not addicted to drugs, the boredom relapse excuse for a relapse in addiction recovery just doesn’t make any sense.

That being said, boredom in addiction recovery is one of the most often cited reasons addicts give for relapse. On a superficial level an addict being bored is a breeding ground for the genius idea of “I got something to do I’ll go get high.”

There is a lot more to it than that.

Read on as we dig a little deeper into what this boredom relapse is really all about

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But What Exactly Is Boredom, Especially As A Drug Addiction Relapse Trigger?

Have you really thought about what boredom actually is?

Boredom is a feeling or state of mind. Life is very dull, that nothing is going on, everything is monotonous, not exciting, no actionand very tiring. Same old same old.

Sometimes a vacuum is created when we stop hanging around old people, places, and situations that used to occupy so much of our time in getting high and staying high.

Most addicts will take the often the advice of changing who they hang with and where they hand out. It’s a good thing to change their surroundings. The error that is often made is they do not replace old people places and things with new, supportive people places and things. So, sometimes a vacuum is created in that space between dumping the old people, places and things and acquiring new friends. Finding fun, safe people to hang out with can be a slow process. That in between period can be very dangerous.

Boredom simply means that nothing new is going on. The danger here is that one nothing new is going on, a natural inclination for addicts and alcoholics is to start thinking about stimulation and thrill seeking.  We all know something that works very well to change any mood and it works very quickly. Go get high. Overcoming boredom is a fundamental piece of drug relapse education.

There is a solution to avoid this deadly trap.

Boredom Relapse? Get Off Your Butt And Do Something!

First off, realize that being bored is not really a fact. It is a feeling and a mood that is generated by some type of thinking going on in your head at the moment. You can change your moods and feelings by changing your thinking.

For example, in my head I’ll say I’m bored. A question to ask myself is what am I thinking that is a leading me to the conclusion that I am bored at this moment? Chances are I might be having a thought of ‘I have nothing to do tonight’, or’ my family is not around’. Those thoughts lead to the feeling of being bored. Do some detective work and figure out what you’re thinking that has you feeling this way.

Here is a novel concept: change your thinking to change your mood.

Here are a couple questions I asked myself when my thoughts might be getting myself in trouble:

  1. Is _____________(whatever I’m thinking) really true?
  2. Do I have to do something about it right now?
  3. How I feel about myself if I don’t do anything about this situation? Better, worse, stay the same.
  4. How I feel about myself if I do something about the situation and change it? Better, worse, stay the same.

Once you decide you want to change your mood, don’t JUST think about it. You must take action for yourself. Get your butt off the couch or out of bed, stop eating Cheetos and start finding some new people and fun activities.

Get interested in other people, extend interest or a helping hand to others. One of the best ways to get out of your own head is to start helping another person, they get the help they need and you feel good about yourself and giving it.

Put yourself in the position of being able to meet new people. Here is a crazy, off-the-wall suggestion (being sarcastic): go to 12 step meetings, go to lots of 12 step meetings. Here is will you find people who understand addiction and better yet are succeeding in recovery. Here’s a line that works beautifully to start a conversation with almost anybody at a meeting stick out your hand and say “hi I’m new here I don’t know what’s going on but I could use some help” I have never known that to fail to start a conversation.

Highly Recommended:

250 Fun Things To Do With Your BFF250 Fun Things To Do With Your BFF250 Things to do with your BF, Boyfriend, The250 Things to do with your BF, Boyfriend, The250 Things To Do Before You Turn 25250 Things To Do Before You Turn 25

Being Bored Is Just A Lame Excuse To Go Get High. You’re Just Got Stuck And Are Staying Stuck

Okay, I hate to be mean about this but…If you have had a period of being clean and abstinent and had a drug relapse and the best excuse who can come up with was “I was bored” something is definitely wrong. You are sorely in need of drug relapse prevention planning.

The thing that might be wrong is that you had already made your mind up to go get high and were just waiting for an excuse to do so. Boredom is one of those negative or non-events that a person can use to justify or rationalize getting high. The opposite of boredom as an excuse to get high is having some catastrophe or significant event happen and then use that as an excuse to get high.

People who get bored in their recovery have gotten stuck. They have become abstinent, just saying no to the drug for a while, but have stopped growing in the recovery and developing social and life skills. People often say that addiction recovery is a journey process not a destination. process or journey means you are moving, arriving at a destination means you have stopped. That means that you must be moving forward all the time. It doesn’t matter whether you’re going faster slow, you just can’t stop and get stuck and stay stuck. The most often  quote from someone who has stopped growing and moving forward is:

I got this.

My sponsor said to me one time “Bill, if you want to relapse just don’t do anything.”

Living sober and sustaining a sober life actually means continued to personal growth. People who have long-term sobriety have mastered the skills of not using drugs and saying no to them. But, more importantly they have mastered the skills of exploring, trying new things, and enjoying life to the fullest.

Watch This Video - He Attacks Boredom From A New Angle And Nails It (5 minute video

Summary

The boredom relapse excuse is one of the most often talked about reasons addicts will give after the fact, when they return to drug use. The reality is that boredom in addiction recovery need not ever happen. If you find yourself sliding into that boredom mentality for goodness sake change your thinking. Tribe are being grateful for everything that you have. Remember the pain of using and the pain of stopping. There is an old saying that says “move a muscle change a thought”.

To alleviate boredom either change your thinking or do something.

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Some Really Good Resources

Free Resources:

  1. Drugs, Brains and Behavior: The Science of Addiction (Drugabuse.gov) – In my opinion this is the best short read on addiction. I have used the content for many therapy groups and lectures…check it out.
  2. Lets Talk About Craving Cravings may have their beginnings outside conscious awareness.

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Get Rid Of Boredom In Addiction Recovery | Stop The Boredom Relapse Once And For All was last modified: April 17th, 2017 by Bill_Urell
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Self Esteem

Stop Low Self Esteem Forever By Grasping This One Simple Principle

stop low self esteem

Stop low self esteem forever? Learn one simple principle? You might be thinking I’m out of my mind, and for a long time I was.

The bad news was there was no self-esteem, self-love, or self-acceptance in my life during my active addiction, (the good news is that changed as I started living sober). If you can relate, read on.

Just think about this for a second. What causes you to believe that you have low self-esteem? The answer is blindingly simple – you cause yourself to believe it.  You believe you have low self esteem: I happen to believe that you have a lot of value and purpose in this world. Who’s right and who’s wrong? You or me? The answer is up to you.

Spoiler Alert: Here Is the simple principle: change your point of view. You are making it up. Stop it. Your old beliefs are not true, (they just feel that way).

You Create Your Own Thoughts Of Self Esteem

What is self-esteem, really? It is simply an opinion or point of view by you, of you.

When I was at the end of my active drug and alcohol use my opinion of myself was “I’m a worthless piece of garbage.” Every morning I woke up and my first thought was “oh crap I woke up.” Life was simply waiting to die. That was my point of view.

I was entitled to my point of view and I believed it to be true. As long as I continued to buy my own bull shit, I could not have changed.

I’ve got a serious question for you. Why are you making up a story that you have no no value or worth and believing it? Were you born with no self-worth and low self-esteem? No, you probably heard it or learned it along the way. It aws repeated to you in some sort of way that made sense to you and started to believe it. You grooved it in your brain. Once you believed it, you probably started acting in a way that supported your belief. If you have a negative belief system, negative emotions will be generated from it. You can also control negative emotions.

Where Do Your Beliefs Come From - Who Creates Them?

A belief is simply a thought that you have repeated to yourself many, many times until you believe it to be a truth.

Here’s the tricky part: your beliefs may not be actually, factually, true. You may just THINK they are.

Don’t get me wrong, you are entitled to any belief you want to have. Just be aware that some believes will cause guilt shame and a lot of negative emotions. If you change your point of view you may experience a more positive set of emotions. That’s up to you which you choose to do. It’s in your own hands.

This is important: you are making it all up. You are creating your own view of yourself, your own view of others, your own view of the world. Do these beliefs serve you in being happy or are they doing a dis-service in keeping you stuck and miserable? Once you realize that you’re making it all up, why would you create negative points of view that lead to pain. Why not create positive points of view that lead to happiness and peace? It’s up to you, your choice.

Stop That Negative Thinking – Start Thinking Positively

Here a few ideas about changing your thoughts, beliefs and point of view.

  1. Stop the negative self-talk. What do you say when you talk to yourself? Some psychologists estimate that more than 75% of our thoughts in our heads are negative.

The brain uses different hemispheres to sort through negative and positive information, says Clifford Nass,  a professor of communications at Stanford University – explains,

“Negative emotions generally require more thinking, and the information is processed more thoroughly than positive ones.”

The extra brain power that’s required to process negative emotions means we spend more time contemplating the bad stuff and less time on the good stuff

Negative self-talk can be destructive to your self-esteem and self confidence. Examples of negative self-talk are comments like, “I know I’ll never amount to anything” ,“ I can’t do this.” And “I wish I never woke up today.”

  1. Learn to distract yourself from negative thoughts. As soon as you begin to think negatively, it’s your responsibility to change those thoughts. Notice right away when negativity is floating through your mind. Then do something to change it. This is critical, don’t keep rolling with that first negative thought that pops in your head.

A technique that I use is to visualize a stop sign like you see on the side of the road. As soon as I start having a negative thought I visualize that stop sign flashing in my face really fast stop, stop, stop. The idea is just to interrupt the thought. Then you can stake stock and distract yourself with something else that may sound weird but it works.

I had a client who pictured a giant pencil eraser and when she had negative thoughts she used to go you erase, erase, erase.

You can also use distraction another way. Tell yourself, “I’m not going to think about that right now. Instead, I’m going to watch a movie.” Or you could say, “I’m going to do something positive right now, like wash the car.”

The key is to be aware of your thoughts so you can immediately change your thinking (and perhaps your activity) at the time you begin thinking negatively.

Stop That Negative Thinking – Start Thinking Positively

The first step in changing your point of view is to recognize when those negative thoughts pop up. Now you have to do something about them – Change them to positive. Here are a few ideas:

1.Take a look at your successes. Remembering what you’ve done well in the past will help you gain some wind beneath your wings. When you remind yourself that you’ve enjoyed some great successes, you’ll realize that you can also have great success in your present and future.

2. Consider the skills you have developed and character traits that helped you succeed. Perhaps you used determination and grit to stop drinking and drugging. Maybe you persevered through a very rough time and came out on top. Give yourself some credit.

3. Those positive qualities are still inside of you. You just forget the most of the time Vow to re-discover the aspects of yourself that kept you going to achieve past successes. Raise your level of self-awareness to the positive rather than toward the negative You’ll feel great about yourself.

Highly Recommended:

You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an AwesomeYou Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an AwesomeSelf-Esteem: A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Your Self-EsteemSelf-Esteem: A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Your Self-EsteemWhy Do I Do That?: Psychological Defense Mechanisms and the Hidden Ways They Shape OurWhy Do I Do That?: Psychological Defense Mechanisms and the Hidden Ways They Shape OurThe Six Pillars of Self-Esteem: The Definitive Work on Self-Esteem by the Leading PioneerThe Six Pillars of Self-Esteem: The Definitive Work on Self-Esteem by the Leading PioneerGet Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating BehaviorGet Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating BehaviorThe Self-Esteem Workbook - The Second Edition by Glenn R. Schiraldi PhDThe Self-Esteem Workbook – The Second Edition by Glenn R. Schiraldi PhD

Self Esteem Video - Understanding & Fixing Low Self-Esteem (5 minutes).

Pinterest - Pin it - Stop Low Self Esteem

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Summary

  • You are responsible for your own thoughts.
  • You can choose to believe positive thoughts about yourself or negative thoughts about yourself.
  • You have the power to change your point of view any time you want.
  • Don’t let other people form your view of yourself. What other people think of you is none of your business.
  • Everybody has some self-doubt, be aware this is normal and don’t let it linger. Change your thinking.

It is entirely possible for you to stop low self esteem by becoming aware of those thoughts about yourself that don’t serve you. Next, make decision to throw them out, refute them, stop buying you same old story. Next create a different point of view that serves you better and causes a more positive outlook on your self and the world. Changing you belief system is one of several essential social and life skill needed to support living sober

Some Really Good Resources

Free Resources:

  1. Why Self Esteem Is Important For Mental Health (NAMI.org) A real nice article from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
  2. Poor Self Esteem: A Missed Diagnosis   This art icle from Psychology today takes the position that “marginal self-worth manifests through an array of dysfunction, including but not limited to depression, anxiety, ADHD, codependence, failed relationships and, even more tragically, lives lived out in mediocrity.”

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Stop Low Self Esteem Forever By Grasping This One Simple Principle was last modified: April 18th, 2017 by Bill_Urell
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Relapse Prevention

3 Scary Truths About Living Sober And The Threat Of Relapse

The whole point of getting clean and living sober is to stop using drugs and alcohol for good. Get stopped and stay stopped, as opposed to get high and stay high.

Part of the definition of addiction to alcohol and drugs includes the fact that it is a relapsing disease. That means that while it is not necessarily a fact that all people will relapse, it does happen with a frequency that cannot and should not be ignored.

Unfortunately, there are three scary truths concerning the difficulty of staying abstinent and living sober.

Many People Relapse - Go Back to Drinking and Drugging

  1. Relapse is extremely common after drug and alcohol treatment.

There really are no reliable statistics on what percentage of people actually stay clean long-term after drug addiction treatment, but is certainly a fact that a far larger number of people relapse. The good news is that relapse is not necessary, and it need not be part of anybody’s recovery. Some people believe that having the occasional relapse okay and it is expected. I disagree. Relapse need not be part of anyone’s long-term sobriety. However, common sense states that you should have an action plan to handle the threat of relapse and just in case relapse occurs.

Relapse justification is simply rationalization or creating a story in your mind that make it seem okay to return to using alcohol or drugs after starting a recovery program.  Some common B.S people believe…for example: I wasn’t really that bad, or I’ve feeling so much better, surely just one or two couldn’t hurt. This part of relapse is all in your head.

My own tempting thoughts were – ‘I’m a grown man nobody can tell me what to do’ and alcohol is my problem, I can do cocaine and smoke weed’.

Heading Toward A Relapse? - The Signs Of Impending Doom Are Clear

  1. Relapse is predictable if you ignore warning signs.

One of the advantages of attending drug and alcohol rehab treatment is gaining the drug relapse prevention education to recognize the distinct warning signs and symptoms of a person who is get engaged in the relapse process. A lot of people believe that relapse begins with resuming drug use. The fact is that the relapse process is the time before the actual using episode. The relapse process gradually involves slipping back to old ways of thinking acting, and emotional dysregulation that facilitated the drug used to begin with. It is usually a gradual slide not evident to the addict but evident to all those around him. Many people are unfamiliar with even the basic concepts of preventing a drug relapse.

Relapse process:  This all that happens before actually picking up. It is the set up. You begin to drift back to old ways of thinking and acting. In other words, it is the gradual return of old attitudes and behaviors that occur in the time before picking up the drink or drug, not afterwards. People around you usually notice it before you do ad may even ask if you are using. Why? Because you’re acting like it?

No One Needs To Relapse Ever...(or Ever Again)

  1. Relapse is absolutely preventable.

Staying sober in living clean is not simply a matter of willpower. There are certain skills that need to be learned, practiced, and woven into the daily fabric of one’s lifestyle change. Some of the necessary skills are learning to take responsibilities for one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. Dangerous situations and both external and internal triggers must be identified and dealt with strategically. Coping skills must be learn to handle uncomfortable emotions. Sobriety and living sober should be identified as a process not as a destination.

Relapse prevention: This is a process that helps a person to identify relapse triggers and change thoughts, feelings, and actions that have the potential to lead back to active alcohol and drug use. Counseling or a 12 step program can be of tremendous help with this essential component of recovery. Do you have a plan in place to handle using thoughts, feelings, actions, urges and enablers?

Highly Recommended:

  • The Recovery Book is the easiest to read reference book on 100’s of topics on addiction recovery. I know tons of couselors who have this on their book shelf and refer to it constantly.
  • The Happy Addict. The Happy Addict is the ultimate guide to achieving an amazing life after addiction. No more guilt. No more shame. No more feeling held back by the past or low self-esteem.
  • The Craving Mind. This ia an Amazon Best Seller. A leading neuroscientist and pioneer in the study of mindfulness explains why addictions are so tenacious and how we can learn to conquer them.

The Recovery Book: Answers to Questions About Addiction and AlcoholismThe Recovery Book: Answers to Questions About Addiction and AlcoholismThe Happy Addict: How to be Happy in Recovery from Alcoholism or Drug AddictionThe Happy Addict: How to be Happy in Recovery from Alcoholism or Drug AddictionThe Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get HookedThe Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked

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Summary:

In conclusion, we would like to note that sustaining long-term recovery is simply not about saying no to drugs (although that is the object of the exercise). It is about gaining an education of the nature of drug addiction, how it personally applies to you, and formulating strategic prevention awareness and actions.

We would love to have you share your comments with us and our readers. Please leave a comment. The form is way down at the end of this post.

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Short Video Clip From HBO - The Science of Relapse

Pinterest - Pin It. 3 Scary Truths About Living Sober And The Threat Of Relapse

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threat of relapse

Some Really Good Resources

Free Resources:

  1. Drugs, Brains and Behavior: The Science of Addiction (Drugabuse.gov) – In my opinion this is the best short read on addiction. I have used the content for many therapy groups and lectures…check it out.
  2. Substance Us In Women Women and men may face unique issues when it comes to substance use, as a result of both sex and gender.

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3 Scary Truths About Living Sober And The Threat Of Relapse was last modified: April 18th, 2017 by Bill_Urell
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Fitness

Recovering Addicts Using Anabolic Steroids Are Playing With Fire

Are you considering using anabolic steroids? This may be a very bad move for those in addiction recovery.

We all carry the hormone testosterone. Anabolic, steroids are artificial versions attempting to replicate the effect of the natural hormone. When used in a fitness regimen the purpose is generally to grow muscles faster which is a side effect of bringing out increased male sexual traits.

Unfortunately, these steroids have other unpleasant and possibly dangerous effects for addict in recovery. They actually cause changes in the structure, function, and chemistry of both the brain and body. Not all these changes are good.

Do You Really Gain Strength In The Body By Taking Anabolic Steroids?

It is common knowledge that amateur and professional athletes seeking an edge will use anabolic steroids to gain strength and size. While they may gain the appearance of getting bigger, anabolic steroids can weaken the body on the inside.

Some of the negative physical effects are:

  1. Weakening the immune system.
  2. Increase in acne.
  3. Kidney problems, liver problems.
  4. An enlarged heart and high blood pressure.

It seems ther is a huge trade off – you can look and appear bigger on the outside but be doing unknown and unseen damage on the inside of your body. For even more information Click on this: Anabolic Steroid Abuse: Substance Abuse Treatment Advisory (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Srvices Administration).

Negative Brain Changes From Drug Addiction And Anabolic Steroids

Anabolic steroids act on the limbic system in the brain. This is really a big deal because this is the part of the brain that regulates learning, memory, and it also regulates changes in mood. Almost everybody has heard of Roid rage; they can stimulate aggressive behavior.

For a drug addict in recovery one of the essential long-term sobriety skills and lifestyle changes needed to succeed is to learn to identify, own, regulate, and process uncomfortable emotions without regressing to the quick fix of pills or drugs. People using anabolic steroids could be keeping alive the addict mentality if 1 is good 5 is way better.This is a trigger and a threat to living sober.

Even More Negative Effects of Anabolic Steroids

Testosterone production is controlled by the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus helps control appetite, blood pressure, moods, and reproductive ability. Anabolic steroids can change the messages the hypothalamus sends to the body. This can disrupt normal hormone function.

In guys, anabolic steroids can interfere with the normal production of testosterone. They can also act directly on the testes and cause them to shrink. This can result in a lower sperm count and reproductive ability. They can also cause an irreversible loss of scalp hair.

In girls, anabolic steroids can cause a loss of the monthly period by acting on both the hypothalamus and reproductive organs. They can also cause loss of scalp hair, growth of body and facial hair and deepening of the voice. These changes are also irreversible.

Safe Muscle Building Supplements

If you really feel you need a little help in looking good and maximizing your work out, please, please, please do some research on safe supplements. Here is what we recommend.

Sheer BCAA Branched Chain Amino Acids Supplement, Muscle Building Post WorkoutSheer BCAA Branched Chain Amino Acids Supplement, Muscle Building Post WorkoutParadise Herbs Orac Energy Multi One Vegetarian Capsules, 60 CountParadise Herbs Orac Energy Multi One Vegetarian Capsules, 60 CountVega Sport Protein and Supplements Variety Pack, 10 CountVega Sport Protein and Supplements Variety Pack, 10 Count

10 Really Scary Effects of Anabolic Steroid Abuse

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Emotional Self-Control

If You’re Sick of Your Emotions Running Wild – Do What Sober People Do

For people in active addiction or in early recovery one of the fundamental skills that must be learned is identifying owning and processing emotions, especially uncomfortable ones.

Most of us have little control over our emotional responses, and struggle.

I used to think that I had no control over my thoughts and emotions, like a leaf being blown about on a windy day – never knowing or being able to guess where I would end up. Too often, we equated the exercise of controlling emotions with denying or suppressing one’s feelings. Here’s a genius idea – let’s ignore feelings and hope they go away.

That’s like stuffing them in a pressure cooker clamping it tight and turning up the heat. Sooner or later it will blow up. And now for the grand solution to that mess – go get high. One of the most common ways to suppress feelings is to engage in your drug of choice.

It’s very odd but addicts and people in early recovery can handle tremendous amounts of physical pain however if an even slightly uncomfortable emotion shows up, they are helpless in clueless. They live life on an unrealistic plane thinking they should feel good all the time. That’s just not possible. They also fail to take into account that drugs change the brain itself.

A necessary skill for long-term sobriety is learning how to handle emotions.

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Gain control of your emotions with these strategies:

  1. Don’t judge your emotions. Emotions aren’t good or bad right or wrong they just are. Emotions are a direct by-product of our thoughts and beliefs in a given situation. For instance, I remember getting laid off from my “dream job”. At the time I felt despair, depression, and hopelessness.

These feelings were direct result of the thoughts I was thinking. It turned out later that my next job was even better than my previous job. I changed my attitude and now regard that layoff is one of the biggest blessings in my life. Life is life. Good things will happen, bad things will happen, good emotions occur in bad emotions occur.

  1. Examine your emotions. Learn to notice when you’re getting emotional. Awareness is the essential ingredient when trying to practice emotional control. Ask yourself exactly what emotion you’re feeling and, secondly, do you want to change it? When you notice yourself reacting strongly, ask yourself why. Try to label the emotion.

Analyze why you’re feeling that particular emotion and then admit it to yourself. This way, you can avoid rationalizing your behavior, which is a nice way of saying “lie to yourself.” If you know the real reason you’re feeling the way you do, you’re more able to do something about it. If a particular emotional state is an early warning sign of relapse , admit it, don’t ignore it. Take steps to learn to work with that emotion before heading o the dope boy or bar.

  1. Choose your response to your emotions. We all make conscious choices and unconscious choices about what we think in a given situation. These thoughts and attitudes leads to us creating are owning emotions. If we can create bad emotions we can create good emotions. Another way of saying it is that when you get conscious to the thoughts that are driving your emotions, you can control them by changing your thinking. You don’t have to be a slave to your emotions any more.
  1. Find a healthy way to release negative emotions. Our actions can influence our moods and attitudes. Immediately get up and go for a walk. Go to the library and find an interesting book. Call a friend. Exercise is a great way to release energy. Praying helps people stay in control of their emotions and behavior, according to a new study.You don’t have to passively accept your mood. Go do something else and change it!
  1. Try deep breathing and meditation. The only part of your physiology that can be easily controlled is your breathing. Many people assume that emotions are entirely psychological, but there is a physical component. Neuroscience is now mapping the different chemicals and hormones that emotions release. Realize that all emotions are ultimately experienced as physical feelings in your body. You’ve just learned to label certain body feelings with names like “anger” and “fear.”

Tips:

  1. You can try are holding your breath for 5 seconds.
  2. Breathing deeply and slowly for 30 seconds, breathe in slowly and breathe out even more slowly.
  3. Think about your breathing and count your breaths. Focus on the physical feeling of the air moving in and out of your body.

 

The Mystery of Emotional Fitness - Simply and Easily Explained

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Summary

Summary:

If you’re used to being controlled by your emotions, you know that it’s not easy to maintain your composure. But you can choose to respond differently to your emotions and make wiser choices. Negative emotions exist to inform us that something might be amiss. They are not there to control us. Be aware that emotional dysregulation is a sign of PAWS Post Acute Withdrawal Symptoms, it can last a while.

My personal mantra is I control my thoughts, I control my feelings, I control my actions and therefore I control the result showing up in my life. A basic tool of relapse prevention education is learning to identify, own and process uncomforortable emotions.

 

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Highly Recommended:

Living Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Emotions So They Don't Control YouLiving Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Emotions So They Don’t Control YouThe Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings Are Trying to Tell YouThe Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings Are Trying to Tell YouEmotions: Freedom from Anger, Jealousy and FearEmotions: Freedom from Anger, Jealousy and FearEmotion: The Owner's Manual (Owner's Manual for the Brain)Emotion: The Owner’s Manual (Owner’s Manual for the Brain)The Feelings Book (Revised): The Care and Keeping of Your EmotionsThe Feelings Book (Revised): The Care and Keeping of Your EmotionsEmotions!: Making Sense of Your Feelings and EmotionsEmotions!: Making Sense of Your Feelings and Emotions

If You’re Sick of Your Emotions Running Wild – Do What Sober People Do was last modified: April 18th, 2017 by Bill_Urell
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