Active men living an active program of recovery, live lives that are on the move. After working hard through months of treatment, men have learned how to manifest their potential in their mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical form. They are learning how to live their life to the fullest, pushing themselves to their limits, and going beyond what they thought was possible in their lives. Active men in recovery have more energy, more willpower, more passion, and more zest for life. From start to finish, each day is packed with activities which better their lives and progress their recovery forward. These men cannot be blamed. Addiction to drugs and alcohol took too many minutes of their lives, too many moments, too many possibilities. Recovery has set them up to have no limits in life. Life on earth is limited. The possibilities while here, are unlimited.
Boredom is said to be a trigger for men who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Men are supposed to be intimidated by the prospect of being left to their own devices. Addiction rewires the normal structure of the brain. Boredom isn’t necessarily comfortable for anyone. For those who are experiencing a chemical dependency on drugs and alcohol, however, the lack of pleasurable stimulation in boredom triggers obsessive thinking as well as cravings. In boredom, the mind can start racing and the body can become anxious. Without the right understanding of boredom, the idea of having nothing to do, nobody to see, and nowhere to go, can become too much.
“Boredom is the first step on the road to relapse!” a character in the cult classic movie Clerks once quipped. Science has proven that a little bit of boredom once in a while does the mind and the body some good. Big Think reports on new research published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin which found that 15 minutes of boredom “…deactivates high arousal emotions while reducing stress and promoting relaxation.” Specifically, the researchers studied boredom as being disconnected from stimulating digital devices. Through a set of four experiments which analyzed behaviors in solitude, researchers were able to discover that “People can use solitude, or other variations on being alone, to regulate their affective states, becoming quiet after excitement, calm after an angry episode, or centered and peaceful when desired.” Fifteen minutes of solitude creates a greater response time and ability to the next incoming stimulus.
Tree House Recovery is a men’s treatment program located in Portland, Oregon. Creating sustainable recovery through sustainable change, our programs help men learn how to live sober with adventurous lives. Call us today for information: (503) 850-2474
