A Better Way Recovery, LLC

03/27/2026

Congratulations to Rae and Kaitlin on graduating the Respect Institute! We are so proud of you continuing to grow in your recovery!

03/15/2026

Sponsorship is a cornerstone of recovery. This is the type of service work that helps you and others. Working the 12 steps with a sponsor fosters self-awareness and emotional resilience.

She Recovers Every Day

Sunday
Mar 15

Find a Buddy (Anybuddy)

I strongly believe that having even just one friend in recovery is incredibly helpful to our recovery. Depending on what sort of recovery journey you are on, you may be familiar with the concept of having a "sponsor" or a "mentor" or maybe even just an "accountability buddy." All such relationships can be helpful. If you are in Twelve Step recovery, the pressure to "get a sponsor" can invite a lot of anxiety. You should take your time picking out someone to work the Steps with (which is the purpose of a having a sponsor). If you are in a different recovery community, you might think about asking someone with more experience to mentor you, or somebody with the same amount of experience as you to be your accountability buddy. I've seen miraculous things happen when women join forces to help each other stay the course. You should also know that you don't need to establish formal relationships if you aren't ready for a sponsor, mentor, or accountability buddy. Maybe just ask someone if you can text them once in a while or have coffee or go for a walk. The main point here is that everybody deserves a buddy in recovery. And I'm sure there is someone out there who would love to be yours.

There are other women out there looking for the same level of connection as you are. May you find each other.

03/06/2026

She Recovers Everyday
March 6

Self-Sabotage

Self-sabotage is a form of self-harm. We self-sabotage because we are afraid of failure; we feel undeserving of success or unworthy of going after or having good or even wonderful things. As author Alyce Cornyn-Selby wrote, "Self-sabotage is when we want something and then go about making sure it doesn't happen." Self-sabotage can show up in our work or our art, in our relationships or in those promises to ourselves that we just can't seem to keep. Some of the self-defeating behaviors that we employ as self-sabotage include procrastination, perfectionism, avoidance, self-medicating, disorganization, starting fights, micromanaging, negative self-talk, mindlessly scrolling through the internet, and even paralysis. The best cure for self-sabotage is to recognize our negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones, and then take small but consistent positive actions in the direction of our goals or dreams. Stopping any self-harming behavior that we've been engaging in for a long time is hard. But, as our friend and fellow recovering woman Glennon Doyle regularly reminds us (and it's also the name of her podcast), we can do hard things.

Believing that we are worthy and deserving of what we desire is half the battle.

03/04/2026

After years of addiction, recovery can feel scary. It's daunting to think you're losing the one coping skill that worked for awhile. Making the decision to get clean/sober is huge. Getting into recovery is a lifelong decision. It requires support, love, tenacity, and the belief that you can do it.

02/20/2026

Please help us congratulate our four upcoming graduates. We are so proud of the work they have put in to get here. We pray they continue on this journey when they leave.

02/17/2026

01/26/2026

She Recovers Every Day

Monday
Jan 26

H.A.L.T.

If you have spent much time around people in recovery, then you will know that slogans and acronyms are a thing. Some are mildly annoying, but some are quite powerful. For example, the acronym H.A.L.T. is one of the most useful recovery tools I picked up in early recovery, and I still use it frequently. H.A.L.T. works like a built-in self-care warning system. The idea behind it is that when you are feeling vulnerable in your recovery or even just out of sorts in general, you can stop and ask yourself if you are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then that thing needs to be addressed. Taking a catnap, if possible, will do wonders if you are tired, and a snack or meal will fix your hunger. The best antidote for loneliness is a visit or call with a close friend, and anger might require that you deal with whatever is making you mad, or at least take a brisk walk to displace the negative energy. H.A.L.T. is a brilliant tool, in my view. Were you familiar with it before now?

Stopping to check in with ourselves is always a good practice.

01/17/2026

January 17
AA Thought for the Day

It doesn’t do much good to come to meetings only once in a while and sit around, hoping to get something out of the program. That’s all right at first, but it won’t help us very long. Sooner or later we have to get into action by coming to meetings regularly, by giving a personal witness of our experience with alcohol, and by trying to help other alcoholics. Building a new life takes all the energy that we used to spend on drinking. Am I spending at least as much time and effort on the new life that I’m trying to build in AA?

Meditation for the Day

With God’s help, I will build a protective screen around myself which will keep out all evil thoughts. I will fashion it out of my attitude toward God and my attitude toward other people. When one worrying or impatient thought enters my mind, I will put it out at once. I know that love and trust are the solvents for the worry and frets of life. I will use them to form a protective screen around me.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that frets and impatience and worry may not corrode my protective screen against all evil thoughts. I pray that I may banish all these from my life.

Quoted from the app 24 Hours a Day.
Find recovery resources at

Hazelden Betty Ford treatment centers provide addiction treatment, mental health care, research, and care to individuals, communities, and families in crisis.

12/29/2025

Living Sober
pg 37-38

Anger in all its aspects is a universal human problem. But it poses
a special threat to alcoholics: Our own anger can kill us. Recovered
alcoholics almost unanimously agree that hostility, grudges, or resentments often make us want to drink, so we need to be vigilant against such feelings. We have found much more satisfying ways than drinking for dealing with them.

But we’ll get to those later. First, here is a look at some of the shapes
and colors anger seems at times to arrive in:
intolerance, snobbishness, tension, distrust, contempt, rigidity, sarcasm, anxiety, envy, cynicism, self-pity, suspicion, hatred, discontent, malice, jealousy

Various A.A. members have, when sober, been able to trace all
those feelings to some underlying anger. During our drinking days,
many of us spent little time thinking such things out. We were more
likely to brood about them, or to overreact, especially after we heightened such feelings by taking another drink.

Perhaps fear should be on that list, too, because many of us believe
anger is frequently an outgrowth of fear. We’re not always sure what
we’re afraid of; sometimes, it is just a vague, generalized, nameless
fear. And it can give rise to an equally generalized anger, which may
suddenly focus on something or someone.

12/09/2025

Ask for the freaking help! Make yourself stronger by doing so and build trust with others in the process. WIN-WIN

The Language of Letting Go
Dec 09

Asking for Help

It's okay to ask for help.

One of the most absurd things we do to ourselves is not asking for the help we need from a friend, a family member, our Higher Power, or the appropriate resource.

We don't have to struggle through feelings and problems alone. We can ask for help from our Higher Power and for support and encouragement from our friends.

Whether what we need is information, encouragement, a hand, a word, a hug, someone who will listen, or a ride, we can ask. We can ask people for what we need from them. We can ask God for what we need from God.

It is self-defeating to not ask for the help we need. It keeps us stuck. If we ask long and hard enough, if we direct our request to the right source, we'll get the help we need.

There is a difference between asking someone to rescue us and asking someone in a direct manner for the help we need from him or her. We can be straightforward and let others choose whether to help us or not. If the answer is no, we can deal with that.

It is self-defeating to hint, whine, manipulate, or coerce help out of people. It is annoying to go to people as a victim and expect them to rescue us. It is healthy to ask for help when help is what we need.

"My problem is shame," said one woman. "I wanted to ask for help in dealing with it, but I was to ashamed. Isn't that crazy?"

We who are eager to help others can learn to allow ourselves to receive help. We can learn to make clean contracts about asking for and receiving the help we want and need.

Today, I will ask for help if I need it - from people and my Higher Power. I will not be a victim, helplessly waiting to be rescued. I will make my request for help specific, to the point, and I will leave room for the person to choose whether or not to help me. I will not be a martyr any longer by refusing to get the help I deserve in life - the help that makes life simpler. God, help me let go of my need to do everything alone. Help me use the vast Universe of resources available to me.

11/17/2025

So, you finished rehab. You’re clean now. Living in a recovery house. Waking up early to catch the bus to a job that barely pays the bills. You’re splitting a fridge with three other addicts, listening to them fight over food or relapse excuses, trying to stay focused on your own lane — your own recovery.

You’re hitting your meetings. Three a week. You’re sitting in folding chairs under fluorescent lights, listening to other people’s pain, trying to believe that maybe… just maybe… one day, yours will turn into purpose too.

And I know there are nights when it doesn’t feel worth it. When you’re sitting on the edge of your bed staring at the same four walls, thinking, Is this really what I got clean for? When the silence gets so loud it starts screaming your name. When giving up feels easier than fighting through another day.

But let me tell you something — it takes a rare kind of strength to do what you’re doing.

Because anybody can self-destruct. Anybody can run. Anybody can hide behind a bottle, a pill, or a pipe. But it takes a fighter to start from scratch and rebuild their life one day at a time.

You’re not weak because it’s hard. You’re not broken because it hurts. You’re becoming. You’re laying the bricks for a life that’s going to mean something.

That bus you’re riding to that minimum wage job? That’s not humiliation — that’s humility. That’s faith in motion. Every mile is proof that you’re not who you used to be.

That recovery house that smells like burnt ramen and resentment? That’s your launching pad. That’s where your comeback story is being written.

And those meetings you drag yourself to? Those are your classrooms — where pain turns into wisdom, and strangers turn into family.

Listen to me — what your Higher Power is building in you right now, in this season that feels small and insignificant, is going to blow your mind when it unfolds. You’re not just surviving this chapter — you’re being prepared for the next one.

You might not see it yet, but you’re a walking miracle in progress. A warrior in transition. A rockstar in recovery.

So don’t quit now. Not when you’ve already made it this far. The world hasn’t even seen what you’re capable of yet.

I see you.

I’m proud of you.

And I promise you — if you just keep going, it gets better.

11/15/2025

Sixteen relapse symptoms to watch out for:
For any time, any place, any where !

1. Exhaustion - Allowing oneself to become overly tired; usually associated with work addiction as an excuse for not facing personal frustrations.

2. Dishonesty - Begins with pattern of little lies; escalated to self-delusion and making excuses for not doing what's called for.

3. Impatience - I want what I want NOW. Others aren't doing what I think they should or living the way I know is right.

4. Argumentative - No point is too small or insignificant not to be debated to the point of anger and submission.

5. Depression - All unreasonable, unaccountable despair should be exposed and discussed, not repressed: what is the "exact nature" of those feelings?

6. Frustration - Controlled anger/resentment when things don't go according to our plans. Lack of acceptance. See #3.

7. Self-pity - Feeling victimized, put-upon, used, unappreciated: convinced we are being singled out for bad luck.

8. Cockiness - Got it made. Know all there is to know. Can go anywhere, including frequent visits just to hang-out at bars, boozy parties.

9. Complacency - Like #8, no longer sees value of daily program, meetings, contact with other alcoholics, (especially sponsor!), feels healthy, on top of the world, things are going well. Heck may even be cured!

10. Expecting too much of others - Why can't they read my mind? I've changed, what's holding them up? If they just do what I know is best for them? Leads to feeling misunderstood, unappreciated. See #6.

11. Letting up on disciplines - Allowing established habits of recovery - meditations, prayer, spiritual reading, AA contact, daily inventory, meetings - - to slip out of our routines; allowing recovery to get boring and no longer stimulating for growth. Why bother?!

12. Using mood-altering chemicals - May have a valid medical reason, but misused to help avoid the real problems of impending alcoholic relapse.

13. Wanting too much - Setting unrealistic goals: not providing for short-term successes; placing too much value on material success, not enough on value of spiritual growth.

14. Forgetting gratitude - Because of several listed above, may lose sight of the abundant blessings in our everyday lives: too focused on # 13.

15. "It can't happen to me." - Feeling immune; forgetting what we know about the disease of alcoholism and its progressive nature.

16. Omnipotence - A combination of several attitudes listed above; leads to ignoring danger signs, disregarding warnings and advice from fellow members.

-- Akron Intergroup News, December 1998