Life Issues
Whether leading, helping those who are hurting, or serving in some other capacity, the strain of exposure to those suffering can lead to compassion fatigue. Here are some easy ways to recognize compassion fatigue when it starts and take steps to avoid—or eliminate—it all together.
- Know your limitations.
Recognize that everyone has a different emotional capacity to hold others’ pain and trauma. Each person must be aware of their unique threshold and know how it fluctuates depending on what is going on in their personal life. (more…)
Life Issues
Anyone who doesn’t carve out time for their physical, spiritual, and personal time will burn out, bum out, and—eventually—act out. Is it possible to prevent burnout and acting out from happening? Thankfully, yes!
Prevent exhaustion by forming healthy habits such as getting enough sleep, learning to say no, spending time with the Lord every day, and not taking on too much. However, there are two must-haves for finding balance: boundaries and accountability.
One can only take care of themselves by setting boundaries with their time and energy. There must be enough time for priorities such as getting plenty of rest, checking in with an accountability partner or sponsor, and going to a Life Recovery Group weekly. It is important to decide that rest, self-care, spiritual health, and personal time are non-negotiable. So, if there is a crisis such as a death in the family, job loss, or divorce, self-care is still done daily. (more…)
Addiction/Recovery
If you have a family member who struggles with addiction, you may be tempted to take responsibility for them . . . don’t!
Truth is, you are only responsible for your choices—your loved one is responsible for theirs. One day we will all give an account to the Lord. Romans 14:12 says, “Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God.”
Just as you have the freedom to make your own choices, others have the freedom to make their choices. You give people freedom by not enabling them. It helps to understand the difference between enabling and helping.
What is enabling?
It’s doing for someone what they CAN do for themselves. (more…)
Parenting
Does your adult son or daughter struggle with addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, or something else? Then, no doubt, you’re concerned for their physical and emotional well-being. You’ve tried everything, but nothing seems to work. Unfortunately, your relationship with them is getting worse. Is there any hope? Yes! Here are some tips:
1. Stop Living in Denial. Often, as parents, it’s easier to stay in denial rather than face reality. Pretending it’s not happening will hurt you, your child, and your entire family. Jeremiah 6:14 (TLB) reminds us, “You can’t heal a wound by saying it’s not there!” (more…)
Addiction/Recovery
Some of us are in prison. Not a prison made of four walls, but the worst kind of prison–a self-made prison.
Our prisons are built decision by decision, habit by habit. They could be prisons of . . .
- Anger, shame, or other painful emotions
- Addictions or unhealthy habits
- Abusive and toxic relationships
In our prisons, we get too comfortable and stay there. Why?
Because (1) working through our past trauma of anger, shame, or other painful emotions is hard, so we avoid facing the pain. (more…)
