Category: Alumni

 

Living with bipolar disorder can mean constantly thriving in fight or flight mode, as the individuals go back and forth on the metaphorical merry-go-round, fluctuating between a variety of extreme exhilarating highs and debilitating lows.  It can stifle the sufferer so severely that they stumble in seeing any sensibility to sustain a standard set way of living.  Understanding that bipolar disorder is entirely different than feeling negative is an essential component to breaking the stigma behind mental illness that needs to be carried if the disease is to be comprehended in its entirety.  A fluctuation of moods can both be frustrating not just to watch a loved one deal with, but go through as a sufferer, not having any control of the moods that are being driven in every given direction due to an imbalance of chemicals in the brain.

Living with Bipolar Disorder

Living with bipolar disorder isn’t the same as feeling happy and sad.  Bipolar disorder lacks being conceptualized in the appropriate manner because the disease has far more than two extremes.  There are more faces and states that constitute the illness.  Despite what the stigma of society wrongfully voices, these states that the sufferer displays do not define who the person is or act as their personality.  Some people will say that how the sufferer acts is “just part of who they are” or that “they aren’t sick,” but that is the stigma behind mental illness.  Telling mentally ill people not to seek help and that “they are fine the way they are” prevents them from seeking help that they need and deserve. 

Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of and shouldn’t be taken lightly.  Living with bipolar disorder is serious and shouldn’t go untreated.  It deals with a slew of complex emotions that rapidly swings and overpowers the individual’s capacity to function throughout the day.  The person can often be suffering from the illness without the ability to even realize how truly sick they actually are. 

The mania from the disorder is constituted as literally being all over the place.  Some sufferers claim they enjoy feeling this, comparing it to the high produced from the effects of a high off a drug because of the extremity of the sensational “I can do anything” feeling.  In a manic state, bipolar individuals can be up for days doing projects in bouts of creativity and feeling like they are unstoppable. 

Hypomania is a step down from mania, where the individual feels up.  A mixed state can be a bit more confusing for the sufferer because they feel two different emotions at once, like a low and high at the same time. 

Rapid cycling is another state familiar to those living with bipolar disorder.  This is where four or more episodes of outburst can occur within the year.  These episodes are defined as having these states of elevated mood periods and acting on impulse. 

Euthymia is the ideal state of mind for any individual because this is stability and an overall emotional well-balanced state. 

Then there is dysthymia, which is a steadily low depressed state, where the bipolar individual stays in a monotonous, low mentality. 

The absolute worst for the bipolar would be their manic depressive state, which can lead to suicide if their state of mind digresses to hopelessness.  This is why mental illness cannot be taken lightly because it does lead to suicide, which is 100% preventable when preventative measures are taken, like seeking reaching out for help through contacting suicide hot lines, seeking therapy, psychiatry, and support through friends, family or groups. 

What does living with bipolar look like?

Mental illness has no distinct look, which means the face of a sufferer living with bipolar disorder can look however.  There are an approximate six million adults in America living with bipolar disorder every day.  An intricate aspect about the disorder is that sufferers can blend in with society because their disease can lay dormant when their mania and depression isn’t at its peak or lowest point and the individual may grow overly confident that are more stable than they truly are, leading them to stop their course of cognitive behavioral therapy, medication, and/or alternative course of treatment.  Sufferers need to be conscious of this because bipolar disorder is an illness that needs to be consistently watched and treated to avoid serious damage to themselves and interpersonal relationships. 

An individual who suffers from bipolar disorder can begin to slip with their tasks at work as well when they aren’t emotionally and mentally stable.  They can begin to lack the ability to concentrate at work, begin arriving late, stop showing up, start taking drugs, become outraged or violent in public, and/or act impulsively by engaging in other odd behavior in the workplace.  The sight of someone living with bipolar disorder can be horrific when they are in the middle of the worst of their episode but do not be alarmed.  Instead get them the help that they need.  Bipolar disorder is just that, a disorder that is constituted as a mental illness.  Breaking the stigma begins with addressing the matter appropriately and seeing mental illness as the public health concern that it is in the country today.

 

 

Working on the recovery process as an alcoholic and/or addict means not only discovering how to live without abusing substances but also understanding what having healthy relationships in recovery with friends, family, and others looks like.

Healthy Relationships in Recovery

Active addiction made life skewed.  Healthy relationships were foreign, but now that you’re in recovery you have the opportunity to work on building them.  Whether it’s a significant other, friend, or family member you want to reconnect with, it can be beneficial to have an accurate understanding of the meaning of a healthy relationship so you can make the most of the relationship.  When you can make the most of it, you will have authenticity and have full awareness of the relationship.  So, what are the signs of healthy relationships in recovery when you aren’t active in your addiction?

Present

An outstanding sign for relationships in recovery is that you show you care about the other party by giving them your undivided attention.  When they speak, you actually listen to what they say and offer commentary and/or suggestions.  By doing this, you are involved in the moment with the other person and can engage in the encounter with them.

Caring

Actually having compassion for the other person is a sign of obtaining healthy relationships in recovery because without caring for one another, there could be a sense of artificial friendship and falsehood.

Secure

When you feel secure and comfortable in a relationship, it can act as proof that it’s a healthy one.  Feeling safe is important to have in any type of relationship because it’s greatly involved with trust.  When you tell people information, you want to feel safe in trusting that it can stay between you.  With this kind of emotional security, there’s also physical security that is equally as important that constitutes for healthy relationships in recovery.  Knowing you can be around the person without being in harm’s way and that if anything were to happen to you, the person would be there to protect you can provide you relief while showing that the person genuinely cares for you.

Honest

Because the saying goes, “Honesty is the best policy,” it can be understood why being honest is a sign of a healthy relationship.  Without honesty in any relationship, the relationship may be more susceptible to having the opposite reaction affect it.  When lies, dishonesty by omission, and denial become involved, a relationship can quickly disintegrate into an unhealthy one.

Forgiving

Forgiveness is monumental for mature and healthy relationships in recovery.  When people are willing to look from all angles and see sides to a story, they show how they are willing to overlook flaws in others, see what they are willing to work on, and make the effort to love them where they are at.

Positive

Healthy relationships don’t push one another down nor carry one another on each other’s backs.  They turn to one another and are running at the same pace and build on one another’s strengths because they want to see each other grow. 

Supportive

When you have a positive relationship working in your life, you can actively encourage and collaborate together.  This is healthy while when you were active in addiction, odds are you weren’t in support of any friends, family, or significant other’s ideas unless it involved substances.  Now that you’re in recovery, you may be more inclined to encourage positive choices that promote healthier behaviors.

Solution Based

Allowing time for resolving conflicts is a mature way of handling situations instead of running from the problem, which you as an alcoholic and/or addict may have become accustomed to when active in addiction.  Relationships are hard work.  When people have opposing personalities, more effort is required and this can put strain on all individuals involved, so taking the time means putting in effort and that shows maturity.

Boundaries

Addiction can involve multiple facets; you could become codependent, which is unhealthy when you are constantly together without any time apart.  Too much time together is overwhelming and creates friction if you can’t go without one another.  It’s okay to have space.

Communication

Communication is key.  By expressing your needs and the other person expressing theirs, a stronger relationship can be built.  Better understanding can be found and you’ll both be able to provide accordingly.

Relationships are no walk in the park.  Trudging through the process can allow you the opportunity to see how healthy relationships in recovery looks when you put in the footwork.

 

 

Working with others is a vital aspect for maintaining recovery for alcohol and/or drug addiction.  Helping to pass the message along keeps you from reverting back to old patterns and behaviors yourself because you end up instead living in the solution.  Have you ever noticed how you could be in a complete slump but then come out of it when providing a message of hope for a newcomer?  It may seem like there’s no way out one minute, but then all of a sudden when you see the look on a newcomers face, you are restored to this brand new sense of inspiration.

Working with Others in Recovery

When you are able to see new faces throughout the process of your recovery, it can bring to light how important a recovery program is.  Carrying the message can prove to be a strong and integral part of the process that keeps you sober.  You may come to realize how their milestones lift you up because it provides hope by showing that recovery does truly work; it’s just a process that doesn’t necessarily matriculate at a particular speed.  Recovery happens at a different rate for each individual.  It may happen quickly or slowly, but the addicted individual has the opportunity to recover as long as they remain willing to do the work.  Working with others proves to be an essential part of the process because it is through helping others that selfishness can be subsided long enough for change to take place.  When working with others who are suffering the same malady, you may come to find you are not as innately unique as you had formerly become maladjusted to believing.

Importance of the Newcomer

The newcomer is often thought of as the most important person in the room because the reality is that you are one drink and/or drug away from being right where they are.  It’s imperative when listening to newcomers that you don’t talk down to them – even in your own head.  You should be listening to them without judgement.  Remember the newcomer is a sick individual dealing with the same disease as you and you were once in the same spot they were.  No matter how much time you have in recovery, it doesn’t give you the right to speak down to a newcomer, even if they aren’t following guidelines or have a bad attitude.  Try to treat the newcomer with respect and love them until they can learn to love themselves just as others loved you before you could love yourself.  The beauty about newcomers is they can show you how you once were when you first walked through the recovery door.  It can provide you a mirror image of how you looked when you were just as desperate, broken, sick, and tired wanting to recover from addiction.  Newcomers make it a point that you as an alcoholic and/or addict never forget how severe of a disease you are suffering from.  It’s vital that you continue to help these individuals recover from their malady and pass the message.

More: A Newcomer Asks

Are you unable to pass a recovery message because you still feel plagued by an alcohol and/or drug addiction?  Contact The Watershed now for help.  Don’t stay stuck in obsession.  Contact us today.

 

 

Most individuals in recovery begin with basic works of literature to help guide them along during the recovery process. These are the top 10 works of literature for addicts or alcoholics who are looking to create a better life for themselves.

Alcoholics Anonymous – Big Book

There’s no greater works of literature for alcoholics to follow than the original Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book itself, which kicked off the recovery program in 1939 with founders Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob.  When in doubt, the words of wisdom from The Big Book could carry a sick and suffering alcoholic through a tremendously difficult time.  Bill was in a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body but had been brought to a place of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual restoration following this program implemented along with the help of other fellow alcoholics.  Reading this book may bring other sick and suffering alcoholics similar experiences, so it has been suggested if individuals want what these people have and are willing to go to any lengths to get it, then they should take these certain steps written in this book.

 

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Another great work of literature would be the Twelve and Twelve.  This book gives a break down of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions that are suggestions from the Alcoholics Anonymous program of recovery so that the individual can best understand it with their sponsor who should be guiding them along during the process.

Living Sober

This is an inspirational book that is filled with a gaping amount of recovered alcoholic’s personal stories.  What could be better than hearing how an individual lives happy, joyous, and free now from alcoholism after hearing what it used to be like and what happened when they were active in their disease?

Drop The Rock

This work of literature is excellent for working on character defects during steps six and seven.  It also focuses on the manifestation of the disease of alcoholism.  The individual ultimately can become hooked on anything and this is why the individual must remain vigilant by constantly being aware of their defects of character, seeing where they are selfish, dishonest, fearful, and resentful.  When reading recovery books, Drop The Rock definitely makes the top 10.

Daily Reflections

Daily Reflections is a collection of inspirational readings for each day of the year that the recovering individual can flip to routinely.  It can help them stay accountable on a regular basis, so they stay on top of their recovery and pull themselves out of a funk if they feel low later in the day.

Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age

One of the greatest works of literature for history, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age is great reading recovery material for those looking to learn more about the roots of the program’s foundation.  The book goes into how AA first came about and the principles that the program has stood by from the beginning.

The Spirituality of Imperfection

With intricate stories woven tactfully throughout the book, The Spirituality of Imperfection explains the nature of humanity as being innately flawed.  The book outlines and relates much on recovery-oriented themes.  It is a must read for individuals striving to understand how to accept setbacks and unease so that they can see truth in the conquest to putting significance in their life.

The Language of the Heart

The Language of the Heart holds a collection of Bill Wilson’s works in which he wrote for The Grapevine over the course of several years.

Narcotics Anonymous

The NA Basic Text provides knowledge of the fellowship’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions for those suffering from addiction and/or longing to recover.  Modeled after AA steps, the book outlines basic explanation of the program where recovering individuals meet and work steps to communicate about their recovery with other recovering addicts.

Living Clean: The Journey Continues

This book explains multiple aspects, which is how there is a desire to stop using substances, how any addict has potential to stop abusing drugs, and the opportunities for a new way of life to be lived.  This book discusses that a new life is beyond the horizon and explains the beauty in all the types of possibilities that come along with it.

There you have it!  When it comes to reading recovery books, these are the recommended top 10 works of literature for addicts or alcoholics.  If you haven’t checked these phenomenal books out yet, be sure to head over to your local spiritual store, head over by a 12-Step Fellowship meeting to see if you are able to purchase one there, or browse online to find a store you can purchase the books from.

Are you still active in addiction but longing to recover from the seemingly hopeless state of mind and body?  The Watershed wants to help guide you along through the process. 

CHAT LIVE NOW!

 

Are you worried you may be slacking with your addiction recovery?  These warning signs can be a surefire way to tell!

Relapse Warning Signs

Keeping up with your addiction recovery is important, but after you’ve been sober for a while, it can get tricky.  Life has gotten better and you’ve already put the substances down.  Now that you aren’t active in your addiction and have racked up a good amount of sober time, it’s likely that your life has become far more manageable than it ever has been before.  This makes it all the more likely for you to justify skipping regular meetings throughout the week, forgetting to keep up with sober supports, and slacking when it comes to constant communication with your sponsor.  When you stop being as strict about following your addiction recovery routine and become more lenient with it over time, you may not notice it right away but after a while you set yourself up to begin slacking with your recovery.  You may begin to grow restless, irritable, and discontent.  It’s never good when an alcoholic and/or addict becomes any of these because they set themselves up to self-medicate by reverting back to the drink and/or drug.

How to pull yourself back up

When you notice yourself headed down an emotional and mental downward cycle, you need to lift yourself up.  The bottom line is your life is on the line because if you aren’t growing in your recovery, then you are plummeting and reverting back to your former ways of thinking.  You should constantly be reminding yourself that and keeping in mind that if you don’t push forward by continuing with your addiction recovery, you are bound to go back to the life you lived before you found this beautiful new way of life in sobriety.  Being aware that you are slacking with your recovery doesn’t mean you are failure.  It means you are human and you got caught up in the scheme of life.  Life gets stressful and people get busy, but since you are an alcoholic and/or addict, you have to constantly remind yourself that you cannot afford to put anything before your commitment to working your addiction recovery program.  Without your sobriety, life isn’t manageable.  You can’t forget this because otherwise you will revert back to abusing substances and go back to the way you were living when you were in active addiction.  If you do see yourself picking up on old behaviors, you do have the ability to check back in with yourself and stop because you still have that choice before you take your will back by turning back to substances.  The best way to pull yourself back up when you notice your slacking on your addiction recovery is to set up a plan of action.  This should include reaching out to sober supports because when you notice you haven’t been able to stay on board in your program, reaching out to others who understand what you are going through and can provide support while sharing their experience, strength and hope can pull you through the most trying times.

Remember not to get frustrated with yourself for not adhering to a perfect addiction recovery program.  Every person is likely to have flare ups along the way and that’s okay.  A key component to understand about recovery is that it’s a process focusing on progress, not perfection.

Find a meeting now! Click here. 

Are you worried you may be slacking with your addiction recovery?  These warning signs can be a surefire way to tell!

Relapse Warning Signs

Keeping up with your addiction recovery is important, but after you’ve been sober for a while, it can get tricky.  Life has gotten better and you’ve already put the substances down.  Now that you aren’t active in your addiction and have racked up a good amount of sober time, it’s likely that your life has become far more manageable than it ever has been before.  This makes it all the more likely for you to justify skipping regular meetings throughout the week, forgetting to keep up with sober supports, and slacking when it comes to constant communication with your sponsor.  When you stop being as strict about following your addiction recovery routine and become more lenient with it over time, you may not notice it right away but after a while you set yourself up to begin slacking with your recovery.  You may begin to grow restless, irritable, and discontent.  It’s never good when an alcoholic and/or addict becomes any of these because they set themselves up to self-medicate by reverting back to the drink and/or drug.

How to pull yourself back up

When you notice yourself headed down an emotional and mental downward cycle, you need to lift yourself up.  The bottom line is your life is on the line because if you aren’t growing in your recovery, then you are plummeting and reverting back to your former ways of thinking.  You should constantly be reminding yourself that and keeping in mind that if you don’t push forward by continuing with your addiction recovery, you are bound to go back to the life you lived before you found this beautiful new way of life in sobriety.  Being aware that you are slacking with your recovery doesn’t mean you are failure.  It means you are human and you got caught up in the scheme of life.  Life gets stressful and people get busy, but since you are an alcoholic and/or addict, you have to constantly remind yourself that you cannot afford to put anything before your commitment to working your addiction recovery program.  Without your sobriety, life isn’t manageable.  You can’t forget this because otherwise you will revert back to abusing substances and go back to the way you were living when you were in active addiction.  If you do see yourself picking up on old behaviors, you do have the ability to check back in with yourself and stop because you still have that choice before you take your will back by turning back to substances.  The best way to pull yourself back up when you notice your slacking on your addiction recovery is to set up a plan of action.  This should include reaching out to sober supports because when you notice you haven’t been able to stay on board in your program, reaching out to others who understand what you are going through and can provide support while sharing their experience, strength and hope can pull you through the most trying times.

Remember not to get frustrated with yourself for not adhering to a perfect addiction recovery program.  Every person is likely to have flare ups along the way and that’s okay.  A key component to understand about recovery is that it’s a process focusing on progress, not perfection.

Find a meeting now! Click here. 

Are you wondering how to handle social anxiety when being of service in the community of a 12-step fellowship?  Alcoholics and addicts can be overly sensitive people who may think when they enter a room, all eyes go directly to them.  It’s no wonder that you as an addicted individual might feel overwhelmed when volunteering your time by chairing or speaking at a meeting.  However, there are ways of handling your social anxiety so you can best be of service and be present in the moment to get your recovery on!

How to Handle Social Anxiety

It’s safe to say nobody, whether an addicted individual or not, likes having to deal with social anxiety.  It’s uncomfortable.  You may get jittery, start talking too quickly, veer away from people, or get completely awkward.  Alcoholics and addicts like yourself may be used to “treating” this with substances but now recovery allows working a program to solve these thinking problems.  Part of working a program includes being of service!  How are you supposed to handle social anxiety and be of service when you are feeling anxious about being of service, though?

Don’t think, just do

When speaking or chairing a meeting, it’s helpful to just simply dive into being of service regardless of how anxious you feel.  It can be beneficial to meditate, pray, and/or talk to a sponsor or friend beforehand.  Alcoholics and addicts are well-known for overanalyzing.  Don’t obsess and instead concentrate on how you’re helping others.

Speak from the heart

Speaking from the heart allows the anxiety and fear of what other people are thinking to disappear.  The willingness to speak the truth of your testimony and connect with others can redirect your focus to being passionate.  You may even lose track of how many people are present.

Take a breath

Remember to relax and not take yourself too seriously.  You are being of service and doing your part which will help you maintain sobriety and broaden the relationship with your recovery community.

Be patient with yourself and trust the process

It’s important for you to understand recovery is a process.  Your anxiety may take time to ease down.  Trusting this is essential.  Try not to get worked up if you find yourself getting riled up on the occasion.  The “moth metaphor” is a great example for a story that emphasizes elemental themes of patience and trust.  It begins with a man discovering a cocoon of a moth.  He brings the cocoon along with him so the moth can come out from its cocoon.  When an opening in the cocoon was beginning to appear, the man watched as the moth battled to get out but it was stuck.  Under the impression he was being helpful, the man decided to cut part of the cocoon to free the moth.  The moth was able to get out despite having a swollen body and little wings.  In the following days, the man watched with the hope that the moth would continue growing but instead the moth lived the remainder of its life sprawled out unable to fly.  The point of the “moth metaphor” is that it demonstrates how addicted individuals may only be able to salvage themselves when they are ready and entirely willing.  When others try to save them prematurely, they may find they are unsuccessful.  When the process is taken one day at a time and addicted individuals surrender, they may find they are exactly where they should be while doing the work the way it’s meant to be done in the necessary time it takes for them to recover.

Are you still struggling with an addiction to alcohol and/or drugs?  Contact The Watershed for help today. You don’t have to go through the struggle alone, so call now!

24/7 Addiction Crisis Helpline: 1-877-975-4837

More: How To Deal With Anxiety

Are you worried you may be slacking with your addiction recovery?  These warning signs can be a surefire way to tell!

Relapse Warning Signs

Keeping up with your addiction recovery is important, but after you’ve been sober for a while, it can get tricky.  Life has gotten better and you’ve already put the substances down.  Now that you aren’t active in your addiction and have racked up a good amount of sober time, it’s likely that your life has become far more manageable than it ever has been before.  This makes it all the more likely for you to justify skipping regular meetings throughout the week, forgetting to keep up with sober supports, and slacking when it comes to constant communication with your sponsor.  When you stop being as strict about following your addiction recovery routine and become more lenient with it over time, you may not notice it right away but after a while you set yourself up to begin slacking with your recovery.  You may begin to grow restless, irritable, and discontent.  It’s never good when an alcoholic and/or addict becomes any of these because they set themselves up to self-medicate by reverting back to the drink and/or drug.

How to pull yourself back up

When you notice yourself headed down an emotional and mental downward cycle, you need to lift yourself up.  The bottom line is your life is on the line because if you aren’t growing in your recovery, then you are plummeting and reverting back to your former ways of thinking.  You should constantly be reminding yourself that and keeping in mind that if you don’t push forward by continuing with your addiction recovery, you are bound to go back to the life you lived before you found this beautiful new way of life in sobriety.  Being aware that you are slacking with your recovery doesn’t mean you are failure.  It means you are human and you got caught up in the scheme of life.  Life gets stressful and people get busy, but since you are an alcoholic and/or addict, you have to constantly remind yourself that you cannot afford to put anything before your commitment to working your addiction recovery program.  Without your sobriety, life isn’t manageable.  You can’t forget this because otherwise you will revert back to abusing substances and go back to the way you were living when you were in active addiction.  If you do see yourself picking up on old behaviors, you do have the ability to check back in with yourself and stop because you still have that choice before you take your will back by turning back to substances.  The best way to pull yourself back up when you notice your slacking on your addiction recovery is to set up a plan of action.  This should include reaching out to sober supports because when you notice you haven’t been able to stay on board in your program, reaching out to others who understand what you are going through and can provide support while sharing their experience, strength and hope can pull you through the most trying times.

Remember not to get frustrated with yourself for not adhering to a perfect addiction recovery program.  Every person is likely to have flare ups along the way and that’s okay.  A key component to understand about recovery is that it’s a process focusing on progress, not perfection.

Find a meeting now! Click here. 

 

When it comes to lying, addicts are keen on knowing just what to say and how to say it to manipulate matters into their own hands.  More often than not, addicts can get entangled in their own web of lies and place themselves in grave danger as a result.  If the recovering individual can take a look at how to stop lying and instead work on bettering themselves, they may come to find it makes their life far less complex and they can rest at ease living in honesty.

5 Lies Addicts Should Stop Believing NOW

Are you an addict that finds yourself wondering how to stop lying?  If you’re not sure, maybe you can identify with these 5 common lies that addicts need to stop telling themselves now.

There’s no fun without alcohol and drugs.

Before you ever picked up a drink or drug, did you ever smile or laugh?  The odds are that you did.  With that being said, you’re going to do the same without the use of any substances again.  Getting sober doesn’t mean you’re never going to be happy and you’re going to live a miserable life.  If that’s what it meant, then recovering addicts wouldn’t be clean this long!  If you aren’t having fun right away, give it some time.  There may be moments where you aren’t comfortable in your own skin, but after making new friends, getting readjusted in your newfound sober life, and re-experiencing living in the moment without the crutch that substances provided you, you may find that you enjoy life even more.

You are addicted due to a creative or genius trait.

This can be a dangerous lie that addicts want so badly to fool themselves into believing.  Addicts can desperately want to be innately unique and separate themselves from society.  In recovery, it can be seen that there is a common bond where each individual suffers from that same obsession to abuse their substance of choice uncontrollably.  There is no creative or genius trait that compels an individual to be an addict.  Addiction is a disease where even consequences cannot prevent the person from continuing on with the cycle of picking up and abusing their substance of choice.

Recovery is something you aren’t capable of.

Addiction may be a disease but anyone is capable of recovery, provided they have the willingness to recover from this grave state of mental, emotional, and physical agony.

Life is pointless and the way to deal with this is by turning to substances again.

You already know where drugs have gotten you in the past.  You know alcohol and drugs are not the solution.  Resorting to them once again will surely only bring the same results.  Nothing has changed, so stop telling yourself that turning to drugs will resolve any problem because you already know it won’t.

Nobody else is affected by your addiction.

To think that your addiction only affects you is false.  Addiction is a disease that isn’t contagious and yet it spreads like wildfire.  The actions you commit during active addiction come from a standpoint that may involve selfish, self-seeking, and dishonest tendencies, which directly affects all of the people you encounter throughout the day.

If you’re wondering how to stop lying, try to remember that honesty is a huge part of recovery.  If you truly want to get better, you are going to have to put in the effort to pausing, becoming willing, and thinking twice.  Checking in constantly with sober supports, a sponsor, therapist, family member or friend can help keep you accountable in your efforts when it comes to working on how to stop lying to yourself and others.