Tag: recovery

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My Calling Song – Marie Guma-Jelinek

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  Dear wild bird Flying in your cage swiftly from side to side. Going about your pleasant routine, whistling as if you weren’t tied. Dear sweet bird You need to see that the life that you live is contained. That there is so much more and you allow yourself to be restrained. Dear loving bird Your song penetrates my soul and sings to my heart as it opens like never before. I want to take you with me so that I feel this feeling forever and in every pore. Dear happy bird Please let me show you the key so that you may see the door. Show you there are so many other ways and places to soar. Can’t you hear me my little bird? Open your eyes and look above at the endless sky Taste the freedom I offer because I can now not live without you I can… Continue reading

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Somebody Else: From Wannabe to Spinach to Kryptonite to Recovery – By Mark Masserant

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Wannabe  I always wanted to be somebody else, right out of the chute. The notion sprouted in my head when I was a young boy—I wished I was my cousin. The one who lived on a farm with umpteen brothers and sisters, and tons of farm animals, too. Fun and excitement were routine at his house; the lucky bum had it made.  All I had was two crummy sisters and a mongrel dog that liked to hug my leg. At least the dang mutt was happy. I had even loftier goals as second grade approached—I dreamt of being the kid that all the girls adored. I don’t know what I would’ve done with all of them, but that’s who I wanted to be. A little Don Juan with Elvis Presley eyes and moves and a Mickey Mouse lunchbox. I wouldn’t have to pull pony tails and dash away to get… Continue reading

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LIFE OR DEATH AFTER A NON-FATAL DRUG OVERDOSE By William L White

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Drug overdose deaths in the United States have risen exponentially due to sequenced drug surges: 1) prescription opioids, 2) heroin, 3) illicit fentanyl and related analogs, and 4) cocaine and methamphetamine—all used alone or in combination with other drugs. More than 66,000American lives lost each year to drug overdose have sparked numerous initiatives ranging from increased naloxone availability and medically-supervised injection sites to expansion of addiction treatment resources. The personal stories behind overdose death statistics have helped stir public and professional alarm, but less attention has been given to the question, “What is the subsequent fate of the larger number of people who experience a non-fatal drug overdose?” Research studies (see Stoové et al, 2009) have long associated surviving a drug overdose with the increased likelihood of a future non-fatal or fatal drug overdose. In a 2017 Massachusetts study of opioid overdoses, 10% of those who survived died within the next year from a drug… Continue reading

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Rigorous Honesty: The Key to Healing an Addiction-Damaged Relationship By Robert Weiss LCSW, CSAT-S

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As addicts, we damage our relationships. And sadly, the more important a relationship is to us, the more damage we tend to do. Once we enter recovery, beyond the work of staying sober and pulling our lives back together in a general way, a primary goal for many of us is healing our damaged connections—especially with our spouses and partners. Most of the time, the most significant and painful damage, in the minds of our loved ones, involves the loss of relationship trust. As addicts, we lie, we keep secrets, we manipulate, we gaslight, and we just plain violate every aspect of relationship trust. These behaviors are part of the denial of our addiction. We lie to and keep secrets from ourselves and everyone else as a way of protecting (and continuing) our addictive behavior. Much of the time, we’re not even aware that we’re doing this. Our lack of… Continue reading

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Add Some Color And Spice to Your Recovery – Kyczy Hawk

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We are each of us unique and all of us similar. That is what makes recovery such a challenge and a blessing. I hear me in you, and yet, I process things in my own way. I am both an individual and a part of this clan. Ayurveda is the sister science to yoga. This ancient tradition also applies to people in modern society. It is the practice of restoring people to their personal original balance and constitution. Not all of us have the same constitution, but we each have something in common with one another. We are all forms of air, water, solids, vapor, chemicals, biology and so on. The ayurvedic practitioners have categorized all these into three main types, called “doshas”: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. There are no words into which to translate these- but they are easy enough to say. Here are some characteristics of each. (Please… Continue reading