Tag: recovery

Transform Your Life!

letting go

Metamorphosis Requires a Tight Cocoon   What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly. ~ Richard Bach Acknowledging the Darkness & Pain or The End of the World (as you know it) In the course of every addiction, there comes that painful realization that things are not going to get any better and they will get worse. Call it hitting bottom or moment of clarity or running into the brick wall or whatever you want to call it. It’s complete hopeless desperation. The realization that you are stuck in the vice of addiction, the alcohol, or nicotine, or heroin or codependent behaviors, gambling or sexual compulsions have you in a death grip. This is a holistic death. Body, mind, emotions and spirit are bankrupted, colorless, dry and hardening. For many alcoholics or addicts this realization is…

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Recovery Outside The Box : The Benefits of Traveling for Addiction Recovery

When is the best time to go to rehab? Rehab now. Serenity Vista rehab in tropical paradise

Benefits of Traveling for Addiction Recovery When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. – Henry Ford Traveling for addiction recovery offers fresh perspectives allowing for transformative change. When considering all the options out there for addiction recovery, you will find there are all types of programs. There are in-patient, out-patient, in-state, out-of-state, national, and international addiction treatment facilities. Some drug rehabs are 12 step based or holistic in nature. Many are large institutions, some are small, private alcohol & drug rehabs. Many are local, close to home, others are international in scope in travel destinations abroad, out of country. It is important to consider your needs and resources in choosing the best program for you. There are many options to choose from. There are a lot of good…

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Attitude of Gratitude in Addiction Recovery

Feeling Grateful with an attitude of gratitude at Serenity Vista

How can something as simple as being grateful with an attitude of gratitude help with addiction recovery? From a young age, perhaps influenced by media, societal messages, or limiting self beliefs, many develop an attitude based upon lack – looking for what we don’t have. Things that are missing in our lives. Always striving for more. The simple act of being happy or content with our lot is often overlooked. Maybe even frowned upon. What if we’ve been ignoring the one thing that can boost health and happiness and overall quality of life in sobriety? Science has now proven that gratitude promotes health and wellbeing in many areas of our lives and socially such as by promoting empathy. “It’s not happiness that brings us gratitude. It’s gratitude that brings us happiness.” In this article, we’ll explore why gratitude is vital…

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2020 Vision: Setting Mindful Intentions for a Sober Year

Living sober in recovery

New Year’s resolutions are typically thought of in terms of self-discipline. We promise ourselves we’ll work out more, be more productive, lose weight or hit our income goals. But the reality is that goals are much easier to accomplish – and more importantly, sustain – when you come at them from a place of self-love. And living sober in recovery with joy is a process that requires an extra gentle attitude toward yourself. Here are our ideas for intention-setting for addiction recovery as we look forward to a joyously sober year:    Setting Up a Simple Morning Self-Care Ritual Taking a few moments to start your sober morning off on the right foot does wonders for the rest of your day. This organizes your energies and sends a cue to yourself that you intend to go about your day in a…

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Home for the Holidays or Rehab?

Trigger Family

Family Holiday – Trigger! Family holidays can be wonderful occasions, just like a Normal Rockwell illustration where everyone looks happy. On the other hand, they can be nothing like that at all. They can be a big trigger! Perhaps you grew up in an alcoholic or similarly dysfunctional home and when you get together with your family of origin, you reprise the same role you played growing up: a clown, a scapegoat, or the perfect child. You’ve been battling your demons for years. If you’ve been to rehab or some other form of treatment or therapy in the past, perhaps you thought you had left all those behaviors behind. However, when you see your parents or your siblings, and they offer you a drink or a drug. You gladly accept it even though you thought you were “cured” and promised…

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9 Steps to Stay Sober and Still Have Fun

Steps to Stay Sober and Still Have Fun

Stay Sober and Have Fun Challenging as it may seem, you can still have fun sober – even when you go out to events, parties and at the weekend. It’s a matter of re-learning how to have fun without drugs or alcohol and re-creating a new fulfilling life that you truly enjoy. This can seem boring or daunting at first because so many social activities revolve around alcohol in our society. In the beginning, it’s perfectly normal to have pulls on your mind that entice you to go back to old habits. The good news is that you can have way more fun sober if you get creative and explore all of the options that life has to offer. Being sober, we can enjoy a wide variety of activities and remember everything that happened. Often people feel that they don’t…

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Endless Sober Summer

Endless Sober Summer in tropical paradise at Serenity Vista Alcohol & Drug Rehab

Sobriety   Most people whether sober or not are familiar with the classic surf film The Endless Summer – or at least most have heard the phrase at one point in their lives or another. The phrase conjures up images of swaying palm trees, lazy Hawaiian slide guitars, and paper umbrella fanned out over sweet tropical cocktails. As if in a Beach Boys song, endless summer means long unending days on the beach followed by warm, tiki torch nights with friends. We’ve all dreamed of an “endless summer” before. And many people, at some point in their lives, have even had a taste of it. They can remember those feelings of light minds and carelessness that accompany summer. Paradise Lost But this idea of a heavenly dream world, rich with social life and pleasant outings, is one of the things…

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Father’s Day and Addiction Recovery

Father's Day and Addiction Recovery at Serenity Vista Drug Rehab

Addiction Recovery Father’s Day is a special day of celebration and reverence for most. A time set aside to honor that magical relationship between a father and his cherished children. Addiction Changes Everything Sadly though, many families today live with the pain of alcoholism or substance abuse. For these unfortunate souls, Father’s Day opens old wounds and recalls memories of abuse and sadness. For children living with an alcoholic or drug-addict dad, Father’s Day is an emotional struggle. A struggle wrought with confusion, resent, and pain. People who grow up in the presence of addicted dads endure a lifetime of suffering. The dysfunction can span those formative years as children, through adolescence and up to the socially sensitive teen years. These are important years as they seek to establish their identities. Into adulthood, they themselves often become addicts modeled after their…

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Emerge With Horses

Hoses

Howdy.  My name is Jake LeClair and I feel grateful to be of service as the Emerge with Horses program’s human coach. I have a gift and passion for helping humans reach their potential, especially through horses. I grew up in a small rural setting where there was a lot of dysfunction and scarcity.  There was also a lot of people who did the most they could with what they had to look after me as best as they could.  I had a drive to do more than survive this experience. That drive turned into a hunger to thrive in my life.  At times this hunger has served me well. At times I have taken the hunger to excess.  Beginning The Journey I began a journey two years ago to a way of living that allows me to live on…

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