When I read this I just had to share with you guys. I think it is important to have clarification on this issue. 🙂
Author: Brittany
Courage & Wisdom.
Everyone goes through ups and downs in life. (And if you have an addict in your life, there are sure to be lots of ups, downs, unpredictability, uncertainty, highs, lows, let-down, defeat and more.) One thing that I have learned in Recovery that I have applied to my everyday life, has been learning to…
Bystanders.
After writing my open letter to my family members, I saw a photo posted by someone who lost their loved one too soon to drug addiction. I immediately teared up. These emotions are so raw and real. Family members literally watch their loved ones slip away, day by day, very slowly. They aren’t dead but…
An open letter.
I am in need of this reminder this week, so today I am going to refresh my memory as to why good, strong boundaries are so important in relationships with addicts. An open letter to the addicts in my life. I love you both very much. I know that you don’t feel like I do…
Happy Anniversary… x2!
As much as I loathe getting on my *personal facebook account sometimes, I really do appreciate not having to remember anything whatsoever. (Birthdays, social events, life-milestones lol) Having said that, Facebook has reminded me that September 13, marks my 3 year anniversary of quitting smoking cigarettes! September 13, 2011. When my Recovery journey began, quitting…
When They Judge, It’s Not About You
If you are in Recovery, chances are, you know someone who cannot understand how ‘people like us’ could ever allow our lives to be transformed, taken over, and destroyed by a chemical or process addiction. They just cannot fathom being so stupid. I have heard variations of comments like similar to these: Those people are…
Take the Leap
Being one hundred percent positive that we should do something is an elusive luxury that we don’t get to have. We can’t base our decisions on being completely certain of an outcome and aside from knowing a probable outcome based on statistics or patterns, we can only trust God, and leap. If we fall short…
The Complacency Trap
Ahhh. Complacency. We have all heard about it. I am almost positive everyone goes through a phase where they couldn’t even imagine themselves falling into an infinite loop of nothingness; and that place that isn’t necessarily ‘bad’ but it isn’t effective or healthy either. Complacency is to recovery what bystanders are to injustice. No, maybe…
Writing Exercises
In Celebrate Recovery there are a lot of homework assignments in the participant guides ask you to write down specific thoughts and feelings about specific times in our lives. Maybe times where we have been hurt, things we have not yet forgiven, times that we have made poor choices, or beginning to keep track…
Getting Sober vs. Staying Sober
I am not sure that I have ever really thought about which one was harder for me. Toward the end of what would become my past life, I had built up a significant amount of anxiety in my mind about living a sober life free from drugs and what that might mean. What that might feel…
My Birthday, Pregnancy, & Morning Sickness.
I turned 31 yesterday. I got a beautiful necklace and ring from my husband and children, along with some useful home-made coupons from my boys….that I will definitely be utilizing before they expire. Or, they will sit in a drawer looking all cute until I move them to a keepsake box so someday I can…
Books. Books. Books.
I thought I’d share the books that I am reading right now and I might do little informal reviews for each one as I finish. Not that my opinion on reading material particularly matters, ha! I just thought It would be fun to share. First, you must know that I am pretty bad about starting more…
Goals.
Growing up I observed certain things that taught me a lot about the attitude and expectations of living a life at a really fast speed with no real direction. I didn’t see a lot of follow through. I saw a lot of getting things now now now, by any means possible. The overall feel…
My Cancelled Plans.
This photo should say – “Hey Brittany, your plans never work out- because God has better ones.” Guys. I have been going to school for awhile now. Completely cramming and studying addiction and psychology. For the last year of classes, I have been mentally preparing myself for a new beginning. I have been excitedly &…
Cleaning House.
Early in my recovery I was always asking myself the same questions over and over. I was worried that if I didn’t cover all bases every single day that I would wake up and somehow my acquired sobriety and personal progress might be gone. It took me awhile to find a balance of self-examination…
Starting Fresh.
Just a thought today. It is so easy to let ourselves lose sight of what is most important to us. On any given day we have our moments where we just feel defeated. I know that I do. I have to stop and breathe deep. I try to refocus myself and my thoughts…
Living Free.
Freedom for me, came when I came to believe that a power greater than myself, could restore my life and sanity. That power that has shown me to be much greater than myself, is Jesus. Because of this relationship that I have: My mind is not as gullible. Yes I am sober and the fog…
The Legacy We Leave.
I am not really sure that any blog post of mine would ever express the impact that this one woman has had on so many people; well, not in a way that would even begin to do her justice or accurately illustrate the depth or influence that her work and life has had. Today is…
12 Ways to Help Kill Your Addicted Loved One AND Lose Your Sanity
1. Every time you talk to them, be sure to remind them of how they are wasting their life away by making stupid & idiotic decisions that make no logical sense. Remind them that if they were not stupid, they would be able to see that. 2. Be sure to base how much they love…
10 Tips: For Friends & Family of Someone Struggling with an Addiction
These are just things that would have helped me when I was struggling.Here are 10 randomly concocted tips that I have come up with: 1. Express empathy for them, directly to them. 2. Avoid arguments with them whether they are sober or not. (this creates a high-emotion situation and doesn’t do anything besides creating an urgency to use…
Your Journey.
This is a book that I just finished. I really enjoyed it. It is probably really old. I am not sure when it was published, because I didn’t look. I found it in a huge pile of old books that were going to be thrown away. I am sharing a few excerpts that I personally…
Peace.
The heart will always look to rejoice in something beyond itself, so rather than trying to squash desire, we should instead look to satisfy it- in God. Andrew Wilson, Joy This is so true. I sought tirelessly for a long time. I couldn’t seem to find anything to make me feel content. Sobriety was my…
Step 12
This is truly how I feel and is my primary motivation for all that I do – blog related. There is hope and there is opportunity to change, for anyone who chooses to work for it. For daily inspiration, info, humor and more check out Discovering Beautiful on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DiscoveringBeautiful
MBTI- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. These preferences were extrapolated from the typological theories proposed by Carl Gustav Jung and first published in his 1921 book Psychological Types. I had to take this test for a class. I had never really explored this realm of psychology before, but…
Sharing an excerpt…
An excerpt from a book entitled The Journey, Our Quest for Faith and Meaning, written by Karen Lee-Thorp: Belief in something doesn’t make it true; only truth makes a belief true. But without truth, a belief may only be a sincere speculation. True beliefs then, are beliefs that correspond with reality. When the Christian faith claims to…
Thank you Paul.
I have always felt particularly drawn to the Apostle Paul’s writing. That dude practiced what he preached. He told us to rejoice in suffering; not writing from a comfortable vacation waterfront beach house or while addressing a mega church…. but while he was sitting in prison. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our…
Makes you think..
Hey Encourager’s!
While there may be human paperwork filer’s out there, there are also so many accepting, loving and kind people out there too. (I have a feeling there are more than we know, but they, for some unfortunate reason, aren’t as vocal.) However, the numbers are growing- there are people who are just as fed up…
Be Nice.
I don’t know how many times a day I read Christian bashing & blanket statement posts about religion. There are also a few tv shows that seem to be dedicated to perpetuating the stigma associated with mental illness, and everyone already knows there is an overall consensus on what a ‘drug addict’ is and what…
National Prescription Drug Take-back day
*National Prescription Drug Take Back Day Saturday–April 26* “The public has embraced the opportunity these Take-Back Day events provide to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, or unwanted prescription drugs.” —>Last October Americans turned in 324 tons (over 647,000 pounds) of prescription drugs! –> Since DEA’s first…