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The goal and responsibility of treatment are to help you overcome your addiction and attain the tools to sustain a productive and meaningful life of sobriety. You should not view treatment as your only responsibility to overcome and rid yourself of your addiction, disease, or disorder. Remember, recovery is a lifelong process. For some, realizing the amount of work that goes into staying sober is intimidating and can deter them from seeking help.  While treatment cannot cure your addiction, it offers you a look at the person and life you could be living while sober, and this can stand to inspire and motivate you. It also connects you with people with whom you can form meaningful relationships to help keep you on the path to recovery. Still, you might worry about your responsibilities after treatment. So, let's take a look at what happens after treatment ends and how you can best prepare yourself with an aftercare plan to handle everyday life challenges in the real world.

When you’re suffering from crippling anxiety it can feel nearly impossible to spare any excess energy on worrying about what you should or shouldn’t eat. Choosing food that is good for your body and brain, however, is one of the easiest things you can do to support your mental health. By making a few simple changes to your overall diet, you can experience improved anxiety symptoms.

Massages are commonly thought of as a way to unwind and treat yourself to some peaceful, restorative self-care time. In recovery, therapeutic massages are used for so much more than just relaxing and act as an intricate part of the recovery process. There are many different types of massage that may benefit you in your early days of recovery like shiatsu, reflexology, acupressure, and Thai massage. Each type of massage serves the body differently, but all of them accomplish the beneficial effects detailed below.

The dangers and risks of pregnant women abusing drugs and/or alcohol are well understood and documented. Over 1,000 women in the United States since the 1970s have even been arrested exclusively for substance use while pregnant. There is no better time to get sober than a looming pregnancy, but even after being clean, women are haunted by their substance abuse history. Some recovering addicts have deep concerns about the viability of their bodies to give birth to a healthy baby because of their past. Fortunately, after sustained sobriety, you can have a beautiful and healthy pregnancy like anyone else.

Mental health and emotional health are getting a lot of attention as of late in light of the COVID pandemic. They both play a significant role in your overall well-being and influence your thoughts and actions. Together, mental and emotional health act to help us process and properly respond to all of the different stresses in life. It is especially important to tend to your mental and emotional health since untreated mental or emotional problems may lead to substance abuse. While the terms mental and emotional health are often used interchangeably, they each carry a distinct meaning.

When some people recognize that they have an addiction problem, their first instinct may be to try and overcome it on their own instead of getting help. They might be in denial or feel ashamed to reach out for help. However, this approach’s problem is that the techniques used to get sober on your own rarely sustain lasting recovery and perpetuate addiction when deciding to drink or use again.  Attaining lasting recovery takes work, and being able to connect with others. It all begins with taking the first step to reaching out for help. 12-Step programs are some of the most effective ways to overcome and manage your addiction. If you feel intimidated to attend, understand that these programs uphold traditions that serve as staples of maintaining the process's safety and integrity - including your identity. Looking at each tradition in-depth to better understand may help you become more confident about seeking the help you need.

Your mental health is no doubt tied to the level of function and health of your brain. With Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) a person sustains an injury to their brain typically due to a traumatic blow to the head. TBIs commonly occur due to car accidents, falls, or something heavy hitting a person’s head. Depending on the severity of the trauma and which parts of the brain were damaged, it can have varying effects on a person’s behavioral and emotional health. There are many common mental health symptoms that TBI sufferers commonly share like mood swings, anxiety, and depression.

Instant gratification is everywhere in the world around us, except in recovery. Recovery is no overnight process, with a winding journey unique to each individual with several phases — detox, rehab, ongoing care, and sober living. Developing a strong patience muscle will help you withstand the pains and disappointments of not just recovery but also in life. Joyce Mayer said it best when she described patience as, “not the ability to wait but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.” Recovery can teach us many things about ourselves, and one of the most valuable lessons to be learned is patience.

You may recognize addictive tendencies in other areas of your life after you’ve come to terms with having a drug and/or alcohol addiction. Because of the similar feelings and chemical reactions these habits produce in the body, they create some of the same feelings as with substance abuse. Recognizing and shifting these addictive behaviors is important to help bring a better sense of overall balance and good health into your life.

Loneliness is a difficult emotion to experience in recovery but is often a natural part of the recovery process. Drinking and/or using may have even been triggered by loneliness in the first place as a way to seek comfort from feeling rejected, alone, or unwanted. Fortunately, there are concrete ways to prevent feelings of loneliness during recovery.

12-Step programs help individuals struggling with addiction and help change their negative beliefs. In recovery, it is essential to create a framework that allows you to shift your perception about yourself into a positive perspective. When you discover the good and the potential within, you can then move about your life and recovery confidently and purposefully. The 12-Steps rely on good support to help you overcome difficult challenges that you will likely face.

With the stroke of the clock on every midnight of New Year’s Eve, an exciting mix of unrealized possibilities and hopes rushes in for the new year ahead. The energy surrounding this coming year feels unquestionably different than in past New Year’s. With lockdowns and a pandemic still part of our everyday reality, 2021 at first glance looks like a year with seemingly grim circumstances to enter into. A small shift in perspective can reveal that this year holds unique opportunities.