Hopeful Resolutions – How to Make Behavioral Change Stick in 2024
In less than two weeks, it will be 2024. In your social circles, the “buzz” is probably already about New Year’s hopeful resolutions. Have you made any? According to the Statista Global Consumer Survey, the top resolutions for the coming year are to exercise more, eat healthier, and lose weight. The resolution to deal with […]
Thinking vs Acting – the First Steps to Recovery
Making changes to your alcohol habits is a massive undertaking. It can take months – years even – to get to the point where you actually stop drinking. And that’s okay, because transformation is a long process and it starts from deep within. Often things can be moving well along in the direction of change […]
Denial of Addiction – the First Stage of Acceptance
In our last article, we reviewed what it feels like to be a person developing a substance use disorder (SUD). We are now beginning a series discussing the dynamics and defenses used by people as they develop an SUD. The primary defenses used as addictive disease progresses are denial, justification, deception, and manipulation. Denial, […]
Gracefully Welcoming Change: Recovery in an Ever-Changing World
Change. Many of us struggle to navigate it gracefully. To create meaningful change, we have to do things differently. We must engage in some self-reflection. And practice self-awareness. And admit our shortcomings… It’s a lot of work. I could draw a metaphor, here, about the changing seasons (it’s finally starting to feel like spring […]
Clever Addicted Brain – Sabotaged when Contemplating Change
My favorite scene in the movie Jurassic Park doesn’t end well. The Australian park ranger is hunting raptors and one of the creatures rattles the fronds in front of him. While he prepares for the kill shot, another raptor sneaks up from behind. The ranger is eaten alive, but not before uttering the unforgettable […]
The Moment of Action – A Guide to Creating Meaningful Change
How do I know when I’m ready for change? How do I enact change in my life? When we anticipate profound change, we believe the moment will come to us in an equally profound way.We want the moment. We expect it. I’ll change when the moment presents itself to me… someday… when it’s […]