Genetics Or Environment? As someone who works in the recovery field, I have a front-row seat for the ongoing “nature vs. nurture” debate. Modern science considers addiction and eating disorders to be products of both genetics and environment. Furthermore, we’ve discussed some of the elements of both sides in previous blogs concerning both substance abuse…
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Essential to Long Term Success Looking over old blogs, I noticed that I’ve mentioned sober support networks in quite a few of them (Dealing with Relapse and the Benefits of a Routine in Early Recovery are two recent entries that spring to mind.) However, I also realized that I’ve never written an entire blog on…
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Checking Our Intentions Last week, I posted a blog about the dangers of using exercise as a maladaptive coping mechanism as well as some tips on how to avoid those dangers. One such tip was to “check your intentions”. I wrote that “we work out because we like to do something good for our bodies”…
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Maladaptive Behaviors If you’ve spent any time at all reading these blogs, you know that I love to work out. It’s been an essential component of my recovery ever since I decided to get sober and I preach its virtues whenever I can. However, it’s very easy to start using the gym maladaptively. For those…
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Commit to Positivity This Summer With the days getting longer and the temperatures rising, summer is right around the corner. For many people, summer is a season to get outdoors and soak up as much sun as possible. However, the approach of summer can be a source of anxiety and other adverse emotions for folks…
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A New Form of Salt Water Therapy At Ocean Recovery, we like to work our namesake into the various services we offer. And why wouldn’t we? As I wrote in the blog on salt water therapy back in March, simply being by the ocean both engages your senses and promotes a relaxed, meditative state. Furthermore,…
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Working On Personal Issues The immensely popular HBO series, Game of Thrones came to a conclusion on May 19th, though you wouldn’t know it based on the internet buzz, which continues unabated. Most of the talk revolves around fans’ disappointment with the way the finale left things. However, some of it deals with far more…
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Relapse: A Deadly Teacher Relapse is one of the hardest things to talk about in recovery, especially in a conversation between someone who has some time and an individual in early recovery. On the one hand, you want to let a newcomer know that relapses happen. They are by no means uncommon. Furthermore, relapses can…
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Carrying the Message Today I’d like to direct this blog to a specific subset of our readership: those of you still suffering from eating disorders. There are people here at Ocean Recovery who have been through what you’re struggling with and we remember it well. We remember what it was like to hide our struggles…
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A Mental Disorder, Not a Mood “I’m a little depressed today.” “You’re just depressed right now. Don’t worry…you’ll get over it.” “18 to 3? This game is depressing.” We have all heard these types of things in our daily lives. We have also probably said them ourselves. But they aren’t accurate. What these sentences describe…
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