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When beginning a healing journey from addiction and mental illness, it can be helpful to have a personal mission statement to help you remember what your goals are, make decisions in alignment with your values, and ground you in your vision for your future.

Beginning to break from familiar patterns, such as perfectionism, people-pleasing, stress, anxiety, overthinking, and self-preservation is not easy, but it does lead to inner peace. Building awareness around practices you reinforce each day, doing the opposite, and offering yourself compassion can help break these cycles to give you more peace.

If you are reading this, you might be someone who feels like following your dreams is hard. Maybe you do not know what you want or what your dream is. Maybe you know what you desire, but your inner voice of self-doubt pops up anytime you take action toward this reality. Regardless of what your relationship is like with achieving what you desire in life, know that you are worthy of experiencing and creating the life you feel called to live.

Those who have an addiction to drugs or alcohol may also struggle with a lack of self-respect. Addiction can cause individuals to behave in strange and often surprising ways. Developing self-respect will allow individuals to find the strength to pursue recovery and create a gratitude-filled life.

Slowing down is a radical act of self-compassion when today's societal narrative overtly and covertly communicates to try harder, achieve more, and be better. As important as it is to sometimes push our comfort zones to reach the goals we have for ourselves, it is also important to allow ourselves to slow down and rest without thinking that means we are not doing “enough.”

Everybody has a different window of tolerance. “Window of tolerance” is a term used to describe the bounds you have within you so that you can function optimally in your everyday life. Getting outside of your window of tolerance happens when you are either over- or under-stimulated, which can look and feel different for everyone.

Recovering from mental illness can be challenging at times. Healing is not linear, and challenging moments can make it tempting to give up. Although, choosing to lean in when you want to lean out of recovery is what leads to self-trust, self-confidence, and healing in ways that you may never have thought possible.

Many Americans do not get the sleep they need to support their essential functions. Sleep deficiency can lead to physical and mental health conditions that reduce the quality of life.  To find some relief, some get prescriptions like Ambien from their doctor to aid them in falling asleep. It is important to learn more about sleep deficiency and why medications like Ambien may cause more harm than good.

The way control works is strange—grasping for control is often the very thing that makes you feel as if you do not have control. You might underestimate the amount of control you have in any given situation. While it can be helpful to focus on things that are in your control, such as taking actions that align with your goals and desires, grasping for too much control can cause anxiety rather than inner peace and stability.

Without even noticing, you have probably experienced cognitive distortions at some point. If you struggle with conditions such as anxiety or depression, cognitive distortions may be more prevalent in your life than for someone who does not.

Beginning a journey of intentionally healing and creating change in your life may feel as exciting as it does overwhelming. You might put a lot of pressure on yourself to achieve healing perfectly and expect yourself to have healed in certain ways by certain times, but that is not how healing happens. It is important to accept where you are, anchor into the present moment, and let go of what you think your healing should look like and instead just let it happen.

Gratitude and acceptance have become common buzzwords in mental health and addiction treatment. What do these words mean, and how can you start to cultivate them? This article will explain how these practices can change your life and offer tips to get started.