Blog

Looking at one’s thought patterns is a significant component of the recovery process. Addiction can alter one’s perception and create patterns or draw conclusions in a destructive or otherwise illogical way. Often the individual suffering from addiction does not recognize the change in their thought patterns. Overcoming irrational thinking is difficult, and learning to challenge the impulse to act upon irrational thoughts is essential in creating a genuine portrait of one’s progress through recovery. Still, it begins with first identifying how specific thoughts are irrational and then working on a strategy to consciously challenge them.

What makes the difference between someone able to accomplish the long-term goals they set for themselves and someone who can’t? Does it boil down to something predetermined like intelligence, luck, physical capabilities, or is it something else? It turns out that your ability to persist through challenges and stay focused on achieving your goals is something that you have more hand in creating for yourself, and it is known as mental toughness. What is Mental Toughness? Having mental toughness is important because it is what allows you to persevere through adversity to reach your goals. Mental toughness is defined as the capacity of an individual to deal with stressors, pressures, and challenges and perform at the best of their ability, regardless of difficult circumstances. Possessing mental toughness comes with a strong ability to effectively manage your thoughts and emotions to act in alignment towards achieving your goals. 3 Aspects of Mental Toughness in Recovery Cultivating mental toughness will help you through any challenge you encounter in life, but it can be an especially helpful trait to have if you are in recovery. Aspects of mental toughness that help someone achieve a goal like sobriety are seen below:

Learned helplessness usually has a role to play in most individuals’ dependency. Either learned helplessness was a causative force in the inception of their dependency, or they developed learned helplessness in the process of failing to quit and perpetuating it. Whichever way learned helplessness affects your dependency, the good news is that it can be unlearned given the right tools.

What sounds easier to you—committing to remaining sober for the next 24 hours or a lifetime? The principle of living one day at a time originates from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). This principle is especially beneficial in the early days of recovery when someone’s daily goals are solely focused on maintaining their sobriety. Tackling your sobriety in 24-hour increments will help you to pay attention to how you feel in the present moment and to ask yourself what resources you may need to employ to stay sober. Dealing With Emotions as They Come Living one day at a time allows you to be fully present for what you are experiencing in the present moment. Dealing with only what problems you face in the present, as opposed to compounding them by worrying about future issues, will make you more likely to solve the challenges of today. In recovery, this looks like calling your sponsor, going to a meeting or therapy when you are having a hard day struggling with negative thoughts of relapsing. You look at how you can make yourself feel better and avoid using for today instead of spiraling deeper into worry about how you will stay sober day after day. Not Looking to the Past or Future By tuning in to the present day, you aren’t engaging with the past or future. Reflecting too much on either of these can be triggering and overwhelming for someone in recovery and ultimately does not serve them. Spending time mad at yourself about past mistakes or worrying about things that may never happen to you in the future makes for an unproductive use of your time and doesn't give you time to be actionable on today’s needs. Lessons Beyond Substance Abuse Although the idea of living one day at a time was popularized by AA, as seen in their popular Just For Today card, which many members carry around in their pocket to read and remind them of their daily promises to do everything mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, they need to remain sober. By learning the principle of living one day at a time, you can learn to better tackle life’s challenges outside of recovery as well. You can more effectively handle work, home, and relationship problems by taking them on one at a time. Learning to live one day at a time will help you better handle the challenges in recovery as they come. Recovery is a non-linear journey offering obstacles and moments of struggle along the way, but having a sound mindset will help you navigate the journey with clarity. If you or a loved one are struggling to get or remain sober, call Avalon Malibu. At Avalon, we look at the needs of the whole person and focus on providing effective treatment on every level of your needs. Between our dedicated staff of professionals and our continuum of integrative care, we find a treatment plan that is right for you so you can achieve lasting recovery. Call us today at (844) 857-5992.

Addiction recovery is an ongoing process, and there is no definitive date or time where someone should expect themselves to be “cured” of the disease. New coping strategies continuously need to be learned and implemented to new stressors, urges, and other changes in one’s life. This difficult journey can be a lot to take in, and frustration can arise if an individual feels as if they are not making the progress they are “supposed” to. Because of the fluid and individualized nature of the process, recovery isn’t measured on a pass-fail metric. It is a complicated, continuous evaluation. This also means that the idea that recovery can be “failed” is a fallacy, and thinking of one’s life in binary outcomes can be detrimental to one’s prolonged sobriety.

No matter how many times you’ve been warned that relapse is part of recovery, the sting of a loved one repeatedly relapsing hurts every time. When a loved one is in recovery and your full attention is on their recovery needs, it is easy to forget about maintaining your well-being around the recovery process. Setting up appropriate boundaries and reminding yourself that it is not your fault when someone relapses are important steps to take when a loved one is in recovery and relapses. Doing this will help maintain your mental health and well-being so you can remain strong on the sidelines for the many ups and downs that are a natural part of the recovery process.

A major part of recovery is changing your lifestyle to fit the healthier way of life you are choosing to create for yourself. With this comes along filtering out certain influences that do not align with your sober life. Sometimes, negative influences aren’t always obvious, especially if something or someone has been a significant part of your life for a considerable amount of time. Looking closely at your behavior and the behavior of others will help you be able to identify who or what is bringing positivity or negativity into your space. Negative Influences to Remove From Your Life in Recovery

Supporting a loved one through anxiety and panic attacks is both a noble and complicated undertaking. These attacks can feel very intense, and it can be difficult to know how to help. However, support is essential through these challenging events. Even while anxiety and panic can feel like isolating experiences, overcoming these disorders and emerging safely can be a communal effort. Proper, educated support systems can help further reinforce the benefits of effective assistance.

Does the phrase “stuffing your emotions” resonate with how you handle your feelings and emotions? In case you aren’t familiar with this phrase, stuffing your emotions refers to burying hurt feelings down only for them to resurface later on as unresolved pain that still needs to be felt and heard. When you stuff your emotions, you will have to deal with many unintended consequences down the line. If you learn how to avoid stuffing your feelings, it will help you build strong relationships, enjoy better mental health, let you healthily deal with your emotions, and you will feel better without repressed feelings weighing you down. Why We Stuff Our Emotions Stuffing our emotions isn’t a healthy way to deal with our emotions, but it is a pattern that many of us fall into regardless. There can be many reasons a person can stuff their emotions, and usually, it is a combination of several factors.

No two people are the same, and no two addictions are the same. Knowing this to be true, why should any addiction treatment be the same for two individuals? That is why at Avalon Malibu, we tailor our treatments to the needs of each client. Unlike a one-size-fits-all approach to addiction recovery, a personalized treatment approach allows for a flexible practice that addresses the needs of the whole person on the levels of mind, body, and spirit. The benefits of individualized treatment go much further than what first meets the eye. Reasons and Benefits to Seeking Personalized Addiction Treatment

Mental illness and addiction have a close association, especially bipolar disorder. Those who have bipolar disorder cycle between manic and depressive episodes. Substance use is particularly risky for those diagnosed with bipolar disorder since drug use can trigger a manic or depressive episode. With the symptoms of this disorder exacerbated by drug or alcohol abuse and vice versa, then substance abuse and bipolar disorder together make for a truly dangerous combination and fuel a vicious cycle.

If you struggle with depression and are looking for ways to feel better that you can try on your own without medication or simply don’t respond well to medication, then exploring holistic lifestyle changes may be the right choice. In mental illness, one-size-fits-all treatment is a complicated thing since causative factors are unique to the individual. Luckily, lifestyle changes can easily be adjusted based on a person’s individual needs and can positively support people who can’t or don’t want to use medication. Since using a holistic approach to bettering your mental health looks at the symptoms and explores the root cause of the illness, you can effectively treat depression and make lasting positive changes for your mental health without any adverse effects. Treating depression through a holistic approach without medication will look different for everyone. Much of the process looks like trying different things out and seeing how your body and mind respond, and deciding what works best for you. If you think you could benefit from treating your depression holistically, see below for some ideas of lifestyle changes to make a part of your routine.