The Aviary Recovery Center Blog

During his first inaugural address, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously told the nation, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” It is an inspiring line, to be sure. But in our day-to-day lives, we tend to be afraid of all sorts of things. Spiders or heights or...

When you are in recovery from a substance use disorder, it is extremely important to stay focused on your ongoing and most important goal: staying sober one day at a time. That is easy to say and hard to do. In fact, with so many demands on our attention, your...

Maybe you have read a book—or a number of books—in the popular “Choose Your Own Adventure” series. These books lay out a story for a page or two and then offer the reader a choice. Each choice is followed by a page number: If you want to do X, turn...

There are several ways to think about a hammer. For example, Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame (an inspiration for a series of our blog entries) titled his memoir Every Tool’s a Hammer. On the other hand, in the 1960s, Abraham Maslow (drawing from a thought by Abraham Kaplan) wrote, “it...

Have you heard of the “negativity bias”? In the aptly named article “What is Negativity Bias?,” Kendra Cherry explains it this way: The negativity bias is our tendency not only to register negative stimuli more readily but also to dwell on these events. Also known as positive-negative asymmetry, this negativity...

Have you ever noticed how interviews with athletes after a game are all pretty close to the same? No matter what just happened on the court or field or pitch—and no matter whether the player was a winner or a loser—their answers to questions are likely to include statements like:...

For some people, working out is a pleasure. For others, it’s, well, work.  Some people are in good (or even great) shape. Others are, well, not. And some people are enthusiastic about tackling physical challenges. Many people are, well, less enthusiastic. No matter what kind of person you might be,...

A gratitude journal can be a powerful tool for a person in recovery from a substance use disorder. A common approach to a gratitude journal involves writing down three things you are grateful for each day. Many people like to do this in the evening so that they can reflect...

Making the choice to get help for a substance use disorder is a wonderful thing. But after you have made that decision, you still have to make an essential and related choice: Where you will get that help. We think The Aviary Recovery Center is an excellent choice, and in...

Addiction is a serious, chronic disease with far-reaching consequences for you and your relationship with loved ones. It also affects your body physically, with both short- and long-term consequences. How Drug and Alcohol Addiction and your Brain Drug and alcohol use has a tremendous effect on the brain. The brain...