What Winners Do

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This is going to sound bizarre but I realized that watching TV has taught me how to delay instant gratification.

In a world where everything is available NOW, it’s no wonder that we grow to expect things right now. That includes our gratification.

What I realized this morning while I was thinking about my absolute most favorite show of all time, Lost, is that even the way I watch TV has changed since entering addiction recovery. So let me tell you how TV has taught me to delay instant gratification. Read the rest of this entry »

I pride myself on being a morel and honest person who does not steal or cheat to get ahead in life. I live day to day thinking that my honest way of life will somehow be rewarded in time.

Most days this is very easy to swallow but sometimes I am overwhelmed with frustration and can’t shake the feeling that nice girls really do finish last.

Read the rest of this entry »

I truly can’t believe it but it’s already time for Mother’s Day again. The year has gone by so quickly but it has also brought so many changes.

Last year my Happy Mother’s Day post was about my own mother and the importance of a mother’s support and understanding for her child in their recovery.

This year I wanted to talk about how much my own role of a mother has improved now that I am further into my addiction recovery. Read the rest of this entry »

I just registered for a membership on a site called The Second Road. I’ll give you the description of the site in The Second Road’s own words “We are a free non-profit online community BY and FOR people in recovery from addictions of all kinds. We welcome people of ALL stages of recovery using ANY method that works for them.”

This site caught my attention at first because it looks cool but The Second Road is much more than a cool looking website. Read the rest of this entry »

So I’ve talked, almost a sickening amount, about how active addiction keeps us from developing life skills. But what I really haven’t discussed is how being in addiction recovery makes building up life skills possible.

There I am driving down the road. I should be concentrating on, oh I don’t know… driving. But I’m not. I’m thinking about what it would take for my husband, my son and myself to be able to move out of where we live now. This train of thought somehow turned into setting goals for myself and then… Boom. It hit me, an epiphany. Read the rest of this entry »

I was inspired by Bottlecappie at Diary of a Quitter to participate in Mine Enemy Grows Older which is a collaborative poetry project run by Rick Mobbs.

I have never in my life written poetry but I do love art. Since the whole concept of this project is to look at an image prompt, which is a work of art by Rick Mobbs, and see what it inspires out of you, I figured I would take a shot at it.

So without further ado… Here is my first shot (I’m getting embarrassed already!) at poetry. Read the rest of this entry »

In recovery there is a great saying “Easy Does It But Do It”. I always understood what this saying meant but I never really applied it to my life.

I was living under the assumption that things always have a way of working themselves out. Which is true… if you do your part.

Since we work on our ability to accept the things we cannot change we should surer than shit be working on the other part to that which is having the courage to change the things we can. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s never nice to think about but when you are an addict your top priority, and sometimes your only priority, is drugs. Finding them, affording them, doing them, feeling their effects, coming down off them…finding them again.

Once you are no longer in active addiction you’re able to take a clear look at what the important things are in your life. A clear head and a better understanding of yourself will drastically change what you consider as your top priorities in life.

My suggestion is to rebuild what your priorities are in your recovery and…keep it simple. Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone who has gone through very early recovery can tell you that at first everything seems like it will just fall into place. You have stopped your physical addiction and have been working on your mental addiction. You are walking around in your pink cloud and life is good. And then…

Well, and then you realize that things aren’t just going to get better on their own. You have not miraculously become the person you’ve always wanted to be. Are you ready to do something about that? Read the rest of this entry »

If you are familiar with addiction recovery, you know that living life one day at a time is a major part of a successful recovery.

I’m here to say that in order to be happy, healthy, and have a little peace of mind in life you need to not only live one day at a time…you need to begin being present. Learn to stay in the moment. Read the rest of this entry »