The Power of Gratitude

Matt Serel • Jan 04, 2021

Finding Gratitude in the Midst of a Pandemic

There are few times in life when we are forced to look back on our body of work and look towards what is to come. Birthdays are definitely one that come to mind. Another is when the clock moves from 11:59pm to 12:00am every year. Did I accomplish the things that I had set out to accomplish the year prior? Was I successful? Was I kind? Did I pack into this past year something that I can be proud of?


Not sure if everyone noticed but this year was a bit…different? So many things occurred in 2020. As the night wore on and I began to have the thought process of looking back, it was so easy for me to drift into worry and morbid reflection. For me, it can happen so naturally that I look back on something that I have done and no matter if I did well; the first thought goes directly to criticism. When it came to looking back on this year, it was even more natural to look back and focus solely on everything sad that happened and to write this year off completely. When I first got sober, everyone around me who seemed to have some idea of what they were doing kept telling me “Be grateful! Practice gratitude!” My first thought? “What am I supposed to be grateful for? That I am stuck here with you, that I can’t go to work and that I’m never going to have fun again? Also, please stop being so happy.” I was in it though – I knew that I needed to change the way that I did things and these people really did seem to be genuinely happy… maybe there were onto something? Always the skeptic and wanting to do things my own way, I cautiously began practicing this thing they called “gratitude.” I started small with it as I really did not know where to begin. To my surprise, the more that I wrote down the things that I truly was grateful for, the more that I began to see more things in my day to day that I could add to that list. It was as if, by magic, my perspective changed. 


Gratitude has been proven to be effective in combatting addiction


There has been a myriad of studies on the cognitive effects of gratitude. To put it shortly, when we express gratitude, through a list or by vocalizing it, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin; two neurotransmitters that are directly responsible for our emotions. These two chemicals help us to naturally feel good from the inside and stabilize our mood in an adaptive way. 


My 2020/2021 Gratitude List


This brings me back to the final hours of 2020 and my drift away from gratitude in that moment. It is really hard to just “be grateful” and forget everything that has happened this past year. In that same breath, there are so many things to be grateful for this year. All front-line workers, teachers who adapted in order to teach students, parents who began to learn new skills in order to help their children, the plethora of people who engaged in acts of kindness to one another. The list really can go on, I just have to look for it. I have never been much for New Year’s Resolutions. However, maybe a resolution to get back to gratitude is just what I need. I will start here:


I am grateful for:

- Being sober and being able to be present in my life and the lives of others

- Family and friends

- All of you

Worth the Wait: Megan's Path to Lasting Addiction Recovery and Purpose

By Megan Miller, CAC • 29 Oct, 2024
I grew up full of fear. Everything terrified me. I never felt comfortable in my own skin. It wasn’t until I started smoking pot at 14—because I was too afraid to stand up to peer pressure—that I finally felt a sense of freedom and relaxation for the first time. I chased that high for the next 16 years. Somehow, I managed to graduate college with an OxyContin addiction, and after that, with nothing tethering me to the real world, things got a lot worse. I went to detox for the first of many times in 2005. I left there thinking I wasn’t an addict and that my use had just gotten out of control. That denial kept me in and out of treatment for the next decade. Heroin became my entire life. I couldn’t hold a job, I overdosed, I got Hepatitis C from sharing needles, and I didn’t care about anything except getting high. I was so full of shame at what my life had become, but I just couldn’t stop. I was great at trying to stop, but I couldn’t stay stopped. The gift of desperation came to me in April 2012. I couldn’t keep living the way I was. I finally wanted to live instead of die. That compulsion to use left me when I finally surrendered to it. Today, I wake up grateful for the life I have. My 6-year-old daughter is the greatest joy of my life, and she has never seen me use. Today, with the support of my wonderful husband, my family, and my recovery network, I live a full life of joy and purpose. There is no more rewarding feeling in the world than sharing the gift of recovery with others.

Overdose Awareness Day: A Reflection on Hope and Recovery

By Dave Aumiller, CPS, NCPRSS • 03 Sep, 2024
Overdose. It’s a word that catches in my throat and a topic that stops me in my tracks. As a person in long-term recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and Substance Use Disorder (SUD), I have overdosed many times. I have been revived by paramedics three times. Waking up in a hospital bed with no idea how I got there—scared. Or in the back of an ambulance, sick and angry for being Narcaned, a crazed hostage of my addicted mind. Or in a front yard, soaking wet from someone throwing me in a cold shower, unsuccessfully trying to revive me before leaving me outside—confused. These experiences don’t account for the countless times I have overdosed and been revived by a concerned party—now scarred by the trauma of my disease in its final stage, trying to carry out its final act, resulting in an untimely death. Overdose. After all of this, it was the kindness and care of others that made the difference between another chance and another day. Another dose of hope and life. An opportunity to begin again. On a day like today, reflecting on a topic that is so close to the heart of everyone connected to this reality, I am grateful. I am hopeful. I am humble. Because I know how lucky I am. How undeserving I was. And I live my amends and gratitude by doing my best to embody and live the values of a recovery that works. I also keep close to my heart, at the forefront of my mind, and on the tip of my tongue, the names of the countless others who weren’t as lucky as I. In honor of Overdose Awareness Day, I will say the names of my friends who weren’t fortunate enough to receive as many chances as I did, and I will live in their names—sober today and willing to extend a hand to anyone who needs it in their journey to recover and spread hope to both the sufferer and the caregiver.  Today, let us remember those we have lost, cherish the moments we have been given, and continue to fight for a future where overdose is a distant memory. Together, we can make a difference. Together, we can spread hope.

Overdose Awareness Day: Survivor's Guilt Transformed into Hope

By Shannon Schwoeble, CPS • 29 Aug, 2024
I was devastated when I heard that another close friend I'd made in treatment was gone. Seven friends in my first six months—two had come into treatment, left, and passed away while I was still there. In the years that followed, many others who had walked this path alongside me were lost as well. Nine in my first year of recovery. I found myself asking, "Why am I still here? Why didn’t they ‘get it’?"  Survivor’s guilt was not something I expected to experience in recovery. It hit me hard and fast when I began my journey in 2011. I was terrified. I would sit and think about friends I had just seen or spoken to—did they seem different? Did they sound off? I was so scared of who I would lose next. Through my work with a therapist and finding my own voice, I learned to transform my survivor's guilt into hope. I realized that by using my voice, sharing my story, saying their names, and talking about the profound impact each of them had on me—in life and in death—I could help others understand that recovery is possible. Perhaps, something I share will give someone struggling a glimmer of hope that they, too, can find recovery. On Overdose Awareness Day, August 31, we remember and honor those we've lost to this devastating disease. In loving memory of Ben, Pat, Krista, Harry, Christina, Brook, Dustin, Jeff, Jamie, and everyone we have lost—you are remembered and loved, today and every day.
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