Recovery Daily Podcast

On April 28, 2016 Rachel faced the facts as they were. She was an alcoholic. She faces that fact every morning. There is no one to blame because it was born inside of her. But before she got sober she blamed everyone else for everything that happened to her. Over the past two years, Rachel has looked for someone to blame for her stroke. She has learned to take responsibility for her situation beca...

Anger is always tied to negativity, but Rachel suggests in this episode that we can benefit from anger. As a recovering alcoholic Rachel requires herself to process anger for five days before responding. Anger is a multi-dimensional emotion and never shows up alone. Anger always travels with another emotion, whether its fear, jealousy, disappointment, embarrassment, etc. Because of that, it requir...

In this episode, Rachel shares about her experiences with the vulnerabilities of love. Loving a partner, loving our jobs, and and loving the sick and suffering in our lives can be terribly painful when life introduces change. When relationships end and life events inevitably occur, our vulnerability can leave us feeling more pain than we would have had we not cultivated love along the way. Rachel...

How often do you try to multi-task? Rachel calls this "half-assing." Without giving our whole selves to something at least one this will suffer. In the same way, we can't invest fully in our future if we are holding on to the past and focusing on moments that are gone in our lives. After two days of singing "One Shot" by Eminem to herself, Rachel discusses in this episode h...

What are we left with once we've practiced Recovery Daily techniques for seeking joy and serenity? Rachel discusses that once she was introduced to the feeling of serenity by clearing out her dark place , she was better able to listen to her inner voice. Today as she faces another transition in her life as a result of her stroke, she realizes that her experience with alcoholism, stroke surviva...

Last night was one of those sleepless nights. Sometimes stress gets the best of us, and our minds just don't stop for sleep. Without sleep we inhibit our body's ability to retain information, remember things, fight illness, heal, and recover. In this episode, Rachel shares ways to settle yourself into a sleep conducive state of mind and body. She also has some tips for how to prepare and t...

How often do you find yourself making an excuse for you or a loved one? Rachel shares in this episode how she gets so addicted to staying active rather than taking time to pivot the direction she is going. She shares in this episode the importance of leaning up against the pain and discomfort to feel the truth and act on it. Do you find reason to argue for things to stay the same because you are a...

Our most important dialogues happen internally—sometimes these are the most destructive as well. How do we practice being alone to get comfortable listening to this inner dialogue. Can we meet the need for connection and fend off loneliness even when we are alone? Rachel shares her experience with crawling her way out of a lonely state of mind and introducing ways to begin letting go of her fears...

Are you familiar with the term pity-party? How do you stop a pity-party? Get up and do... Rachel discusses how she fends off loneliness in recovery. She learned in sobriety to get comfortable being uncomfortable. After much practice uncomfortable starts to feel familiar. Rachel talks about how for most of her life her most important dialogues were happening within her. She conditioned herself to f...

Today the next right thing means getting involved in stroke recovery groups and building bridges to develop a sense of community. Rachel set out today with the goal of strengthening her recovery program, and she did exactly that by joining a stroke survivor support group sponsored by Pacific Stroke Association . We have to act our way into right thinking. In this episode, Rachel shares her experie...

In this episode, Rachel discusses the disease of alcoholism and her experience with the physiological adaption and later destruction of body cells. Eventually an alcoholic's cells adapt to a point of dependence, where they have altered in order to thrive in an environment with heavy alcohol. Rachel shares some resources for how to learn more and get help if you or a loved one suffers from alco...

Positive changes can come from major bad decisions in our lives—regret is a part of the human experience. Rachel shares how she transforms regret into motivation, empathy, faith, appreciation, learning, and acceptance. Regret is a sign that we are ready to recover. We can only change our actions today. Rachel encourages us to turn our regret into a story with a happy ending, rather than the the ha...

As promised, Rachel tunes in with electrodes glued to her head! She is undergoing a 48 hour ambulatory EEG to record abnormal brain activity if any is occurring that is causing her to forget what she's thinking and saying abruptly. This type of symptom can be caused by "silent seizures." Rachel shares about her day as electrode mom - enjoy a debut drawing of "Electrode Mom"...

We get so busy future tripping with fear or aspirations that we tend to stand still, non-observant of our surroundings. To get fully engaged in our environment, we need to build a better relationship with ourselves. The present deserves our undivided attention, and how often to we give it that? In this episode, Rachel talks about her experience with building patience and consistency to climb what...

Worrying is a story we tell ourselves to complete the story of what is unknown in our future. Sometimes we tell ourselves multiple endings to the same story to prepare ourselves for any outcome. In this episode, Rachel talks about getting uncomfortable with uncertainty, enjoying the chapter of the story that you are in, and managing irrational worries. Follow  Recovery Daily Podcast  on Spotify, ...

We need to put personal care first, above all things. In this episode, Rachel shares a valuable lesson that she learned in early sobriety. That is to put recovery above all things or risk loosing all things. In early recovery, the work is harder. Its more time consuming, more emotional, and more exhausting. However, the stronger that foundation is that we build in the beginning the more sturdy it...

Today was a full day, including an MRI and neurology appointment. Rachel updates us on the next steps of her stroke recovery journey. Stroke recovery requires engaging with lots of different personalities, on the phone and in person. Rachel discusses the importance of maintaining emotional balance to remain courteous and kind, even during times when she hears news she doesn't like. She shares...

Rachel tells all in this stinking thinking episode. What is it like to be faced with the choice of giving up everything to keep drinking or giving up drinking to keep everything? Never once in all her years of drinking did Rachel think, "ug, I'm too hungover to drink today." That was just an excuse to drink earlier and "bite the snake that bit ya." Rachel shares about the i...

Its difficult to admit that we're different. Recovery is both physically and mentally exhausting as we navigate our new normal and set boundaries to protect ourselves from pain, relapse, and—in some cases—ourselves. Rachel shares several stories from her active alcoholism, sobriety, and sheltering herself to avoid head pain. Practicing acceptance is the key to blocking unhealthy persistent ill...

In this episode, Rachel shares her experience with finding the willingness to believe in something greater than herself. She explains that regardless of what it is that we believe in, the benefits are the same—faith leads to grounding, a sense of safety, hope, a higher level of achievement, healthier behaviors, self-esteem, and physical and mental recovery. Follow  Recovery Daily Podcast  on Spoti...

When we help others we get a boost from the happiness trifecta of chemicals—oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine. The more we are useful to others in our every day lives, we can improve own sleep, appetite, motivation, blood pressure, sense of community, and actually reduce inflammation and pain. In this episode, Rachel talks about extending the spirit of helpfulness but only after we learn to love o...

In this episode, Rachel reflects on what causes negative thinking and compares thinking to a color wheel. Our thoughts and feelings are our responsibility and we can change our default reactions to people places and things. With patience and self-compassion we are able to seek alternate perspectives and different approaches. Rachel walks us through the trends she sees in her negative thinking thro...

Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired? These are the questions Rachel asks herself when she's feeling irritable and discontent. Why yes they are very relatable to the hierarchy of needs. By doing some self-reflection and checking off these boxes, Rachel often finds that her frustrations are addressed. Give it a try! Follow  Recovery Daily Podcast. Visit   recoverydailypodcast.com .

Every once in a while we break down. Rachel calls this a spiritual checkpoint—credit goes to an anonymous alcoholic out there. Emotional changes are normal after a stroke. Some are linked to brain damage from the stroke, others are linked to the stress of losing the life you had before. Even more are from long term planning with so many unknowns. Taking her own advice, Rachel reached out to her fa...

As a follow-up from yesterday's podcast episode, Rachel creates a list of activities and things that she can reward herself with. From redecorating a room to spending time with a friend, rewards strengthen our resolve to keep going in recovery. Rewards keep us motivated, improve feelings of self-worth, celebrate being brave and strong, and makes the story we are telling ourselves that we can d...