The physical and mental repercussions of using drugs can take quite the toll on a person struggling with dependency. Coping with addiction is not an easy task. For a devout person, the mental anguish can be even more devastating due to a sense of spiritual failing. Faith based recovery can help. How strong is my…
For the last couple weeks or so, I’ve been getting plenty of “reminders” that I turn 30 soon. Every time someone brings it up (and believe me…they do), the thing that really pops up in my head is Tim McGraw singing My Next 30 Years. So, inspired by the song, I thought I’d write about…
Watching Tiger sinking an incredible putt that placed him 1 behind the tournament leader at the Valspar Championship two weekends ago was one of those moments where you felt goosebumps run up your arms. At least, that’s what seeing my childhood hero’s comeback felt like to me. Next to my father and grandfathers, Tiger Woods…
FINDING YOUR WAY BACK For many years I played guitar in rock bands. Specifically, I was a punk rock guitar player. It was more than just the music. Punk rock and playing guitar in punk bands made up a huge part of my identity. And of course, punk rock being what it is, this involved…
JOURNALING It is no mystery that working the 12 steps involves a lot of writing. We have the entire fourth step which demands that we put pen to paper and physically write out all of those columns. Nightly inventories should be written out also. For many of us who have gone through as treatment programs…
WILD YEARS When we are out drinking and using there is no end to the fun and laughs we get from our wild exploits. Most of us can tell the so-called “war stories” from our wild days. Even in recovery we often have laughs exchanging tales of wildness. For some of us, the wildness and…
WHY DO WE NEED MEDIATION? Entering into treatment and recovery is an intense time. On the one hand, there is the flood of relief to find ourselves free at last from the weight of drugs and alcohol. On the other hand, we find ourselves colliding with a host of confusing and often negative feelings and…
CEASE FIGHTING When I first came to treatment and recovery I was certain I was through. I had beaten myself up so badly that I thought I was absolutely resolved to give up the drinking and drugging life and do whatever I had to do to get well. I came into treatment, was handed my…
PRACTICE THESE PRINCIPALS As we work through the steps of recovery, or the principles as they are alternately called throughout the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, things generally seem fairly evident as to how to proceed. Especially with the guidance of a good sponsor, each step prescribes a detailed course of action that leads us…
INVENTORY We know from the steps that we must work through our resentments. “Resentment is the number one offender” as we are explicitly told. It is resentment that eats away at us and fueled our drinking. What better excuse for continuing a life drinking than the list of grudges and resentments we may have against…