Chances are, if you played sports throughout high school, college, or even post-college, you finished your practice, grabbed a Gatorade and went home to stretch, thinking that you mastered the art of recovery. If you felt particularly sore the next day, perhaps you grabbed an Advil to ease the pain, and then pushed through the following day’s scheduled workout, ignoring your body’s signs.
Sound familiar?
Whether your substance of choice is alcohol, nicotine, or prescription drugs, a dependency on any of these may lead to a significant impact on your emotional, mental, and physical health. For those of you on the road to recovery, or exploring ways to begin that journey, the future feels terrifyingly uncertain.
The best way to get (and stay!) clean is to explore and embrace new passions that support behavioral change.
“You must lose yourself to find yourself.”
This weekend, my brother, his old friend, and I, got to talking about Ohio. About how sometimes it’s a wonderful place. My brother and I grew up near Cleveland, but neither of us spends much time at home anymore. He was recently living in Southeast Asia, and now, upon coming home, he’s moved out to the Pacific Northwest. He said he just couldn’t stand the winters, the seemingly endless season of 5pm sunsets and ice-crusted mornings. For my part, I didn’t mind the cold. I just wished Ohio weren’t so flat. I longed for mountains.
Down the stairs of my condominium and across Campus Drive, I walk along Leona Canyon Open Space Preserve. I encounter an expanse of wild radish and California golden poppies. Below, there’s a culvert and a pond lined in cattails, home to a family of mallards whose ducklings hide behind the rushes. I continue down a slope alongside a stream flowing out toward Mills College, and eventually, to the bay.
We are strong and we can do this, let’s be different.
Why is it so hard to drop the bad habits or addictions we know are bad for us? Why do we hold on to the material things instead of infinite feelings and emotions from loved ones?