Taking this Sinful World As it Is

Over the past few weeks, our house has been painted.  As we’ve cleared furniture and decorations from the walls, I have had this driving urge to remove every speck of dust and debris from my home.  I have felt the shame of the sticky soot on the top of my cabinets.  I have pledged to…

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How do I work recovery in the crazy summer months?

I don’t know about you, but about 4 weeks ago when the school bell rang for the last time, any semblance of structure and order flew out of my life as quickly as the kids flew out the school doors.  From unpredictable sleep schedules to summer camps to the endless parade of doorbell rings that…

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Q&A with Rhyll Croshaw: Is Relapse an Expected Part of Recovery?

Once a month on our blog, we will be featuring Q&A’s with Rhyll Croshaw. This content was originally found on our sister site, rhyllrecovery.com, but will now be a part of our Women’s Discussion here. Thanks to Rhyll for her insights and willingness to share her strength, hope, and experience with all of us.  Please…

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Overflowing Toilets

So yesterday evening, my daughter came running out frantically from her bedroom, “Mom!  The toilet is flooding the bathroom!” I sighed and dropped the dishes I was doing and walked down the hall to check it out.  To my surprise, there was literally an inch of water covering the floor of the kids’ bathroom, running…

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Why Don’t I Work the Steps?

This question has been on my mind a lot lately – “Why don’t I work the Steps?” Is working the Steps really that difficult? Does it take too much of my “precious” time? If my life were dependent on whether or not I worked the Steps of Recovery, would I work them? It’s easy to…

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Can Dailies Transform Your Life?

People who are well-versed in addiction recovery are familiar with the term “dailies.”  For an addict, dailies include small actions they commit to on a daily basis to keep them on track for recovery and sobriety.  These dailies might include Step Study, reaching out to a sponsor, or journaling. As the partner of an addict, I…

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The Power of Surrender One Temptation at a Time

What does the “power of surrender” mean? Why is surrender an essential part of the addiction recovery process? Or is it? Most of us have heard of the concept of surrender as we’re going to meetings and trying to work the steps of recovery from addiction. But have you ever had this question: “What does surrender really mean?” Or…

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Keeping the Focus on Ourselves

Recovery is all about developing new attitudes.  I didn’t come to recovery until I had reached a point where I was forced to admit that my old attitudes weren’t working.  Although this was extremely painful, it ended up being my first blessing of the program. Keeping the focus on myself. This was a new concept;…

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