Every September, National Recovery Month is celebrated around the country to bring awareness and understanding of substance use disorders and to celebrate individuals and families in recovery as well as the professionals who helped them along the way.

Asking for help can be hard—that’s especially true when it comes to confronting addiction. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to find excuses to put off treatment.

We get so busy with our daily lives that we learn to live with the fallout from destructive behaviors. And we feel so obligated to our jobs, our families, and even our own addictions that we don’t see treatment as the priority it really is. As a result, dread surrounding treatment builds, and it becomes harder and harder to take the first steps to make a change.

Now that it’s summer, the air is a little lighter and the mood is too. The season is all about renewal and growth—now’s the perfect time to start a treatment program and begin your journey to recovery.

Need more convincing? Consider these five reasons to start a treatment plan this summer:

If you’re a football fan, chances are you have a long history with the game. You probably remember going to the stadium for the first time—who you rooted for, who won. And you probably have many memories enjoying the sport with a parent or sibling. You might even keep your first football jersey framed in your rec room. 

The holidays are stressful: traveling, the pressure to give the right gifts, the reminder of so many holidays gone wrong…

How do you approach the season as a recovering addict? How do you start fresh? And how do you cope without giving into temptation? What works for some might not work for others, but in general, there are steps you can take to help you prepare for the season and keep yourself occupied and sober.

Addiction isn’t a self-contained affliction—it affects everyone close to that person. To family and friends, it causes mental anguish and financial stress. It can pose a risk to their safety. And it can damage relationships beyond repair, causing long-term intimacy and trust issues. 

Celebrating Summer…Sober.

Memorial Day and the Fourth of July are important days in the American calendar. But somehow as time has went by, it seems like the focus of these days has shifted from celebrating our country's independence, to just plain celebrating. 

Summer never fails to remind us of our country’s obsession with alcohol. You can’t escape the beer ads that run nonstop in the weeks leading up to Memorial Day and the Fourth. You can’t escape the office parties and obligatory family BBQs filled with coolers of booze. And you can’t escape the fact that in our culture, people drink—even when you can’t join them.

You can, however, enjoy your summer sober. You might get frustrated. And you might be tempted to slip back into old habits. But regardless of what you might be thinking, you can do it.

Boating is fun. 

The wind in your hair. The sound of the waves crashing against your boat. Your friends. An unobstructed view of the sunrise and sunset. 

But for whatever reason, in our culture, boating and alcohol seem to go hand-in-hand. And for recovering alcoholics, the temptation to grab a drink as soon as you step on that boat can be all too powerful to resist. Luckily, Operation Dry Water is calling attention to this problem, and helping to spread the truth about boating under the influence. 

You love your teenager, and you always have their best interests in mind. Lately, you’ve noticed your teen has been acting differently. They’ve been missing curfews, hanging out with a different friend group, and are being very vague about their plans. As a parent, you know that your job is to protect them, so you notice these little changes in behavior. You’re beginning to suspect that your teen could be drinking, but you aren’t sure. So what can you do?

Nowadays, it seems like it’s everywhere you look… in the news headlines, in the middle of today’s popular music, on tv, and in box-office topping movies. We’re talking about marijuana, and, for parents, it’s tough to escape the drug’s social influence on today’s teen culture. So, what’s a parent to do when popular sports stars and former Disney Channel teen-celebs appear online and on-air unabashedly promoting the use of pot? Where should a parent turn when everywhere you look in malls, on hats and on t-shirts, the marijuana leaf seems to keep popping up?

Have questions about treatment? Want answers on addiction?