Summer Jeirles 

I attended a leadership class not that long ago, and one of the topics discussed by people with a specialty in Human Resources, was “how to have difficult conversations with employees.”

A couple of weeks ago I attended a conference with a variety of health professionals (most of whom were doctors and nurses). One of my colleagues discussed the fact that addiction is a disease (recognized by the American Medical Association in 1956), one of many points discussed about the current opioid crisis.

Rigidity often lures the mind away from balance—it can keep us down and defeat us before we even start something. Locking in on how something is supposed to be, or how much someone should be doing something, can keep a person from starting something from the get-go.

A while back, I had read a book by Augusten Burroughs, titled “This is How: Help for the Self,” (2012). One thing that had stuck with me is a passage about how people are looking for happiness from external things.

Because addiction is not a disease that is ever cured (it can be treated, but not cured), this time of year can be particularly difficult for those in early recovery (or just in recovery, period) attempting to maintain their sobriety.