The Aviary Recovery Center Blog
Finding Your Creative Soul Can Support Your Recovery Efforts
Many people—including many artists—believe that using drugs or alcohol enhances their creativity. Certainly, there are plenty of legendary examples of artists of various kinds using drugs or alcohol (or both) to excess, and often that substance use gets romanticized...
For Functioning Alcoholics, Everything May Seem Fine—But It Absolutely Isn’t
We probably all have an image of an alcoholic in our mind. Media representations of a typical alcoholic generally feature a person who can barely handle day-to-day life. Perhaps their hygiene has suffered or their finances are in disarray. Maybe they’ve been arrested...
Getting Out Into Nature – A Good Idea for Your Recovery and Your Overall Health
Thinking Back Think of a beautiful moment you have spent in nature. Have you stood by the ocean and watched the waves sweep over the shore? Have you hiked through the forest and discovered a meadow filled with flowers? Have you stood atop a hill—or even a mountain—and...
Understanding—and Avoiding—Overdoses
The use of drugs and alcohol comes with many dangers. Among the most dramatic and dangerous is the risk of overdose—consuming enough of a substance that the user’s body is overwhelmed and unable to cope. An overdose is a life-threatening event that requires immediate...
What if 12-Step Programs Aren’t the Right Steps for Your Recovery?
Alcoholics Anonymous is surprisingly famous for an organization with “anonymous” in its name. AA and the 12-step program at its heart are what most people think of when they think about recovery from a substance use disorder. The idea of a group of people sitting in a...
Resolve to Overcome Loneliness in the New Year
Loneliness and the Holiday Season The holidays can be a challenging time for many people—and perhaps especially challenging for people in recovery. Not only do the holidays bring temptations and stress, but they can also lead to feelings of loneliness. And if we’re...
Playing the Hand You Are Dealt When ACEs Are in Your Past
We try to provide our kids with a perfect childhood. Often, we remember things that went wrong in our own lives as children, and we work hard to make sure the cycle is not repeated. But in truth, hardly anyone’s childhood could be considered perfect—despite our best...
Happy Holidays? A Commitment to Giving Back Can Make You Merrier
Can you hear it? The Christmas music is everywhere again. The radio. The shopping mall. At every live music venue near and far. It is darn near inescapable. And all of it (well, except for maybe this song) seems to be insistent on offering variations on a single...
Moving Past the Pain and Maintaining Your Sobriety
Chronic Pain - A Cycle Chronic pain, it probably goes without saying, is bad in and of itself. A significant number of people—studies indicate as many as one in five—suffer from ongoing pain that can have a devastating effect on their day-to-day lives. Even worse,...
Will Talk of Your Recovery Be on the Thanksgiving Menu This Year?
Thanksgiving is coming. And so are your relatives. You should probably make some decisions about how you are going to talk about your recovery if it comes up over turkey and stuffing. And who are we kidding? It will come up over turkey and stuffing. Here’s something...