This was never how you imagined your life to be.

All you ever wanted was to be happy, but life has become overwhelming and your levels of anxiety have kept increasing.

So, you have sought out relationships, validation, and substances outside of yourself to make you feel differently; trying to control the highs and lows of life.

You have found that drinking/using and/or working more helped you feel more in control, more relaxed and social, and happier.

However, the feelings don’t last and you are left trying to seek out those feelings again and again. It is an exhausting cycle.

Now, you are at crossroads.

You realize that you can continue in this cycle called addiction, for life, or move into a new lifestyle called recovery.

It’s scary to think what life looks like if you continue with the addiction, but it is also scary to no longer rely on what you thought was making you happy.

Ready to take back control of your life, you have taken the steps to prepare yourself for change; wanting to feel alive again.

You are ready to renew yourself and form a caring and meaningful relationship with yourself and others, by no longer trying to control others and avoid your emotions.

You are ready to take action and learn to savor the moments of good and ride the waves of the bad, knowing that this is the beauty of life that you have not allowed yourself to feel in too long.

Addiction

Addiction can encompass many behaviors: Drug and alcohol use, work addiction, food, shopping addictions, etc. Each of these takes a toll on the mind, body, relationships and, on a broader scope, society.

Recovering from addictions are lifelong processes. I have been in the field of addiction and substance abuse since 2007 and have seen the ups and downs of recovery. There are a few things that I know for certain about recovery:

1. Recovery is a verb and it requires constant action and connection to others if you want to keep it.
2. Addiction is often the result of unhealthy coping. In early recovery, commitment and coping is a main focus of treatment—learning to be okay with discomfort. Understanding that pain is certain in life and we have to learn to accept it.

Having a therapist supporting you in your new lifestyle can be very helpful.

In therapy, we bring awareness to unhelpful thinking, unhealthy behaviors, and the systems and roles that have evolved from dysfunction. Once there is awareness the change process becomes easier. We will take small steps to help set boundaries, develop healthy communication and coping strategies, and build a foundation that helps to support your lifelong recovery.

If you are looking for additional support on your recovery journey call Jolene at Mindful Wellness Counseling (360)-818-4573 in Vancouver, WA for a 15-minute consultation.