The Holiday Season is in full swing and New Year’s Eve is fast approaching. Hopefully everyone was able to enjoy a safe and sober holiday with family, friends and loved ones. Whatever your experience may have been, just know that today is a brand-new day and with...
I heard something awhile back from someone I admire in my recovery. He said, “pain is the fertilizer for spiritual growth.” Think about that for a second and let it sink in. What that means to me is, no matter how hard things get, how hopeless it seems or how dire the...
Feel the chill in the air? The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us. The remnants of hollowed out Jack O’ Lanterns, being swapped out for pine comb wreaths. Gobble Gobble! Thanksgiving conjures up warm and fuzzy feelings for most. The thought of reuniting with family...
When the pandemic first hit, the transition to working from home seemed like a blessing. For the first time in my career, I had free time to hang out with my kids, catch up on Netflix with my wife and even sneak in a game or two on the Xbox. I’m not going to lie....
I remember being in a place in my active addiction where I literally was puppeted by demons. I engaged with them and became comfortable yet with a healthy fear of them. No, this was not Halloween people! The monsters were in my head and around me everyday. This was...
The disease of addiction runs in my family. Both my mother and my father had addictive personalities. My father struggled with alcoholism and my mother was an impulsive shopper. Growing up with addictive parents, I swore I would never be like them. Seeing firsthand...
I have never seen nor read Game of Thrones, but I have been around enough office water coolers to recognize the catchphrase, “Winter is coming!” Good ole Ned Stark might have been a bit dramatic, but with good reason. The North was coming off a 9-year long summer and...
Substance use disorder can be extremely debilitating and even deadly when left untreated. Turn on the local news and you can see just how devastating it has been to our community. Combine a mental health condition with SUD and you have an even more lethal combination....
One of my pet peeves is when someone starts off a blog post by stating the definition of a word to set up an anecdote. My apologies in advance. Webster’s online dictionary defines the word gratitude as, “the state of being grateful: THANKFULNESS.” When I was newly...
If you listen carefully, you can hear Cupid groan as he dusts off his 2724-year-old quiver. It is the time of year for overpriced roses, gift certificates to the local nail salon and those horrible chalky heart-shaped candies with Valentines proverbs printed on them....
When I took my Recovery Coach training, one of the things that stuck with me the most, is a discussion we had on the theory of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Without going too far down the proverbial rabbit hole, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a model that places the...
