Are you participating in #14Days on the Wagon?
CBS News‘ #14Days project actually started on Monday, October 6, 2014. So today is #day5. Have you heard about this project? We came across it last evening and it started us thinking about #14days and what it can mean to the average person.
For the record, #14days is equal to two weeks, 336 hours and 20,160 minutes. Seems like a long time, right? But really only if you are trying to NOT do something for #14days or trying to WAIT in anticipation of something happening in #14days: Like giving birth, hearing about your SATs or your BAR exam, waiting for the school year to end, anticipating going off to college, starting a new job, leaving an old job, coming home from war, voting for the first time, starting a vacation.
The truth is life is a waiting game…so maybe #14days isn’t really so long!
CBS News announced #14Days on the wagon on October 1, 2014
Throughout the #14Days CBS is publishing advice and inspiration from leading experts on addition, recovery, health and wellness. Here is part of their announcement…
CBS News invites you to join the movement by “going on the wagon,” meaning ditching alcohol and any non-medically necessary drugs for two weeks. In cutting these substances out of our lives for 14 days, we are supporting our own health and wellbeing as well as showing solidarity with friends and loved ones in recovery.
It’s our hope that becoming more conscious of our own habits will allow us to develop more compassion for those struggling with the disease of addiction — a disease that contributes to the deaths of more than 90,000 Americans each year.
Some thoughts about Cottonwood’s family program
Have you ever attended a family program when your loved one has gone through treatment for addiction? If so, you might remember wondering quietly or even asking the question out loud: “Since my loved one needs to abstain, does this mean the whole family should abstain from drinking alcohol?”
The goal of Family Program is to help families relearn behavioral interaction so that healthy behaviors become logical. Interpersonal change that can be sustained after treatment requires a movement from following direction (first order change) to internalizing new ways of interacting (second order change). Families shift from obsessive worry and controlling behaviors to acknowledging that which is outside of their control and learn to focus on their own personal needs and boundaries. They learn to detach from the pain, and not from the person.
Family program counselors will suggest that family members avoid having alcohol in the home and from partaking of alcohol when their recovering family member is present. This change starts slowly, but before you know it #14days goes by, then a month or two, and before you know it you have changed your own behaviors and everyone in the family is feeling healthier.
Share your own stories…
It is easy to share your story…use the hashtag #14days in your Twitter messages, your Istagram photos, and even find it on FACEBOOK. Be part of the conversation…
