Episode 203: Secular Overeaters #holistic #health

In this episode, we meet Jenne M. and Jim D, both secular members of Overeaters Anonymous. We talk about their struggles with food, the difficulty they encountered as atheists in OA, their experiences with starting secular OA groups, and their new website secularovereaters.org. 

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The Current Status of Addiction Recovery in Pennsylvania #health #holistic

It’s holiday season, 2020. Undoubtedly, a different kind of festive season than normal for many Americans, but… it’s still the holidays, nonetheless.However, for many families, there’ll be empty places at the dinner table this year - loved ones missing not because of the dreaded and awful coronavirus pandemic that continues to tragically affect the U.S., but from fatal opioid drug overdoses, part of a national epidemic that was here long before COVID-19 ever became part of our vocabulary.Take a few moments out of this day to look back at the statistical data for the U.S. opioid epidemic, and you’ll see the highest peak in opioid-related fatal overdoses was during the first half of 2017 - in virtually every state across the nation. Only 3 short years ago, U.S. citizens were dying at a rate of around 130 every single day.It’s difficult to fully comprehend, but it happened - surely, we’d never see such death rates again (we’ll get to the dreaded “corona” shortly, which is now, more tragically, taking many more lives per day).Back to the opioid epidemic.A range of pain-killing medications, arguably misbranded by Big Pharma, were being prescribed freely across the U.S. in a practice that went on for over 20 years, leaving thousands upon thousands unknowingly dependent on powerful narcotics, and with a chronic medical condition - opioid use disorder (OUD).Like the layered tragedy of a Shakespeare play, just when you thought things were actually looking up (as the national rate of opioid-related deaths began to noticeably fall), along came a global accident-waiting-to-happen - the COVID-19 pandemic.Take a further few moments to access everyone’s favorite search engine, type in “US Covid Latest 2020,” and you’ll see the latest statistics about how badly the nation has been hit by the pandemic. Over 335,000 deaths, and still rising.However, the pandemic continues to affect virtually every aspect of American life, and that, sadly, also includes those suffering with an addiction - including opioids.In Beaver County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney David Lozier recently spoke about how his region is being affected by the virus in terms of the detrimental impact on people’s mental wellbeing, including rates of opioid use and addiction:“COVID has sucked the wind out of every other issue. Now this year, the [drug overdose] numbers are going up like 2016 and the first half of 2017. We're seeing an increase in domestic violence, Childline and child abuse calls, a worsening mental health picture, and worsening drug and alcohol pictures. The people who need support services or who are in treatment... It’s all been by phone. They haven’t had the in-person contact they need.”So it begs the question - what exactly is the current status of addiction recovery in Pennsylvania?To answer this, we first need to look at how Pennsylvania stood last year (2019 seems a remarkably long time ago now, doesn’t it?) with respect to substance addiction rates and addiction treatment levels, and how the state stands now, after around half a year of severe socio-economic disruption, including mandatory lockdowns and long periods of social isolation for its residents.How COVID-19 Has Radically Altered Addiction Recovery2019:According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in 2019, Pennsylvania rehab centers saw more than 19,000 admissions. There’s little doubt, the fight against the opioid epidemic was still being fought (a situation destined to last many years). However, many thousands of Pennsylvania residents were still becoming addicted to the prescriptions written out by their family doctor.According to a research study by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, it was found that excessive, high-dose opioid prescriptions were still being routinely prescribed following common, minor day-patient surgeries - at a strength strictly advised against by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), for the purpose of reducing the number of opioid-related fatal overdoses.So how was the level of access to opioid addiction treatment at this time?In short - increasing. For example, under the Blue Guardian program in Lehigh County, PA, police and other first responders would notify the program when they had responded to an opioid overdose. Later, an officer and a certified recovery specialist would visit the person to follow up and discuss their treatment options.This hands-on approach was highly successful, as confirmed by Layne Turner, Lehigh County’s drug and alcohol administrator. She stated that, “Of the 52 individual face-to-face meetings, 34 individuals entered treatment. The lesson learned is when the face-to-face contacts are made, 65% of the time individuals enter treatment.”Clearly, the state of Pennsylvania was moving in the right direction when it came to accessing and providing opioid addiction treatment for opioid abusers and addicts. In fact, a rate of 65% is far, far higher than the national average for the numbers of drug addicts who make it into such treatment. In 2019, that national rate stood at a lowly 10-13%.When you consider that recent estimates say one-fifth of U.S. citizens who have clinical depression or an anxiety disorder will also have a substance use disorder (SUD), like OUD, you quickly understand that the very last thing the nation needed in fighting addiction was the soon-to-arrive COVID-19 pandemic, with its resulting lockdowns and isolation.“The concerns we have are related to the big challenges people are facing right now with COVID: isolation and uncertainty resulting in very high levels of stress.”  Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute for Drug Abuse2020:The (first) year of the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, leading to the “isolation and uncertainty” and “very high levels of stress” quoted above. Fatal drug overdoses - not just from opioids, but now including cocaine and methamphetamine - are spiking alarmingly across the nation.Just like any other U.S. industry, the addiction treatment field has been hit hard, with many rehab centers, including those in Pennsylvania, facing financial collapse if things don’t improve soon. Many treatment centers report clients not making their scheduled treatment appointments - either the simple fear of coronavirus infection, or, worryingly, because more and more of those in recovery are experiencing overdoses and relapses.In an effort to meet the changing conditions, addiction treatment centers have also had to invest in new “telemedicine” technology to be able to provide services, where clients receive counseling and other treatment via their computer screens.Nonprofits have struggled to treat their clients. In a recent survey, 44% of members from the National Council for Behavioral Health say they will easily run out of money in the next 6 months.Interestingly, if you look at the 2019-related paragraphs above, you’ll see words like “admissions,” “individual face-to-face meetings,” “right direction, “access” and “contact.” All of these are being heard less and less, if at all, for many recovering addicts in 2020.The sad proof of this lies in the national rise in fatal drug overdoses, as described by the American Medical Association in its updated Issue Brief (October, 2020), which reports that more than 40 states have “reported increases [around 18% - nearly a fifth] in opioid-related mortality, as well as ongoing concerns for those with a mental illness or substance use disorder.”And, lo and behold, guess what? Yes, sadly, Pennsylvania is again one of those 40.Addiction Recovery = HopeHowever gloomy-sounding this article may appear at first glance, there is a distinctly positive and hopeful side.The sphere of addiction treatment, providing long-term, sustainable recovery for OUD sufferers and those with other SUDs, is recovering itself, and this is happening in a number of essential ways:More and more of Pennsylvania’s facilities and clinics are becoming accustomed to the necessary COVID-19 protocols and regulations required in running their treatment options, from residential care, to Partial-Hospitalization Programs (PHPs), Outpatient Programs, and their own counseling sessions and group support meetings.Telemedicine technology, with the addiction experts looking on, is growing, expanding and even researching its own effectiveness as a method of healthcare provision for those with SUDs and mental health issues.As for the telemedicine “patient,” they are becoming more accustomed to accessing their treatment, care and support online, just like the vast numbers of those in AA and NA when virtually “attending” their own 12-Step meetings.If you’re looking for Pennsylvania’s online 12-Step meetings, the links for these are provided here:Alcoholics AnonymousNarcotics AnonymousAl-Anon Family GroupsFinally, the use of Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT), such as the provision of methadone and other MAT drugs for opioid replacement, has had its own regulations relaxed, thus increasing its range of access to those who need it.Dr. Mark Fuller, the Medical Director of Addiction Medicine at the Center of Inclusion Health, part of the Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburg, PA, recently stated, “Some folks say that the opposite of addiction is connection - connecting with a therapist, or other friends in recovery, or your 12-step meeting. Those connections are a really powerful part of recovery and really a key step in helping people stay clean and sober.”How many of Pennsylvania’s reported 800 licensed drug abuse and addiction treatment centers, both nonprofit and for-profit, will survive 2021 remains to be seen. Without the vital professional connections these treatment centers provide, and without the social “recovery community” connections referred to by Dr. Mark Fuller in the quote above, there will clearly be fewer inspiring stories of real addiction recovery happening across the state during this year of coronavirus.However, for now, with the excellent strategies listed above, the vast field of addiction treatment - just like the rest of us - is starting to get to grips with the strong and undeniable challenges that lie ahead.

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5 Resolutions for a New Year and Renewed Recovery #health #holistic

If you’re in recovery, you’ve already checked the toughest item off of your to-do list—getting help—but there’s more you can do to reboot your recovery in 2021. Once you’ve established a decent amount of time since your last drink or drug, it can be challenging to avoid a plateau in recovery, and going to meetings can become routine and just another task to complete. It’s important to keep evolving in recovery, so I’ve put together a list of five New Year’s resolutions to keep you on track for a happy, healthy, and sober 2021.1. Get an Active HobbyMaintaining your physical health is a great way to get out of the house and do something good for the body and the mind. A healthy hobby keeps the mind and body busy and provides an excellent replacement for our old behaviors. If you’ve never heard of The Phoenix, you should! The Phoenix is a sober active community with more than 42,000 members all around the country. From community fitness to rock climbing and camping, The Phoenix offers in-person and virtual fitness programming daily, introducing you to a new community of people in recovery choosing an active lifestyle. The cost of membership is 48 hours of recovery, so it’s great for newcomers and people with a lot of sober time under their belt.2. Check Out a New MeetingMeetings are easy to attend in the COVID era. You can turn on your laptop or smartphone and be connected to a group of recovery people literally anywhere in the world. So, take advantage of it! Don’t abandon your homegroup, because that’s your home base of support and service, but broaden your horizons to new locations and new people for a fresh perspective on recovery. If you’ve moved from your hometown, why not check out the recovery scene there? Maybe you loved your Italy trip, so Zoom on over to Rome and see how people stay sober in a culture where they serve wine at virtually every meal. There are many voices and outlooks on recovery that you haven’t heard, so use the new year to expand your horizons.3. Meditation and Mindfulness ActivitiesFor many of us, mediation is a critical part of our recovery and a great tool to relieve stress. If you haven’t fully committed to the practice, check out one of the guided mediation apps such as Calm or Headspace. I’m a huge advocate of Transcendental Meditation and its effortless, mantra-based method. The TM organization is nonprofit, so they aren’t making money to teach the technique. There’s no one-size-fits-all practice, find one that you like! If you’re already meditating regularly, check out some online yoga classes. Both yoga and meditation are great for getting you outside of your head and reducing depression and anxiety–conditions known to contribute to relapse. There are even some mindfulness yoga programs that focus on substance use recovery.4. Read Some New Recovery ResourcesThe 12-step programs frown upon bringing unapproved literature to meetings, but there’s a ton of books out there with advice and harrowing personal tales of recovery. As an almost militant atheist, I struggled with the higher power aspect of 12-step recovery. I found Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life by Joe C. to be a fantastic tool. The book offers secular daily reflections with interesting and thought-provoking questions at the end of each entry. It’s also indexed by topic, so it’s an excellent resource when looking for a new way to discuss the steps with sponsees. There are several best recovery book lists online, so you can find one that looks interesting to you.5. Be of ServiceIf you’ve read any of the 12-step literature, you know how helping others was instrumental in the founders’ recovery journey. When you give some of your time to others, you’re not only helping them, you’re helping yourself, and it feels terrific. Remember where you once were and who helped get you where you are now and dedicate yourself to making somebody else just as successful. Pick up another sponsee or just stay after a meeting to talk to the shy newcomer. Those extra five minutes can determine if someone comes back.For those who have yet to enter a treatment program, it’s time to make a plan. The New Year is a great time to start over and get the help you need and deserve. If you or a loved one needs help with substance abuse and mental health problems, check out AspenRidge REACH’s online addiction program. We also have in-person treatment centers across Colorado. 

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New Secular AA Speaker Meeting #holistic #health

Secular members of Alcoholics Anonymous will be gathering via Zoom on Sunday, January 3rd, and on the first Sunday of every month thereafter for a secular AA speaker meeting. The first meeting will be hosted by Secular AA | ICSAA, and future meetings will be hosted by a new group or city every month.

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Parrish, An Unincorporated Community #holistic #health

A poem by Colette M. You can learn more about Colette on episode 202 of the AA Beyond Belief podcast.

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Episode 202: Colette #holistic #health

Colette's date of sobriety is December 23, 2006, and on the date of this posting, she is celebrating fourteen years sober. In this episode, she shares her journey as a person in recovery from anorexia, depression, and alcoholism. Her's is an inspiring story and she does a great job describing her early struggles as well as the joy she has found in being sober. 

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22 Years of Successful Medical Opioid Detoxification #health #holistic

Waismann Treatment™ has always been ahead of its time. Waismann Method® team has been a trailblazer in medical opioid detox right from the beginning. After more than two decades and thousands of patients treated, numbers show the successful results—nearly 98% of patients undergoing the Waismann Treatment™ achieve complete opioid detoxification. These success rates are unheard of. The reason for this unparalleled success is treating "the patient" (based on their unique health needs) instead of focusing on the effects of an untreated condition.Waismann Method team views and treats opioid use disorder as a medical condition that can successfully be treated with effective medical detoxification assistance. Although the group is world-renowned as the #1 rapid detox center, rapid detox is not all they do. The length of stay and medical protocol used is primarily based on each patient's unique health needs. Rapid detox, the leader in opioid detoxification, is celebrating twenty-two years of service this month. During that time, the organization has helped thousands of people obtain freedom from opioid dependence and addiction. Since the beginning, Waismann Method has focused on helping people dependent on opioids find a dignified solution that empowers them to live free from opioids. They operate on the premise that everyone should have the right to live free of opioids — life without opioids shouldn't be a privilege. The organization also believes that detox — a barrier to seeking treatment for many people — should be humane, safe, and effective. With that approach, Waismann Method has successfully helped thousands of people live safer, healthier lives without the burden of opioids. Here's what sets Waismann Method apart:Rapid Detox — the Flagship ServiceMany people dependent on opioids fear going through the painful withdrawal symptoms that come with quitting opioids. While other recovery programs have embraced detox's discomfort as an essential part of recovery, the Waismann Method staff reject the idea that a person must go through physical pain and suffering to live without opioids. Just the opposite, fear of withdrawal and judgment keeps people from seeking the treatment they desperately need.Rapid detox is a dignified medical procedure to help patients get through a withdrawal from opioid drugs, especially long-acting ones such as Methadone and Suboxone. The procedure is extremely safe and effective when performed responsibly and with the necessary parameters. Some of the most important parameters are:A board-certified anesthesiologist should perform rapid detox in a private room in an accredited hospital.Patients need to be admitted at least a day before detoxification for a comprehensive medical evaluation, hydration, and adequate understanding of the patient's unique medical status and needs.Rapid detox can be accomplished with sedation in 1 to 2 hours. Protocols that place patients under general anesthesia for up to four hours (or more) are archaic and tend to pose unnecessary risk factors to the patient.There should be no limitation of inpatient stay. Predetermined allowance of time often leads to premature discharges.A few days of inpatient care at a specialized recovery center are crucial to the patient's success and safety. After rapid detox, the whole system works hard, trying to find a new baseline. This transition can lead to a period of emotional and physical instability. Although loved ones may desire to help, they do not have appropriate training to assess or assist with this crucial and fragile phase.Waismann Method® staff does not support programs that overpromise or claim to overnight "fix everything." However, the program offers the chance for someone to become opioid-free. Being free from the effects of opiates allows people to be emotionally present to pursue whatever emotional support is indicated for their specific case.What is the Waismann Method®?Waismann Method is named after its founder, Clare Waismann SUDCC/ RAS. The program's primary goal is to provide those struggling with opioid use disorder the safest, most effective, and most straightforward solution to a dangerous condition. Every patient is different, and so are their health needs. Thus, Waismann Method® provides several different treatment modalities that utilize the protocol that best fits the patients' unique needs.Together with a team of health care providers, Dr. Michael H. Lowenstein treats and oversees the care of Waismann Method patients. Dr. Lowenstein is a quadruple board-certified anesthesiologist and the most experienced licensed physician in the United States in anesthesia assisted opioid detox. His commitment, credentials, and unparalleled experience make him globally one of the top experts in opioid use disorder treatment. Thousands of patients from all over the world have flown to Southern California (Waismann Method’s only location) in the last two decades to receive treatment.Mrs. Waismann is also the founder of Domus Retreat Recovery Center, a place that provides individuals much-needed support after hospital detoxification. Domus Retreat is a facility where people can regain their strength while receiving a health care team's professional support and begin planning for their life free from opioids. An Individualized ApproachWaismann Method® is best known for medically-assisted rapid detox. However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to overcoming opioid dependence, so Waismann Method offers multiple treatment approaches. Each patient works with the doctor to understand their unique circumstances — their history of opioid use, any underlying medical conditions, and their desires and concerns for the future. With that information, the doctor and patient create an individualized treatment protocol with no preset limits or ideas. One that may involve rapid detox, but it doesn't always. The main focus is on finding the best treatment that ensures the specific patient's safety and success.This individualized approach used in the hospital is carried through to Domus Retreat. At Domus, there are no required meetings, chores, or sharing your story with strangers. Instead, each person works within their unique abilities and needs. The guest works individually with the professional staff to address the immediate health needs, physical and emotional stability, and plan for the best way to maintain a healthy path. After 22 years of helping people overcome opioid use, Waismann Method staff have become more passionate about helping people access safe, quality, and effective treatment. With the pandemic highlighting the need to maintain health, Waismann Method is eager to evolve and develop more ways to help people find the health and happiness they seek. 

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Return to Sender: What an Unsent Postcard Taught Me About Addiction #health #holistic

Summer, 2020The Unsent PostcardI have a stack of unwritten postcards, collected from my travels, purchased with the intent of sending them to those back home. In recent months, I have taken to writing out these postcards to friends and family, both to cheer them with sunny images as they shelter in, and to support the United States Postal System.Not long ago, I came across a card featuring a hand-colored photograph of a windmill in East Hampton, New York. To my surprise, it was not blank. Tightly scrawled sentences, in rudimentary French, it was meant for a friend in Paris.No postage, never mailed.17 Septembre, 1991Chère Delphine,Salut! I am at the beach with my mother. My God! My poor back! I am ready for a big change in my life. We must talk. I’m going to write you a real letter soon.Ton Amie, Maria.Here I was, standing at the edge of big change, poised to plunge into some grand announcement, too large for the 4” x 6” space given. These words never crossed the Atlantic. Instead, I held them now, between my fingertips, twenty-nine years later.What are the chances of this? I thought. Of all these blank cards, only one has writing, and not just any writing, but words that speak to my alcoholic “bottom” — the physical, mental and spiritual low-point of my young life.My back hasn’t bothered me for years, thank heaven. I take it for granted. I walk with ease everywhere today. Until this moment, I’d forgotten just how bad things were with my lower lumbar at age twenty-four, that hell year when I couldn’t stand up straight without sciatica shackling my ankles, seizing my spine, and clamping down hard at the cervical vertebrae. This physical agony — an exclamation point to my mental and spiritual state — had literally brought me to my knees.I spent weeks in bed self-medicating on whiskey sours and muscle relaxants. Somehow I’d convinced the corner pharmacist to dispense refills beyond the legal limit.I‘m skeptical when people make meaning from random events. It feels self-indulgent to interpret every rainbow as a reference to my personal recovery. Yet finding this card, all these years later, didn’t feel like coincidence. It felt intentionally planted to remind me of why I’d sobered up.It also felt like something I had to share with others.September, 1991Watching wavesIn those mellow days following Labor Day, when the water is warmer than the salt air, I was with my mother in a rented bungalow at the tip of Long Island, now emptied of humans. I was twenty-five, unemployed, and reeling from a bad break-up.I remember the lunch mom served on or about the day I’d written that postcard: linguine with shrimp and mussels, and flutes of rosé wine. Mom was a faithful clipper of the Wednesday food section of The New York Times. Maybe she’d sourced this seafood pasta recipe there, or maybe she’d been inspired by one of the influencers of Hamptons entertaining at the time: Martha Stewart or The Barefoot Contessa.However it came to be, it was a memorable meal presented with panache, from a bare-bones rental kitchen. And it was a meal where my mother enjoyed alcohol as she always did, in moderation. More often than not in my childhood home, there was an appropriate wine, served in stemware, to compliment every dish.My mother drank the way Jacques Pépin did on public television, and the way I always wanted to, but never could — with class. At the end of an episode of making something like, say, classic Beef Bourguignon, he would raise his glass of Cabernet Sauvignon in a toast: “Aah-pee Coo-keeeng!” and tilt it lightly to his lips.But that’s not the way I drank this glass of blush wine. I downed it.Plagued by sciatica, a still larger pain loomed; it had been moving in slowly for years, like a cold front, now dipping as an arctic depression over this lovely lunch.I remember craving more flutes of Zinfandel than that one bottle held, but I was checked at two because mom was watching. Two drinks were the limit if you were female, and raised right — and you cared about appearances — which we did. But I couldn’t comply.I found myself watching the waves from that deck all afternoon. I watched them crest and crash, one after the other, in rhythmic indifference to my pain. Then it hit me. It felt big. Big like the feeling I get reading an inspirational poem from an anthology with a daffodil or seagull on the cover. Though the feeling was big I, myself, suddenly felt small. And weirdly enough, I was okay with that.It was a relief. The waves kept rolling in, oblivious to my situation. It was freeing to see that my pain — sharp and ugly — couldn’t stand up to the beauty of light and dark scattering the water’s surface.Scared, self-involved me was no match for the folding waves. For hours I watched them flatten at the shore and return to the sea, gradually eroding the moat I’d dug around myself. Yes, my experience of this landscape could be captured in a bad sonnet in a book with a hokey cover — the kind you’d find in a hospital gift shop.It was neither subtle nor original, my “white light” oceanfront awakening, but it was genuine.The next day, a masseuse with strong hands and a soft voice got me to open up about my drinking on a massage table in Amagansett. A recovering alcoholic himself, Sean R. is much of the reason I made it to my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting when I returned to Brooklyn that next week.1991–2013A Bridge Back to a Good Life, Then Some Slippery TurnsAs the postcard predicted, big change followed. “A.A. is a bridge back to life.” That’s true. I did cross over to a full life with marriage, kids, and a semi-detached house. But it was a life further into Brooklyn, and further from my home group, the A.A. group where I had first gotten sober and stayed that way.Yes, I was still not drinking, but I can’t claim I was emotionally sober. Somewhere along the way I stopped going to meetings. Lost touch with my sponsor. Quit working with other recovering alcoholics. You know where this is going. Eventually, I drank.It started small: communion wine on Sundays, the occasional “non-alcoholic” beer, and the argument with my dentist. He wanted to give me local anesthesia for minor dental work, but I pushed for hit after hit of nitrous oxide on top of that. I wanted to numb my brain, not just my molar.“The idea that somehow, someday he(she/they) will control and enjoy his (her/their) drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker.” — from Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 3, ‘More About Alcoholism’I went along like this for years, skating on the edge of my sobriety, doing figure-eights on April ice, until seven years ago I found myself sitting in the sun porch of my friend Samantha’s historic, center hall colonial home.Our kids were playing together somewhere on the periphery. I always found my way here, to this snug room off the parlor, with floor-to-ceiling bookcases and a loveseat. I’d marked it as my space, where I could step away, sink into the cushions and watch the cardinal at the feeder.On this day I was thinking about my marriage. It had been a good run, but after fourteen years, two sons and a poodle, it was over. During the past months, this reality had settled over me like snowfall hitting pavement at the freezing mark, melting first, before catching hold, white landing on grey, gradually building, til nothing remained of the sidewalk below. I was scared as hell now.Samantha stood over me with finger sandwiches and two flutes filled with golden bubbles on a silver tray. It had been so long since I’d been to a meeting, so long since I’d said out loud to a roomful of people: “I’m an alcoholic.” So long that I had a new circle of friends that never knew I had a problem and older friends who had forgotten that I didn’t drink.In that moment, I forgot I didn’t drink.Alcohol, catching sunlight, was presented to me on a slender stem, the way it had been twenty-two years earlier at the beach.Why not? If ever I deserved a mimosa, it’s now.I took a sip.Holy shit, what the hell am I doing?I ran to the powder room and poured the rest down a sink with a swan head faucet.“The alcoholic, at certain times, has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he (she/they) nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His (her/their) defense must come from a Higher Power.” — from Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 3, “More About Alcoholism”It had happened —I had drunk again. I never thought I would. It had been more than two decades since my last real drunk, and I had good reason never to drink again — actually two very good reasons, their names were Leo and Liam. Sure I could rationalize the Sunday morning communion wine and the occasional hit of laughing gas — after all, I was accountable to no one for my behavior now— but when I let that bubbly pass my teeth and slide down my throat, I recognized that for what it was —a slip.I remember the taste of it clearly — that citrus effervescence in my mouth — and I remember my conscious decision to swallow. Like countless alcoholics before me, I had now proven what the Big Book drives home in the conclusion of Chapter 3.I had had “no effective mental defense against the first drink.”September, 2013The Room Above the Fish StoreThankfully, at the same moment, I realized my problem when I took that sip of spiked o.j. , I also remembered the solution.Alcoholics Anonymous had worked for me, for as long as I had shown up for myself and others. What became obvious to me with this slip was that I’d do well to return to a community of recovering alcoholics if I wanted to get sober again, and stay that way. I needed to plug back into a sober support network.So on the heels of my slip in late September, 2013, I climbed a staircase to a room above a fish store filled with retired seniors and flies circling overhead. I’d stepped into an A.A. Big Book meeting, already in progress. They were reading one of the personal stories from the back of the book, round-robin style. Right away I could see myself in ‘The Housewife Who Drank at Home.’ When she described herself as a ‘Jekyll-and-Hyde’ PTA mom, I lost it. That was me. Someone passed me a box of Kleenex. I will never forget that kindness.September, 2020TodayWillpower and the passage of time are no guarantees against the first drink. I was humbled by this realization when I slipped.I like my life today; some days I love it. I don’t live in unreasonable fear, but I accept this fact: on any ordinary day, my alcoholic mind could observe the oven clock turn five and think: A snifter of eighteen-year-old single malt whiskey, served neat, alongside a bowl of salted cashews, would be a fine idea!And today I understand, right down to the jelly marrow of my bones, that this is typical alcoholic wishful thinking.I also recognize — and appreciate — other approaches to solving problem drinking, or at least to blunting the devastating effects of alcohol and other addictive substances and habits. Some of these solutions have developed in my lifetime, and some have been there all along.I have a friend who threw herself back into her childhood faith in earnest, and another who found help in Buddhist-inspired Refuge Recovery. I am happy for these friends, and for everyone who finds lasting recovery, however and whenever. And for those who have chosen the A.A. path, I am especially gratified to welcome back those like me — humbled humans who have returned to the fellowship later in life.On the last day of this month, I’ll have seven years back in the rooms. Once again, Alcoholics Anonymous has been a bridge back to a good life. I’ve got a sunny apartment, two sturdy teens, and an Australian lizard. The ex and I have each other’s back in the co-parenting game. I’ve got a day job where I feel purposeful, and my writing at night, which lights a votive in my soul.I was lucky to find my way back to A.A. at forty-seven, and lucky to turn up this picture-postcard now — this four-by-six inch card stock talisman, a reminder of who I was at twenty-five, and who I am now, twenty-nine years later — sandwiched between sunbathers on the Jersey shore and Niagara Falls at night. To me this is no coincidence: this postcard, lost then miraculously recovered, does parallel my own recovery, lost for twenty-two years, then found again in a new group, above an Italian fishmonger.And so, my dear friend Delphine, here is the full story, the real letter I promised you, delivered now, almost thirty years later. You are not an alcoholic, but maybe some of this makes sense. I hope so. We must talk soon.  This piece originally appeared on Medium on September 13, 2020.

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A Pandemic of Loneliness #health #holistic

As we head into the winter months with a second wave of the coronavirus in full swing, many people are once again thinking about loneliness and isolation.“The pandemic seems to have intensified the discrepancy between relationships they would like to have and those they do have,” says Geoff Thompson, PhD, program director for Sunshine Coast Health Centre in British Columbia.While loneliness can have many health impacts, all loneliness is not created equal. Understanding the causes of loneliness can help people address it.Situational LonelinessMost of the attention on loneliness during the pandemic has been focused on situational loneliness, Thompson says. If you are unable to see your family during this holiday, or you are missing your friends from school or work, you are experiencing situational loneliness — you have meaningful relationships, but your in-person visitation is limited because of social distancing.Situational loneliness is relatively easy to address, even if it’s sometimes frustrating.“This sort of loneliness can be eased by keeping in contact with loved ones and friends, even if it means over the internet or keeping [6 feet] from each other,” Thompson says.If you’re experiencing situational loneliness, remind yourself that you’re lucky to have meaningful relationships, and soon you’ll be able to experience them in a more normal way.Chronic LonelinessThe most concerning condition is chronic loneliness. This is also more pervasive, and has been an issue in western societies well before the pandemic, Thompson says. People who are experiencing chronic loneliness don’t have meaningful connections and relationships in their lives.If you are suffering from chronic loneliness, there’s not a quick and easy fix.“An easing of social distancing won’t do much to help these people, whose loneliness is chronic,” Thompson says.Just becoming more socially active won’t solve chronic loneliness, he added.“Research suggests that merely increasing social contact—encouraging young people to join the dragon-boat club or arranging card games for the elderly—may not be enough,” Thompson says.Steps to Address LonelinessHowever, there are steps you can take to address chronic loneliness and begin building more fulfilling relationships in your life, even after the pandemic ends. Here’s what Thompson recommends:Seek therapy. A therapist can help chronically lonely individuals to evaluate their patterns and their beliefs about relationships. Some people experience social interaction as a threat, which the pandemic can make worse, so therapy can be more important now than ever. “The best approach is to gain some perspective of the pandemic and not reduce human contact to a potentially deadly encounter,” Thompson says.Develop an individual approach. The key to combating chronic loneliness is to focus on relationships that are personally meaningful to you. “Realize that one-size-fits-all interventions don’t work very well,” Thompson says. For some people, joining a club or volunteering might provide fulfillment, while for others those activities will fall flat.Look at how you self-identify. Oftentimes, people will isolate themselves from the people around them, because they believe those people can’t understand them. This often happens with veterans, who feel that people without military experience just can’t relate to them. Thompson recommends taking an honest look at your identity, and reflecting on whether it is contributing to your loneliness. “Working with veterans for more than a decade, I’ve learned that helping them live personally meaningful lives demands that they see themselves as human beings, rather than just soldiers,” he says.Give your time or expertise. Finding ways to bring others meaning and joy, through volunteering, mentoring or similar, can help reduce loneliness for many people.In addition, Thompson says it’s important that people talk about their loneliness and normalize the experience. That in and of itself can help build connection. Although chronic loneliness might not be induced by the pandemic, the discussions of loneliness during COVID can help people recognize when they need to change.“The pangs of loneliness are a warning that we need to do something to change our behaviors and way of making sense of self and the world,” Thompson says.Sunshine Coast Health Centre is a non-12-step drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in British Columbia. Learn more here.

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The Benefits of Rehab Center Staff Working Their Own Recovery #health #holistic

The addiction recovery community thrives on the ethos of “giving back."Just like the slightly cheesy movie “Pay It Forward,” which promotes the idea of paying forward the good that someone else has done for you to another, many recovering addicts and alcoholics get to the point in their new, sober lives where they feel an often undeniable desire to do something positive for someone who is right at the beginning of their own recovery.Fortunately, those who do “give back” don’t consider it cheesy at all.In fact, so universally acknowledged is the concept of “giving back” within the recovery community, it’s the very reason why Alcoholics Anonymous (and, later, Narcotics Anonymous) continues to be a consistently present and active part of so many people’s addiction recoveries.These groups continue to provide and develop their own profound sense of fellowship and community, primarily through their universal “sponsoring system,” where a newly-sober AA or NA participant is taken under the proverbial wing of a more longer-term recovering addict - “the sponsor.”The same concept, taken a little further, motivates and inspires recovering addicts and alcoholics to literally hit the books and go back to school, and learn all they can about the chronic disease of addiction itself, the various therapies for its treatments, and even how to counsel another recovering addict.Taken even further still, the idea of “giving back” inspires and motivates some of those who are in long-term recovery from substance addiction to first imagine, and then to actually realize an addiction rehab center of their very own, or another, similar source of treatment, to be run exactly how they perceive it would work best.They write the business plans, they source, and then secure, the necessary finance, and they start to build their business, with the sole aim of getting active drug addicts and alcoholics, from a side of life they knew so well themselves, into an addiction treatment facility that will save them, just as these entrepreneurial original founders were once saved.It prompts the question.Are there any real, tangible benefits to the staff at a drug and alcohol rehab center - the founders and executives, the in-house counsellors and therapists, the nursing staff, or the administrators in the “office” - being in, and actively working on, their own longer-term recovery from substance addiction?If you consider that the recovery from drugs and/or alcohol is simply a process, and not the “life experience” many choose to view it as, then your recovery journey is then a case of following a set of well-considered directions, one that actively pushes you towards abstinence and sobriety.Who better, then, to provide those directions than someone who has traveled the same route, and successfully, too?The Power of the Shared ExperienceThe drug rehab executive, with 12 years of sobriety from a previous cocaine addiction, glances out of his office window, and watches as a meth addict, just being dropped off at the same executive’s rehab by a mixture of paramedics and police officers, stumbles through the rehab’s main entrance...These two people - the exec and the meth guy - may not seem to have much in common at all to the casual onlooker. In reality, however, they share the very personal and powerful experience of substance addiction; thus, they also share the humble beginnings of the same sense of brotherhood seen at any local AA meeting.They both know what it is to plead, beg and deceive to satisfy their drug dependency - even if one of them wears a suit now. Sit them down together, let them compare notes, and many of those notes, however unique, will emanate from the same place, and be strikingly similar.The only real difference between them in this setting of an addiction rehab is simple - 12 years of recovery, compared to less than 12 minutes.The “Refreshingly Human” Rehab CenterAt Springboard Recovery, located in Scottsdale, Arizona (a short drive from the city of Phoenix), many of the staff members are long-term recovering addicts, with a huge number of clean and sober years accumulated between them. For example, you’ll find:Jason Bordonaro, a former drug addict and alcoholic, with nearly 20 years of sobriety, and a co-founder of Springboard RecoveryLaura Nuss, a former opioid prescription addict who transitioned to heroin before finding recovery, and a co-founder of Springboard RecoveryAlexa Morgenroth, a former heroin addict, now with an MA in Developmental Psychology, and Springboard Recovery’s Executive Director, andJosh Lemieux, a former heroin and crack cocaine addict, an alumni who found his long-term recovery with Springboard Recovery, and who is now the Director of AdmissionsSteve Laats, a former addict and alcoholic, with over 20 years clean, and the Director of Marketing and Operations with SpringBoard RecoveryThroughout the center, several more staff are in addiction recovery themselves, but is this an advantage to those who arrive here as new patients? The answer is a clear and resounding “Yes.”As Josh, the center’s Admissions guy, explains, his poly-use addiction was so powerful it “brought me to my knees, 140 pounds, no fight left in me.” He cites the “love, compassion and empathy” provided by Springboard the moment when he arrived at the rehab as a new patient as equally powerful.Mother, Father, Sisters, Brothers...It’s an important aspect of the Springboard Recovery’s holistic approach to treatment, one that Josh actively uses with first-time callers to the center, saying that it often builds an instant rapport with people who are desperately struggling in exactly the same way as he once did himself.Springboard Recovery’s motto, appropriately, is “Refreshingly Human.” All incoming patients are treated like family - as mothers, as fathers, as sisters, and as brothers. As Alexa Morgenroth explains, we “treat everybody like they were our own.”The center is seen as a “community of recovery” - considered vital to both a new patient’s mental wellbeing, and the chances of a sustainable, long-term recovery. As many of those who work with new patients here know first-hand the range of negative, often devastating effects of substance addiction, the level of understanding, trust and confidence built between counselor and patient is a fairly rapid process.Clearly, all the levels of staff at Springboard Recovery - from its founders to its part-time admin - are exceptionally grateful for their own recovery, and they have made a life-long commitment to “give back” to the recovery community themselves. Helping others in a both a highly professional and sincerely practical way to find their own recovery both inspires and motivates the center’s staff.There are many more examples all over the U.S. of recovering addicts working in the professional field of addiction - from volunteer workers to new rehab center founders, and from “recovery app”-builders to clinical ward cleaners.Giving ThanksJust like the concept of “giving back,” simple gratitude is an integral part of addiction recovery. Recovering addicts are always grateful for having received the education, the knowledge, and the coping skills and mechanisms from the process of being in rehab, an outpatient program, or a support group, to help them to stay clean and sober.Honestly, exactly how would you feel if someone gave you a real, tangible second chance at life?Understandably, many want to share this.From either their local church hall that holds an AA meeting every Tuesday evening (6pm - tea and coffee served), from the psychotherapist’s office that counsels a seemingly endless line of trauma-filled addicts and alcoholics, or from the offices, meeting rooms and Recovery Housing accommodation of Springboard Recovery, this simple idea of “giving back” inspires, motivates and propels new addiction recoveries every single day.Learn more about Springboard Recovery, Scottsdale (nr. Phoenix), AZ at https://ift.tt/3gTvaq1. Alternatively, reach Springboard Recovery by phone at (888) 672-2120, or find Springboard Recovery on Facebook.

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Episode 201: Birds of a Feather #holistic #health

Marty B. is a recovering alcoholic and a retired airline pilot. He got sober in AA and after his first year of sobriety, another pilot introduced him to Birds of a Feather, a worldwide network of AA meetings established for airline pilots and cockpit crewmembers. In this episode, Marty describes the unique needs of pilots in recovery and how Birds of a Feather offers a helping hand. 

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New Secular NA Meeting “Atheists Recover Too” #holistic #health

The “Atheists Recover Too” group was formed to provide additional identification for addicts who are uncomfortable with or can't identify with, the religious terminology in the NA and AA programs. The focus of any NA meeting, including a specialized group, is on recovery from addiction, and any alcoholic/addict is welcome to attend.

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#Alcoholism Recovery Stories: How I Stay #Sober #Retweetplease #Sobriety #health

6 Things 2020 Has Taught Us About Alcohol & Sobriety #health #holistic

I know so many of us will be relieved to see the back of 2020. 

It’s been a challenging year in many ways. But at the same time, 2020 has also brought some important life lessons with it.

In fact, when it comes to booze and sobriety, there’s been a heck of a lot to learn from the past 12 months.

So before we rush to wave off this strange year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on 6 things 2020 has taught us about alcohol free living.

Key points: 

1. We adapt to a new normal pretty quickly

Who’d have thought we’d get used to social distancing and wearing face masks? If you can find a new normal in the middle of something horrible like a global pandemic, then you can find a new normal in something amazing like sobriety!

 

2. We learned that drinking really doesn’t change anything

Drinking didn’t make coronavirus less scary. It didn’t make lockdown pass quicker or the US election less stressful. Booze is a favourite coping mechanism for many people, but 2020 has shown just how useless and unhelpful it is in the long run.

 

3. We really value freedom

When these restrictions lift, it’s going to be wonderful to do what we want, travel and meet up easily. So make sure you aren’t accidentally creating your own version of lockdown with alcohol.  Don’t let booze keep you chained at home, in a way of life you don’t like. 

 

4. Gin distilleries can make hand sanitiser

At the start of the pandemic, some gin distilleries switched to producing hand sanitiser because they already had the key ingredient: high strength alcohol. This was helpful, but it should also be a wake up call. We’re not meant to ingest something used for killing germs. 

 

5. We’re more resilient than we think

I know you’ve had 101 things to cope with in 2020. I know it’s been tough. But look – you made it. You can do hard things. So don’t tell yourself this nonsense about how you’re ‘not strong enough’ to quit drinking. You are awesome! 

 

6. We remembered what really matters

Not being able to see and hug the people we care about has been so hard – especially during the holiday season. It puts everything into perspective. So let’s remember what really matters at this time of year… because it isn’t the contents of your glass that counts. 

Ready to make a fresh start in the New Year? If you’re looking for help to quit drinking, click here for details of my online course.

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What Is Problem Drinking? #health #holistic

The pandemic has left many people reaching for the bottle more often than not. And while not everyone who drinks to cope with stress will experience addiction, Craig Beck sees a big increase in problem drinking, a serious condition in and of itself.Beck understands problem drinking well. For twenty years, he was a problem drinker, using alcohol too much, but not to the point that the label “alcoholic” resonated with him. Despite his reluctance to see the trouble that drinking was bringing him, the impact was real, he now says: his family relationships, health, and career were all being negatively impacted by his drinking.That’s why he’s now dedicated to helping other problem drinkers recognize when their drinking patterns have become unhealthy, and regain control over their alcohol use.What Are Problem Drinkers?Today, Beck makes a simple distinction between problem drinkers and alcoholics.“Problem drinkers are people who are psychologically addicted to alcohol. They are using it to cope with stress, anxiety, and the pressure of life. They are entirely functional in life, holding down jobs and having families, but they are drinking to excess on a daily basis,” he explains.The parent who is having a drink after the kids go to bed every night is a problem drinker, as is the employee who needs alcohol to unwind after work. The pandemic is making more and more people into problem drinkers. In fact, alcohol use has increased among all Americans during the pandemic, with heavy drinking among women up nearly 40% between 2019 and 2020.While there’s no doubt that this habit of using alcohol to cope with the pandemic is unhealthy, most people who are problem drinkers wouldn’t consider themselves alcoholics, Beck says.“Alcoholics are physically addicted to the drug,” he explains. “They have drank so much and for so long that their bodies have become used to the presence of alcohol in the blood. If they stop drinking suddenly, they will suffer severe withdrawal.”Overcoming Problem DrinkingFor most people, the solution to problem drinking is to abstain from alcohol completely, Beck says. That’s not because — as AA teaches — people are powerless over their use of alcohol, but rather because after examining their relationship with alcohol many people realize that they don’t want it in their lives. That’s what happened to Beck, who says he realized with time that alcohol was “attractively packaged poison.”“People often want to cut down rather than quit. But I explain that moderation is a miserable existence,” he says. “You are constantly trying to work out when you can drink and how much you are allowed. Quitting is so much easier.”Today, Beck, the author of Alcohol Lied to Me, teaches courses on how to overcome problem drinking without willpower and recognize the truth about alcohol.“The course works by disassembling your belief structure around the drug. Rather than forcing you to use willpower to avoid drinking, it uses a logical process to change the way you see alcohol,” Beck explains. “You slowly stop seeing it as a treat and instead start to see it for what it really is… attractively packaged poison.”One of the most difficult pieces for problem drinkers is knowing where to turn when they feel that their relationship with alcohol has become troublesome. While Beck wasn’t ready to sit in an AA meeting, he did reach out to various people for guidance when he decided to get sober. Now, he wants his experience to help other people who are suffering from the consequences of alcohol.“Problems with alcohol never get better on their own,” he says. “This is a drug that kills 3,000,000 people every year. Don’t assume you can deal with this later. The longer you leave it the deeper into the trap you will fall. Take action today!”

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Tradition Three #holistic #health

This video is exclusive content available to our supporters on Patreon and members of our YouTube Channel.

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How to Find an Online Secular AA Meeting #holistic #health

Here are some great resources to help you find an online secular AA meeting

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Episode 200: Twelve Steps for Agnostics #holistic #health

In this episode, we meet Andy F., an agnostic who got sober in AA and is now writing a book about his experience as an agnostic working the Twelve Steps 

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A Sober Life Isn’t a Boring Life #health #holistic

There’s an outdated idea that getting sober means giving something up — saying goodbye to partying, excitement, fun and impulsivity. But really, nothing could be further from the truth.When you give up drugs and alcohol, you’re opening yourself up to a better life, with the freedom to do what you really want. That’s why there is no reason that a sober life has to be a boring life. In fact, going into treatment and getting into recovery often leaves you with the health, energy and motivation to live life to the fullest.Here’s why a life in recovery is anything but boring. When you’re sober…You’re at your bestWhen you’re addicted to drugs or alcohol, your life is dictated by the substances that you’re dependent on. You’re either taking them or wondering when you can get your hands on them next. Even when you’re not actively using or securing drugs, your mind wanders to substances.But when you get sober, that constant nagging is released. Sure, you’ll experience cravings or temptations now and then. But in the day-to-day, your mind is healthier and able to think about the big questions in life: who you are, what brings you happiness, and how to life the most fulfilled life possible.You’re healthyOne of the greatest gifts that recovery gives you is your health. Being addicted to substances leaves you at risk for a myriad of illnesses, including coronavirus. And even when you’re not confronting serious illnesses, you’re constantly navigating the experience of being hung over or dopesick.Once you’re sober, your body is able to start healing from years of substance use. As your body begins repairing itself, you’ll start feeling healthier than ever. You’re able to hike or bike further than you could when you were using. You have the bandwidth to strain your mind and body by learning new skills, rather than just operating at the lowest level.You’re braveLiving through addiction and coming out the other side is a terrifying experience. Anyone who has been in treatment for substance use disorder can probably point to their own personal rock bottom —oftentimes a moment when they didn’t know whether they would live or die.Once you’ve seen yourself at your worst, or wondered if your life would go on, other things suddenly seem less scary. You’ve pushed through the worst of the worst and survived. Many people find that is freeing, allowing them to try new things, whether it’s putting yourself out there into the dating pool or trying a scary activity like rock climbing.You’re more financially secureAddiction zaps your resources. Your time, money and effort is all directed at your next high. Once you get on your feet in recovery, you’ll likely find that you have more energy, freedom, and financial resources to pursue the things that really bring you joy.When you were using, things like travel and higher education probably seemed out of reach. But now that you're sober, those are realistic possibilities that you can pursue.You’re in controlWhen you’re addicted, you’re ruled by your disease. But when you’re sober, you are in control. You get to decide what life sounds exciting to you. If you want to dance and party — after the pandemic — there are plenty of places that host sober clubbing experiences. If your idea of fun involves plays or theater, you have the opportunity to do that. And if you prefer outdoor activities, you’re more able to engage with them when you’re not chasing your next fix.A life of addiction might be full of unknowns — which some people find exciting. But it’s also full of illness, financial consequences and limitations on your ability to try new things. When you get sober, you open yourself up to a world of opportunities and the freedom to pursue them.Learn more about Oceanside Malibu at https://ift.tt/2YrFRKm. Reach Oceanside Malibu by phone at (866) 738-6550. Find Oceanside Malibu on Facebook.

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A Key Question To Transform The Fear Of Missing Out #health #holistic

The fear of missing out can pop up unexpectedly.

Perhaps you promised yourself you wouldn’t drink, but now you’re not so sure.

You’re worried you won’t have a good time if you’re sober. You don’t want to feel left out.

The fear of missing out – otherwise known as FOMO – can seriously derail your alcohol free goals if you let it.

This video is all about overcoming FOMO with one key question:

“The ‘Fear Of Missing Out’ is what happens when scarcity slams into shame. FOMO lures us out of our integrity with whispers about what we could or should be doing. FOMO’s favorite weapon is comparison. It kills gratitude and replaces it with ‘not enough.'”
Brene Brown

The fear of missing out

FOMO pulls you away from what you said you wanted and tries to keep you stuck in your old way of doing things. It creates fears about what you might miss out on. For example, taste, fun, connection with friends, a certain experience.

 

Check your thoughts

When the fear of missing out comes up, ask yourself: what’s the story I’m telling myself here? Use it as a cue to explore a particular belief you have. For example, do you really need to drink to have fun? What about all those times when you’ve drunk and not had a great experience?

 

If I say yes to this, what am I saying no to?

This is the key question. Saying yes to drinking means saying no to the future you really want. You’re saying no to feeling proud, having your own back and waking up hangover free. Fast forward 24 hours: what is it you really want – your old patterns or something new? 

Looking for help to quit drinking and feel great about it? Click here for details of my online course.

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Helping Your Child Through Difficult Times #health #holistic

I have been a mental health and addictions counselor for over two decades. I’ve treated adults and adolescents diagnosed with serious psychiatric and substance abuse issues at one of the nation’s premier psychiatric hospitals. After informing parents of their child’s substance abuse history the most frequent response I heard from them was “I had no idea this was going on.” Or if they suspected their child was using a substance, they were shocked at how extensive it was.Adolescent substance abuse continues to invade too many of our families, leaving parents confused and without a roadmap to guide them in finding help for their child. Today, more than 40 percent of seniors and one-third of tenth graders are vaping a substance like marijuana. Twenty percent of teens report abusing prescription drugs like Xanax, Ritalin and Adderall.As the parent of an addicted child, feelings of helplessness, blame and fear can drown out any sense of hope. But in the pages of my book The Addicted Child: A Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse they receive the information and resources needed to help their child through assessment, treatment and recovery.Alcohol and drugs have the power to change a child’s brain and influence behaviors so I include a chapter on the neuroscience of substance abuse. In non-technical language parents learn how substances work in the adolescent brain.Because the best treatment starts with a comprehensive assessment there’s a chapter explaining which assessments are critical for a proper diagnosis. These assessments go beyond looking just at a child’s history of using substances. All too often when we look beyond a child’s drinking or drug use we discover their struggle to manage intolerable thoughts, feelings or memories is a core issue that needs treatment. While not every child using alcohol or drugs has an underlying psychological issue, for those that do, treating the alcohol or drug problem without treating the mental health issue can be a treatment plan doomed to fail.Other chapters in The Addicted Child address issues such as eating disorders, self-injury, gaming and cell phone use which often accompany a child’s use of substances. Parents learn the warning signs for these disorders and the warning signs that often accompany alcohol and drug use. Parents also learn which drugs are invading today’s adolescent population and how to recognize them.Parents often need guidance when looking for treatment options. There is no “one size fits all” treatment approach to addiction. For this reason, I have included chapters explaining the important principles of adolescent substance abuse treatment and various treatment options available for families. There is also a chapter listing helpful resources for parents.Very few things are more destructive to a family than having someone, especially a child, addicted to alcohol or drugs. While working on an adolescent treatment unit I met parents struggling to understand and accept their child’s psychiatric and substance use issues. For most of these families it was a heart-breaking experience. Sadly, many families do not have the financial resources to send their child to a nationally acclaimed hospital like the Menninger Clinic in Houston. Their desperate search for help often leaves them feeling alone and without a roadmap to guide them through the process of their child’s assessment and treatment. It’s for these families that I wrote my book, The Addicted Child: A Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse. You can find The Addicted Child on Amazon and at the following website: https://ift.tt/2VEtQxv

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Episode 199: Twenty-Five Years of Listening #holistic #health

Glenn S. is a recovering alcoholic, a Richard Dawkins atheist who helped found three humanist AA meetings in New York City, and an artist who for twenty-five years brought a sketchbook to meetings that he used to take notes and sketch the people around him. The sketchbook helped him listen during meetings and resulted in a wonderful book that he titled Twenty-Five Years of Listening. This episode is the story of how the book came to be.

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Virtual International Conference of Secular AA Dec 5, 2020 #holistic #health

The International Conference of Secular AA is meeting via Zoom on December 5, 2020, at 9:00 AM Pacific, 12:00 PM Eastern, 5:00 PM GMT. The doors will open thirty minutes before the official start time. 

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“But Everyone Drinks At This Time Of Year…” #health #holistic

“Everyone drinks at this time of year.”

“I’m going to be the odd one out… If I don’t drink, I won’t have any fun.”

When I was trying (and failing) to quit drinking, these thoughts played on repeat in my head. I just couldn’t imagine an alcohol-free festive season.

It was a long time before I realised that the contents of my glass didn’t actually matter – it was my mindset that made the difference.

I explain all in this video:

Key points

Is it true that “everyone drinks”?

In the UK alone, 1 in 5 adults are teetotal. Yet when you’re drinking, it doesn’t feel like this is true, because you tend to be on the lookout for other heavy drinkers. When you quit, you might notice that other people don’t drink as much as you thought.

 

What are you really worried about?

I used to think that people who didn’t drink were boring – and I didn’t want other people to think that about me. That’s what I was worried about, deep down. Once you start to identify what you really think, you can explore whether it’s really true or not. 

We’d never declare someone ‘boring’ because they didn’t smoke. If someone did say that to you, I bet you’d think it was a pretty silly thing to say! Some of the most interesting people on the planet don’t drink (here’s a list of them). 

 

How do you behave when you’re not drinking? 

Do you show up as your normal, amazing self? Are you part of the conversation or are you up in your own head, wondering what other people think and whether they’ve noticed? Are you busy telling yourself that you can’t relax and you’re not having fun?

Your thoughts create your experience. If you don’t like what you’re thinking, don’t drink over it – look at your thoughts instead. You have no problem going for coffee or a walk with friends, so you can socialise sober! It’s all about your mindset, not what’s in your glass.

Looking for help to quit drinking and feel great about it? Click here for details of my online course.

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5 Tips for Getting Through the Pandemic Holidays, Sober #health #holistic

The holidays are always a fraught time for people in recovery. The shorter, darker, colder days during November and December can take a toll on anyone. Add in the stress of returning home, dealing with family members, and attending social functions where drinking might be expected, and the holidays are a minefield.This year, the holiday season is going to be more stressful than typical. The pandemic has strained many relationships, while taking away recovery resources. If you go home for the holidays, you might worry about exposure; while staying put can leave you at risk for wrath from the in-laws. It’s no wonder that this holiday season is coming with a lot of strife.Staying sober this holiday season will take planning ahead, says Geoff Thompson, PhD, program director for Sunshine Coast Health Centre in British Columbia.“Stressors tend to increase during the holiday season, which is why many recovery organizations hold more recovery meetings, as well as clean and sober dances,” says Thompson. Unfortunately, the pandemic has put a halt to those supports.“None of this will be available this year,” Thompson says.With that in mind, try these steps to help keep yourself sober and healthy this holiday season.1. Adjust your expectationsJust like the rest of the year, holiday season 2020 is going to be unlike any other. Just acknowledging that and giving yourself some time to mourn what you’re missing can go a long way.You probably won’t be watching The Nutcracker or going to any cookie swaps. You might not even be able to see your friends or loved ones. Recognizing these changes ahead of time can help you prepare for them, and the emotions that they bring.2. Find ways to keep your equilibriumSober events are largely cancelled, and you might not even be able to go to the gym to burn off steam. So, it’s up to you to find ways to keep your mental and physical health on track during the holidays.Luckily, by this point, we’ve all had some practice keeping mentally healthy at home. Little things, like online recovery meetings, Facetime dates with friends, or a walk around the neighborhood can help you feel well. Don’t underestimate the importance of routine, especially if you have kids, Thompson says.3. Practice gratitudeDuring the holidays, we’re supposed to spend time thinking about what we’re thankful for. This year, it’s all too easy to focus on the negative and what’s missing. In order to gain some perspective, spend some time reflecting on the silver linings to the pandemic. Maybe you have learned a new skill, or are really enjoying working from home. Perhaps you’ve enjoyed the quality time that you have with the people in your household. Maybe the pandemic has given you new courage to live your life to the fullest.Once you’ve thought about your silver linings, and maybe written them down, consider sharing them with someone you love, and asking them to do the same.4. Do random acts of kindness, from afarOpportunities to complete acts of service might seem, at first glance, to have disappeared this holiday season. But that doesn’t have to be the case. You can still volunteer from home, or surprise someone you love with a gift from afar.Doing a random act of kindness is likely to put a smile on your face, and break the gloomy sense of the pandemic holidays. Something as simple as sending a card and note to strangers stuck in their nursing homes during this holiday season can help spread cheer to those who need it most.5. Have a recovery planAs always, it’s important to know who you can turn to when you are struggling with your sobriety. Keep an updated list of digital meetings on-hand, and make sure you always have the number of your sponsor or another trusted person who you can talk to.This holiday season is likely to be a little less magical for many people. But by adjusting expectations and focusing on health and safety long-term, you can make sure that you’ll be here to celebrate the holidays in 2021.Sunshine Coast Health Centre is a non 12-step drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in British Columbia. Learn more here.

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Tradition Two: Our Group Conscience #holistic #health

This is exclusive content for our patrons and YouTube members. I will attempt to post one video a week on a Tradition until we get through them all. I'm reading from the 12x12 and commenting along the way. Please feel free to add your comments as well. I would love to get your thoughts on this tradition.

The post Tradition Two: Our Group Conscience first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

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The Stone that I Keep Hidden Away #holistic #health

I’ve realized sober for a time, that fear of abandonment runs through my veins. My dad would disappear for several days a few times a year on a drunken binge. Usually, he also gambled away virtually everything we had. As a young child, I was terrified. As a preteen and teen, I was still terrified, but also, fantasized that he might never come back.

The post The Stone that I Keep Hidden Away first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

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Suggestible You #holistic #health

A fascinating perspective on how it might work is offered by Erik Vance in his absolutely essential, “Suggestible You - The Curious Science Of Your Brain’s Ability To Deceive, Transform, And Heal.” Mr. Vance was brought up in a Christian Science community. As far as I understand it, Christian Science practitioners use faith alone to heal; no doctors, no Xanax, no exceptions. Right.

The post Suggestible You first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

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What Happened When I Spent Christmas Eve in a Basement with a Crazy Cat #health #holistic

It was Christmas Eve, 2013, and I was scooping poop from a litter box in my neighbors’ basement. Leticia and Dana had rescued a feral kitten whose new habitat extended from the hot water heater to the washer/dryer. Although it was icy outdoors and toasty within, this foster feline wasn’t buying into her rehabilitation. But I was. I was three months sober.Kitty was ambivalent towards humans. She darted about the boiler room, kicking up supermarket circulars that had been neatly layered for her comfort. As I shook Friskies into the bowl, she shouldered up to me, twitching her tail against my forearm, her throat vibrating under a flea collar. As I reached to pet her, she caught my wrist between her paws and bit down hard on the hand that fed her.I was tempted to punt the little ingrate into the sewer trap, but instead I dialed a sober friend. Darlyne listened as I droned on about what I was sure would be my worst holiday ever, the bluest Blue Christmas imaginable. After fourteen years of marriage, my husband and I had agreed to call it quits in September. Here we were now in December, Yuletide upon us, and that sparkling snow globe of a mental construct—the family Christmas—was shattering. There would be two trees this year instead of one, two piles of hastily-wrapped presents, and even two plates of sugar cookies, left for two Santas, because our younger son was only six, and very much still a believer.I never doubted my decision to divorce, but I had misgivings when it came to the kids. I feared the emotional fall-out from all those times when mom’s temper met dad’s radioactive passive-aggression. I saw an acid cloud of neuroses raining down upon my sons from their parents’ split, a psychic soaker that would take them years of therapy before they’d start to dry out.I watched two lines of red dots on my forearms swell and connect where the beast had scratched me. Then I lost it. I broke down bawling on the basement floor. After a while, Darlyne interrupted me. “Viv I get it. I do. it’s a rough time. A really rough time. And it’s good you’re letting it all out. But we’ve been on the phone thirty minutes now and I’m gonna pee my pants.”“Ok,” I said as I blew my nose into the deli section.“But listen,” Darlyne said before signing off, “I want you to do something.”Change or DieI had no idea what she was going to say, but I already knew I didn’t want to do it. The default of my defiant alcoholic mind—then and now, drinking or sober— is “NO.” But recovery, I have learned, is about change. And change often means saying “YES” instead of “NO.” It means being willing to take suggestions—often awkward, tedious or unsexy actions that force me to sit with feelings and stretch my tolerance for discomfort.“It’s just going to be so weird for the kids to wake up Christmas morning and not see two parents!” I wailed, ignoring my friend’s bladder. I wasn’t done catastrophizing.“Just listen,” Darlyne was louder now. “I want you to do something, and I promise it will help.”At that moment, I had a choice: take in what my friend was telling me, or tune her out. Sobriety is about making choices, and I’ve made some doozies in my fifty-five years of frolicking between a few zip codes in New York City, with or without a Bacardi and Coke in hand. And the takeaways from all my choices—good and bad—have always been there too. Only now I’m actually able to take these takeaways. Free of mind and mood-altering substances, I’m present for each new experience, and I can see my part in it. Sometimes I repeat the same mistakes, but these successive ones occur less often, and feel less calamitous. It’s getting better. And that feels good.But I wasn’t feeling good that morning. I was cold and panicky.“What is it?” I choked.“Make a list of ten things you’re grateful for,” said Darlyne, “and save it in your phone. Then read it back to yourself, over and over again, for the next two weeks. Got it?”“I got it,” I sniffled.“You’ll feel better. Trust me.” Then she hung up.I was skeptical, and I didn’t feel better yet, but I did it. I squatted on that cellar floor, my tailbone pressed against the cold cement, and I took that sober woman’s suggestion. It was one of the better moves I’ve ever made....Ten things I’m grateful for:My sobrietyMy sonsMy family (most of the time)My soon-to-be ex (He’s a good dad after all.)All my friends (from 4th grade to the present)What else?My first cup of coffee in the morningA good mattressFood in my stomachThe sun rising over the rooftopsI don’t remember the tenth. So I’ll just add something now, something that could have been on that first list.PannetoneYes, the fluffy bread, loaded with raisins, that you only see in supermarkets at the holidays. To go with number 6. For me, the small things on my list have come to matter too. Even when the big ticket items are absent—like the job with benefits, or the boyfriend—the small, quiet things are always there, if I look for them. Like the neighbor with the beehive in his backyard, who feeds my Poohish habit with a steady supply of golden honey nine months of the year out of twelve.There! I read the list in my cupped palm. Then I reread it. Well, I wasn’t jolly yet, but I was functional. Mrs. Santa Clause dried her tears in an ad for holiday ham, then stood up and got on with the business of making magic for her kids that Christmas Eve. And she muttered that merry mantra over and over for the next twelve days and arrived at the new year, clean, sober, and—to her surprise—not absolutely miserable for every second of it.Flash forward to 2020, amicably-divorced and effectively co-parenting, I feel far-removed from that bleak midwinter morning spent bawling in a basement with a bipolar cat. I still have days where I forget that I’m wildly blessed, days where I watch my teen on the tennis court and forget the shattered ankle, the surgery, the cast, and the flawless recovery. I still have sour days where I see only another wet towel on the bathroom floor and pistachio shells on the pillow case.But on these days, thankfully, I remember what will slap me back into gratitude. I know that if I just jot ten things I’ve got going for me, it’ll make me feel better. I also know that when I neglect to count my blessings, I’m more likely to cry over every glass of spilt milk or busted garbage bag.When my twelve-year-old quips: “Quit trying to make your own disgusting chicken fingers and just take me to McDonald's,” I don’t collapse in tears on the linoleum anymore; instead, I rattle off my list. My sobriety is always on top, and my sons still take the number two spot (except today, the younger slides down to number eight). My good health follows, then my elderly parents and my brother, who mows their lawn and drives them to doctors’ appointments. I acknowledge my good neighbors, my shrink, my deep pre-war apartment bathtub, fat dogs with short legs, and my self-respect.Then I turn to Liam and say: “Put on your hoodie, we’re going to McDonald’s.”

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