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Our society is filled with media programming, images, and subliminal messaging that’s aimed to keep us emotionally numb. Phrases like “suck it up” or “walk it off” are part of our everyday life, encouraging us to stuff our emotions down and not giving proper value to the weight of human emotion. Men are especially subject to this kind of societal stereotyping. Men are often told to “be a man” and that “boys don’t cry.” This is unhelpful, to say the least. Conversely, women are often told the opposite -- that they are “too emotional” or “dramatic.” This, too, is marginalizing and hurtful. So, where’s the middle ground and how do we step out of emotional numbing in a culture that is so confused about feelings? Here, we’ll explore some ways to move past feelings of emotional numbness and into a life filled with nuanced emotions and joy.

A simple, positive, and mindful morning routine can set the tone for the whole day. Here are some tips for getting into a healthy morning groove. When we wake up, we have a choice about how to start our day. Oftentimes, those first few precious hours between waking and starting the day can set the tone for our whole day ahead. We can choose to use them productively, setting ourselves up for a positive day. Alternatively, we can squander those hours and set a negative tone for the remainder of the day. It’s empowering, as it’s our choice. However, sometimes we need the knowledge and tools to truly know how to start the day with mindfulness and positivity. Here are a few tips for a morning routine that will support your life and recovery.

Lately, it seems as though there’s a yoga studio popping up on every corner. Yoga is an ancient practice for connecting the mind and the body and it’s way more than just exercise. Yoga can have spiritual and mental components, as well. The word “yoga” translates as “to yoke” or “to unite” and it’s all about uniting the mind and the body through our movements and breath. Here, we’ll take a look at some of the amazing benefits of yoga and why it’s so wonderful to have a regular practice. If you’ve ever completed a yoga class, you know that you feel very different at the end than when you walked in. Yoga has a way of resetting the brain and making us feel both calm and energized, aware and soothed. Our bodies are more limber and our minds are clearer. Physical benefits of yoga include increased strength and flexibility, as well as improved heart health and reduced inflammation. If you’re doing a very physical type of yoga, such as vinyasa or Ashtanga, you’ll notice a serious boost in your stamina and overall aerobic capacities. Additionally, yoga helps us to become more aware of our mental states, our breath, and the intricate connection between body and mind. Yoga is a practice of concentration and when we look at it as a way to connect as opposed to just a physical exercise, we start to notice some of the mental health benefits. It helps decrease stress, anxiety, and depression, while also increasing overall mood, memory, and concentration. The spiritual aspect of yoga helps us to feel more connected to not only ourselves but the world around us. When we start to get in the flow of breath and movement, we realize that we are one part of a whole and that everything truly is connected. In this sense, we can see yoga as a path for spiritual transcendence and heightened awareness.

It’s so important to allow ourselves to truly feel our feelings. Here are a few tips for accessing your emotions and why it’s so important to do so. When we start our recovery journeys, we’re often coming from a past of numbing our feelings with drugs and/or alcohol. Additionally, other addictive behaviors and negative coping mechanisms like avoidance and dissociation can add to this numbing effect. We enter recovery with months or years of accumulated emotions that we haven’t dealt with. In addition to those stored emotions, we also have a whole slew of other feelings that arise because we’re in a new place, learning new things, meeting new people, and most of all, we don’t have our substances of choice to lean on. The process of getting to know our deepest emotions is not easy and it’s not a straight line. We spend time and effort in recovery learning to get to know ourselves again, learning about our triggers and our strengths, and discovering how to access our long-neglected emotions. It’s a lot to deal with and it’s completely normal to feel overwhelmed or even like you don’t know where to begin. Here are a few reasons why it’s so important to access our emotions and truly let ourselves feel them, as well as some tips for how to go about this very rewarding process.

There are so many healthy habits that support our recoveries and overall wellbeing that it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Where do we begin? How do we know what will work for us? How do we work all of these healthy habits into our already busy schedules? Getting stressed out about being healthy defeats the purpose. As humans, we tend to over complicate most things and we forget the foundational healthy principles that we probably learned from our grandparents. When you’re feeling lost, depressed, or confused about where to begin on your health journey, it’s time to get back to basics. Instead of obsessing over a juice cleanse or learning all of the fancy workout routines, start with these five foundational healthy habits and go from there. These habits are so simple that you might not realize how important they truly are. When we engage in these five wellness tools every day, we’re setting ourselves up for a healthy recovery and life.  Avoiding drugs and alcohol. If you’re in recovery, you’re already doing this. Avoiding harmful substances is one of the best ways to increase overall physical and mental health. Hydration. We all need different amounts of water depending on our size, age, and activity levels. However, getting proper hydration and drinking at least 6 eight-ounce glasses of water each day is essential for digestion, mental clarity, and overall health. Eat fruits and vegetables. Eat at least a few cups per day of fruits and veggies and you’ll be well on your way to awesome physical health. Your mood will probably improve, too. Sleep at least 7-8 hours per night. We often forget how important sleep is. When we don’t sleep well, we are more prone to depression, illness, and we’re unable to concentrate. Exercise regularly. The general recommendation for exercise is 30-minutes of moderate exercise at least 5x per week. Do whatever makes you feel best.

The media can have a negative impact on body image and self-confidence. Here are some ways to support yourself. The media in general, and social media, in particular, is overflowing with images of what society tells us we should look, act, and feel like. When we spend time scrolling through Instagram or Facebook or even looking at some of our favorite magazines or website, we’re getting bombarded by subliminal messaging whether we know it or not. When we constantly see images of ultra-thin and athletic men and women, we begin to internalize those values as our own. This can lead to a lack of self-confidence and body image issues. In recovery, it’s important that we consume media that’s helping our mental health, rather than hindering it. We need all the support we can get. If you find that you’re not feeling good about yourself or your body after spending time on social media, it might be time to cut back on social media and/or change some of the accounts that you’re following. Body image issues can quickly overtake us, causing negative feelings and the urge to go on extreme diets. Self-acceptance is a huge component of a healthy recovery. Even though we’re developing healthy habits and changing our outlook, we need to love and accept ourselves, above all.  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been shown to improve body image issues. Additionally, therapy can help us to deal with the underlying causes of body image issues, resulting in improved self-awareness and less susceptibility to media influences. Mindfulness exercises such as meditation can help us to more fully accept ourselves, stay present in the moment, and get more in touch with our true feelings. Lastly, it can help to locate the people, places, and things that trigger our body image issues. Following body positive accounts on social media, reading about body image issues, and talking about our feeling in a support group are all ways to feel better about our bodies and ourselves.

Healthy habits are always important, especially in recovery. When we begin our recovery journeys, our lives drastically change. Even when we’re immersing ourselves in meetings and therapy, it can feel as if we need more of an anchor -- something to ground us in our day to day lives and help us get to know ourselves better. As newly sober individuals, this is both an exciting and tenuous time. We are learning coping skills, developing knowledge and tools for recovery, and replacing old habits with newer, healthier ones. After we stop using our substances of choice, it’s important that we fill that space with activity. Boredom and ennui can be dangerous in early recovery, as it lets our minds wander and can tempt us to slide back into our addictive patterns. Early recovery is a great time to get to know ourselves again and form sustainable, healthy habits that will support us in our recovery journey and beyond.  There are countless examples of positive lifestyle choices and habits that will bolster our mental health and overall recovery. Part of the process of starting healthy habits involves getting to know ourselves better. Begin by asking yourself what kinds of activities, foods, and hobbies you love to do but got lost during your addiction. Your joys, interests, and curiosities will offer clues as to which healthy habits will be most sustainable and healthy for you. Additionally, ask yourself what makes you feel great. We’re all different. Some of us love playing sports and others of us love to make art or dance. There’s no right or wrong answer, as long as it doesn’t disrupt your recovery and sobriety. Of course, there are some common examples of healthy habits that we should all engage in. These include healthy sleep patterns, hydration, consuming lots of fruits and vegetables, regular exercise, spending time in nature, meditating and mindfulness activities, and healthy socializing. This is an exciting time where we get to create the life that we envision for ourselves.

When we’re in active addiction mode, perhaps we’re not sure what “fun” really means to us. Early on in our addictions, we might have used alcohol and/or drugs and other addictive behaviors as a way to lose control, have fun, self-medicate, party, and/or relax. Eventually, we realize that our addictions collapse into turmoil and hardship. “Fun” doesn’t figure too heavily into the equation. One inspiring part about recovery is that we get to redefine what it means to have fun. We get to figure out what we enjoy, what makes us feel free and lighthearted, and what makes us feel bad. Oftentimes, we’re starting from the ground up. However, we can view this process of redefining what it means to have fun as an exciting self-discovery journey. Here are a few tips for redefining fun in recovery.

Empathy is a vital human ability that lets us connect with others and feel less alone. Here’s how to practice it daily. We hear a lot about “empathy” these days. It seems to be having a trending moment, and for good reason. Quite simply, empathy is the ability to understand and feel the emotions and experiences of someone else. Why is empathy so important? It helps us to think outside of our own perspective, feel less alone, and understand other people in deeper and more meaningful ways. When we live our lives with empathy, we are less inclined to write people off, express rage or hold grudges, and isolate. We begin to understand that everyone is coming from his or her own life experience. Whether we agree with someone or not, the ability to empathize it deeply important in our collective human evolution. In recovery, empathy can help us forgive, release anger and fear, and experience deeper love and understanding for ourselves and others. While the idea of empathy is quite compelling, it’s sometimes difficult to know how to employ it in everyday life. One of the simplest ways to develop empathy is to truly listen to other people. Oftentimes, we are so wrapped up in our own opinion or drama that we aren’t taking the time to turn off our judgments and listen with compassion and openness to the feelings of others. Additionally, it’s important to remain openminded and try to suspend some of your own judgments or preconceived notions. The key to empathy is to examine some of our own longstanding beliefs and release them so that we can see others more clearly, unclouded by our own judgment. Lastly, practice treating everyone you come in contact with as important, worthy, and deserving of your attention. We can learn a lot from other people and other people often need a helping hand or a listening ear. When we start to move through the world with an open mind, eager to listen to other people and their experiences, our worlds and hearts begin to open up.

Reading can boost mental health and help us destress. Here are some ways to incorporate reading into your daily life. Whether you love novels, newspaper articles, magazines, or blogs, reading is always a good idea. There are innumerable benefits to reading that go way beyond increasing intelligence. Believe it or not, reading can actually boost mental health and decrease stress. Here, we’ll look at some of the benefits of reading, as well as some ways to incorporate it into your daily routine for improved mental and emotional health and a more expansive recovery journey.

A pen and paper are powerful tools for mental health.  Journaling is easy, practically free, and anyone can do it. The best part is, the simple act of journaling carries an array of benefits for our minds. Journaling lets us access creativity and greater self-awareness. It’s a simple, therapeutic, and a great addition to your recovery toolbox. In this article, we’ll delve into some of the many benefits of this simple practice.

This is a look into the importance of defining yourself, owning your narrative, and getting empowered. Humans are meaning-makers. We find meaning in everything, whether it’s a novel, a scenic view, or a troubling experience such as the death of a loved one. Meaning enhances our lives and makes them richer with detail, depth, and awareness. This is similar to reading a good book. When we’re engaged in a novel, we find meaning without even realizing it. We root for the hero and we’re present from beginning to end. Similarly, we can create our own stories and define ourselves however we want. As the main characters in the story of our lives, creating and owning our stories for the ups, downs, and in-betweens, will help us more fully understand ourselves and the world around us. Here are a few ways to create your story and make meaning.