Resilience Reset: Small Steps That Make You Stronger in Recovery

In this episode of AAC Thrive with Mike and Friends, Mike Diamond, Director of Engagement and Intervention Services, dives into the crucial role of resilience in the recovery journey. Recovery isn’t a destination but a daily practice of bouncing back from setbacks, building empowering habits, and leaning on a supportive community.

Mike shares practical strategies for strengthening your “resilience muscle,” including journaling, mindfulness, exercise, and surrounding yourself with the right people. He also emphasizes the importance of self-compassion, preparation, and committing to the recovery process every day.

Whether you’re in early recovery, supporting a loved one, or simply looking to cultivate resilience in your life, this episode is packed with insights to help you adapt, grow, and thrive.

Transcript

00:00:03.142 --> 00:00:05.443
Welcome to AAC Thrive with
Mike and friends.
I'm Mike Diamond.
This is an amazing new
podcast from the American
Addiction Centers, helping people

00:00:18.548 --> 00:00:24.069
Today, we are talking about resiliency.
Now, a lot of people talk about resiliency,
but they don't know how
important resiliency is in
the recovery process.

00:00:37.833 --> 00:00:39.794
Because when we get sober,
we don't realize that life will show up.
And we have to bounce back from setbacks.
See, recovery is a journey.

00:00:55.219 --> 00:00:56.439
It's not a destination.
And day by day,
we will be faced with big
and small challenges and
they can happen at any time.

00:01:08.603 --> 00:01:11.824
But what matters most is how
we choose to respond.
Viktor Frankl said it great.
We have to create a gap
between the stimulus coming
in and how we choose to respond.

00:01:26.678 --> 00:01:29.600
And every time we face a setback,
it's really a step up.
It gives us an opportunity to learn,
move forward, and grow.

00:01:42.007 --> 00:01:43.568
And today we talked about that.
We talked about how do we bounce back?
How do we overcome these setbacks?
Because the important thing
that most people don't
understand is when we're resilient,
it's not about running from
our problems and struggles.

00:02:06.766 --> 00:02:07.747
It's about sitting in them.
It's about adapting.
It's about saying,
how do I solve this problem?
It's about choosing to
recommit when we're stressed.

00:02:25.765 --> 00:02:28.428
It's about choosing to be
willing to not use when
we're craving and we will crave.
I mean,
I'm nineteen and a half years sober.
And I tell people all the time,
there are times where I
wish I could go out and use.

00:02:49.532 --> 00:02:52.554
So when we start to build
this resilient muscle,
there's a very important
thing we need to do.

00:02:59.196 --> 00:03:00.857
And that is we need to be
honest with ourselves.
We cannot do this alone.
We need a community.
We need to connect.

00:03:11.763 --> 00:03:12.884
And most importantly,
we need to be kind to ourselves.
So if you're listening to this right now,
I want you to sit down and
I want you to think to
yourself of a time where
you overcome a set when you
overcame a setback and you,
you push through,
think about that time and,
and take a breath.

00:03:41.211 --> 00:03:42.191
And give yourself a pat on
the back that you got through.\
Because if you can get through one setback,
you can get through another.

00:03:55.174 --> 00:03:56.334
And here's another important
thing that I always tell people.
There are empowering
practices that we must
practice over time and we will progress.

00:04:09.701 --> 00:04:14.564
See, resilience isn't about perfection.
It's about doing the work daily.

00:04:20.328 --> 00:04:21.369
And we have to remind
ourselves daily that one
mistake doesn't erase all
the progress we have made.

00:04:31.996 --> 00:04:33.056
I mean, think about it.
Do you see a painter making
one little error
And then throwing away the whole artwork?
No.

00:04:45.474 --> 00:04:48.516
It's just a little stump in the road.
We have to look at the habits,
the habits that we're
cultivating daily and ask ourselves,
are these empowering habits?

00:05:01.625 --> 00:05:03.046
And are these habits helping
us build our resilience muscle?
Or are these habits disempowering?

00:05:10.713 --> 00:05:11.653
Because remember,
it's what we do daily that
affects our lives, not what we do once.

00:05:23.176 --> 00:05:24.236
And here's another important
thing that we talked about.
What discourages us?
What are some of the things
that make us feel hopeless and helpless?

00:05:38.500 --> 00:05:39.740
So we throw in the towel.
Because it's important that
we don't just go, oh, it's too hard.
Because life is hard.
But that doesn't mean we
have to throw it all away.

00:05:50.795 --> 00:05:52.136
Because we know as addicts,
once we get into that spiral,
the easiest way out is to
alter our mood with drugs, alcohol,
whatever our vice is.

00:06:06.087 --> 00:06:09.930
But that's not how we survive, thrive,
and build
our resilience.
So we talked about a few
important things that we need to do.

00:06:20.686 --> 00:06:23.568
The first one is we need support groups.
Now,
whether it's an AA twelve step program
or it's a therapy group or
it's cognitive behavioral therapy.

00:06:33.334 --> 00:06:33.634
I mean,
we talked about someone doing Reiki,
which is a great practice.
There's all these different
tools and modalities that
we can personally use to
help us get through the day,
regulate our emotions when
we feel dysregulated so we
do not pick up one moment at a time.

00:06:57.681 --> 00:06:59.402
Because remember,
it's minute by minute sometimes,
but the minutes add up and become hours.

00:07:07.367 --> 00:07:07.947
The hours?
must become days.
The days, weeks.
The weeks, months.
The months become years.
And over time, guess what?

00:07:18.658 --> 00:07:19.438
We get time.
So it's important we do a
journaling practice.
Sit down in the morning and
write down what we feel.

00:07:29.627 --> 00:07:30.968
How do we feel today?
And if we feel anxious, then sit down,
write up, why do I feel anxious?
What am I anxious about?

00:07:39.709 --> 00:07:41.170
Am I worried about a future
event that hasn't come?
And we also talked about the
importance of preparation.
Like they say,
preparation meets opportunity is luck.

00:07:54.341 --> 00:07:57.444
There is no such thing as a lucky break.
You may get one lucky break,
but you can't have a lucky
career and a lucky life
if you're not prepared to do
the work no matter how you
feel so always be prepared
the only way to have a
great future is to prepare
in the moment for that
future now you need a
support group some people
we talked about have
sponsors i personally
talked about how i have a
male and a female sponsor
why because my female sponsor
is way smarter than my male
sponsor when it comes to
dealing with female issues.

00:08:39.954 --> 00:08:40.515
And yes,
if you want to thrive in your
relationship with another human being,
you must understand how
that human being processes.

00:08:51.942 --> 00:08:52.622
Therefore,
it's good to have someone to
mentor you so you
understand that process.
So find a sponsor.

00:09:01.607 --> 00:09:02.088
Journal.
You must exercise.
There's the famous saying,
movement is medicine.
You don't have to run marathons,
but it is good to walk
around the block or go for
a walk and make sure you're moving.

00:09:18.442 --> 00:09:20.303
Otherwise, like they say,
if you don't use it, you will lose it.
Okay?
Now,
think right now of two or three people
that you could call
a trusted friend or someone
that you know if you were
really going through it,
they were there for you.

00:09:42.771 --> 00:09:43.611
I have five.
I have five friends at any time.
If one doesn't pick up,
another will pick up.
It's important you have
those people in your crew.

00:09:55.258 --> 00:09:55.898
Another thing,
because I always say we're
searching for the simple dose, dopamine,
oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins,
okay?
You set yourself up to thrive.

00:10:07.926 --> 00:10:10.526
Listen to good music, calming music.
Listen to something that
makes you feel good.
Surround your environment
with things that smell good.

00:10:17.848 --> 00:10:19.548
You know, nice fragrances.
Eat good foods.
Make sure the food coming in is good.
You don't eat good foods,
you're not going to feel good.

00:10:29.750 --> 00:10:30.950
And these are the things
that we must practice daily.
We talked about instead of
doing ninety meetings in ninety days,
don't put that pressure on yourself.

00:10:42.322 --> 00:10:43.763
Build these habits.
And remember, every habit is a choice,
not a chore.
Do not make this hard work.

00:10:54.148 --> 00:10:56.909
Work hard and life is easy.
But don't get so frustrated
with the work like it's homework.
This is life work.

00:11:04.143 --> 00:11:05.364
We're not at school anymore.
School's out.
This is life.
And we need to be prepared
to show up the best we can
because life will throw stuff at us.

00:11:14.428 --> 00:11:16.589
Okay.
Now remember resilience
isn't about being perfect.
It's about learning,
adapting and moving forward.

00:11:27.654 --> 00:11:30.036
And every time we bounce back,
we strengthen our recovery.
Okay?
Remember,
setbacks don't define our
recovery or who we are.

00:11:43.890 --> 00:11:45.771
We are not our past.
We are what we do in the present.
A slip, a challenge, a mistake, remember,
does not erase progress.

00:11:56.640 --> 00:11:58.742
What matters most is when we
choose to get back up and we recommit to
And we move forward.
Remember this resilience can
be strengthened daily.

00:12:10.863 --> 00:12:13.283
Remember the small habits they compound.
It's the ripple effect.
Okay.
We reach out for support.
It's important.

00:12:20.225 --> 00:12:21.605
We ground ourselves with
breath work and we practice
some kind of mindfulness.
Okay.
It's really great to use
positive self-talk.

00:12:30.107 --> 00:12:30.427
Okay.
But remember over time,
We build resilience.
Small steps go a long way in
the right direction.

00:12:43.020 --> 00:12:43.920
And always remember,
we must have a support system.
We cannot face challenges alone.
It's important that we have
those people in our corner to lean on us.

00:12:58.528 --> 00:13:00.869
Sponsors, family members,
people in our support group.
That can encourage us and help us get by.

00:13:08.855 --> 00:13:10.776
I always say you want to
surround yourself with engines,
people that drive you,
people that inspire you,
people that add fuel to
your fire and put the wind in your sails.

00:13:24.743 --> 00:13:27.744
And you want to remove the anchors.
You want to remove the
people that try to drown you.
that try to bring you down,
that try to take you off your path.

00:13:38.590 --> 00:13:39.290
And remember,
there's only one thing you
really have to do daily,
and that is commit.
You have to be willing and
have the willingness to surrender,
that you have to let go of
what has happened, sit in the present,
and work daily on your recovery.

00:14:02.294 --> 00:14:06.817
And you will get better over time.
So go out there.
Be your best self because you're enough.

00:14:12.061 --> 00:14:15.263
Your potential still lives inside you.
Have an incredible day.
And remember, resilience is a process.

00:14:22.088 --> 00:14:25.270
And in time, you will get stronger.
Bye for now.