Mom said there’d be days like these but she didn’t say there’d be so many of them. In our next LIVESTREAM, Jim shares techniques for MANAGING STRESS, emotions, and getting through our hard times without a drink or a drug.
The Emotional Rollercoaster
Jim explores the emotional rollercoasters that are often a significant challenge in recovery. Let’s identify strategies for making the highs more sustainable and the lows less frequent.
Why Getting Better Doesn’t Feel Good
Jim explores some of the disillusionment that comes with recovery and why getting better doesn’t always make us feel better.
When You’re Down and Don’t Know Why
A big part of recovery is noticing habits that don’t serve us and replacing them. Sometimes it’s as simple as identifying an emotional reflex. Example: Sometimes I catch myself feeling down and my brain immediately sets out to investigate why that is.
Healing Is Awkward
One of the things I most often hear from folks I serve is how awkward it is for them to reach out and ask for help. I totally understand that feeling, but I encourage folks to consider that this is the easiest way to stagnate their recovery. To be self-conscious and embarrassed is understandable. We need to be mindful that these experiences are not only common; they’re familiar to the folks we’d reach out to.
Recovery On the Hard Days
I’m grateful for the ways in which my Higher Power reminds me – usually through the good people in my life that in the grand scheme of things… my annoyances today are over very trivial matters.
Let It Go
We treat letting go and acceptance as though they are once and for all decisions made from what our minds know to be best. In truth, both are emotional processes that are ongoing adjustments.
The Cost of Carrying Resentments in Recovery
Resentments – an insight into the toxic nature of what we carry and the harm it does to us.
Ambivalence Is a Barrier to Recovery
There’s a fine line between, “I don’t know if I want this” and “I’m afraid of this.” That line is imperceptible when we’re on the fence.
How Do I Let My Walls Down?
Nearly everyone I’ve ever served as a therapist or as a coach has said to me, “You’ll have to be patient. I have trust issues.” My response to that statement depends on how good I think their sense of humor is. What I’m most likely to say is, “Relax. We all do.”