“Slow down and learn to take life one day at a time”. – Nick Sullivan

What does that mean?

We live in a very fast-paced society. We want things done quick, fast, and in a hurry.

We are constantly thinking about the future, everything we need to do, and everything we wish we could have done. 

What if this wasn’t the right way to live our lives? 

We need to stop getting so caught up in what tomorrow will bring and the regrets of yesterday so we can focus on what is great today. 

Worrying about the future leads to anxiety and worrying about the past leads to depression. 

Anxiety is caused by constantly thinking about everything that could happen or go wrong in the future. If we focus on today, and take life one day at a time then it allows us to enjoy what we have and focus on what we are doing today. 

Depression is often caused by looking back and thinking about the opportunities we have missed and mistakes we have made. If we focus on today then we can make the most of the opportunities we have today and focus making the best possible decisions presented to us each day. 

We should take time each day to be thankful for what we have. Each day is a gift and should be treated and appreciated as such. 

If you or someone you know needs help receiving substance abuse treatment, please call (270) 900-0373 any time, any day, 24/7 for a screening with one of our employees. 

“Use ‘Micro-Milestones’ to help motivate you to achieve your goals by setting up mini-goals to complete along the way”. – Nick Sullivan

What does that mean?

Author and speaker, Jon Acuff, uses “micro-Milestones to help him achieve his goals. He sets up milestones that he can check off that motivate him to keep working towards his main goals. 

What could this look like for me? 

• If your goal is to be 1 year sober, set up micro-milestones at 1, 3, 6, and 9 months. 
• If your goal is to read 20 books in a year, set up micro-milestones at 1, 5, 10, and 15 books.
• If your goal is to lose 50 pounds, set up micro-milestones at 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 pounds. 
• If your goal is to get 1,000 followers, set up micro-milestones at 100, 250, 500, and 750. 

Celebrate the successful completion of your smaller goals, so you will be more motivated to complete your main goal.

Sometimes setting a huge, daunting goal can be difficult. Breaking it into smaller, more digestible chunks will make it easier to accomplish. 

Perfectionism will tell you that you have to complete a goal 100% perfect all at once, but progress allows you to complete a goal one piece, one day at a time. 

If you or someone you know needs help receiving substance abuse treatment, please call (270) 900-0373 any time, any day, 24/7 for a screening with one of our employees. 

“Don’t get so comfortable trying to “just survive” that you miss your opportunity to thrive!” – Nick Sullivan

What does that mean?

Comfortability is a dream killer, a progress killer, and a calling killer. 

When we get comfortable, we get lazy. We say things like “this is as good as it gets”, “this is all I deserve”, and “this is good enough”. All of these phrases point to someone who has given up because the life they are living is easy and comfortable.

Stepping out of our comfort zones, taking risks, and leaps of faith are scary, difficult, and may never pan out; however, if we sit in comfortability then we will never get from where we are to where we could be – where we want to be.  

It’s easy to step out into shallow water, but what if you are called to go deeper?

I am not saying the things, jobs, and opportunities are necessarily bad. Sometimes what we have is good, but what if it could be better? It’s kinda like choosing between a regular cheeseburger and a bacon double cheeseburger. 

We are quick to discount our own worth and say things couldn’t possibly get better all while we sit by and do nothing to get better. 

If you never step out of your comfort zone and into the unknown you may miss out on blessings and bigger things than you ever imagined possible. 

If you or someone you know needs help receiving substance abuse treatment, please call (270) 900-0373 any time, any day, 24/7 for a screening with one of our employees. 

“Chasing perfection often kills progress”. – Craig Groeschel

What does that mean?

Perfection is an ugly monster that likes to show its colors whenever we set goals for ourselves. Perfection says that we have to get everything 100% right, 100% of the time; however, that is just not realistic. 

Life happens, accidents happen, ailments happen, financial burdens happen, and more. All of these things may cause us to lose our “perfect” track record when pursuing our goals and dreams. 

Perfect says that if you mess up once, you might as well throw in the towel and quit. If you can’t be perfect, there’s no point in trying. 

Perfect is a liar. 

Don’t buy into the lie that you have to be perfect in order to be successful. 

Perfection tells you that you aren’t allowed to screw up, but progress tells you that you can try to do better tomorrow. 

Progress means doing better and intentionally moving yourself in the direction of your goals, regardless of how many times you have messed up. 

If you set a goal to go the gym 5 days a week, perfection won’t let you miss a day without giving up entirely; progress says you can keep going even after missing a day or two. 

If you set a goal to stop drinking, perfection says you have to quit cold turkey and never touch it again; progress is drinking less alcohol today than you did yesterday. 

If you set a goal to make it to church more often, perfection says you have to go every week and if you miss one Sunday you might as well not go next Sunday; progress says going twice in a month is better than once last month. 

Stop getting so caught up in trying to be perfect that you kill your chances of achieving your goals. 

If you or someone you know needs help receiving substance abuse treatment, please call (270) 900-0373 any time, any day, 24/7 for a screening with one of our employees. 

“Don’t discount the value of you!” – Nicholas Sullivan

What does that mean?

We often times struggle with seeing our own value. It is a lot easier to look at someone else and help them than it is to look in the mirror and help ourselves.

We forget that we are all different, not better or worse than others, just different. 

You are the only you out there, and you have far more value than you give yourself credit for. 

Stop focusing on your deficiencies and start focusing on what makes you unique. 

When there is no “I” in team, every person brings something of value to the table.

Everyone has individual gifts, talents, and abilities that were given to them with a purpose to fulfill their purpose. 

In 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, Paul discusses how important each person is, regardless of their differences or perceived worth. Crazy enough, verse 22 goes even further, “In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary”. 

No matter how unimportant you may (incorrectly) think that you are, you have purpose, and you have value. 

If you or someone you know needs help receiving substance abuse treatment, please call (270) 900-0373 any time, any day, 24/7 for a screening with one of our employees. 

“Set yourself up for success: load the bases at night so you can hit a grand slam in the morning”. – Nicholas Sullivan

What does that mean?

Mornings are tough for a lot of people, but when every day is a chance to be better and move better than the day before, we need to set ourselves up to be as successful as possible. 

In baseball, when you have a teammate on each of the three bases you have the chance to hit a home run and score 4 runs instead of just one, often pushing a team ahead big time and setting them up to win!

We should treat our lives in a similar way if we can. One way to do that would be to make sure you have as much done the night before so your morning will be easier and much less stressful. 

Make your lunch at night before work, take a shower at night instead of in the morning, sit your clothes out at night so you aren’t wasting time deciding what to wear in the morning, and any other activities that you can think of to help you save time and stress in the morning. 

Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be done today!

Getting stuff done the night before frees you up for all sorts of things in the morning:

• Time to go to the gym.
• Prayer time.
• More sleep.
• Less to worry about as you get the kids ready for school.
• The ability to eat breakfast.
• And more!

Take some time today to make a list of things you can do at night to help save you time, effort, and stress every single morning. 

If you or someone you know needs help receiving substance abuse treatment, please call (270) 900-0373 any time, any day, 24/7 for a screening with one of our employees. 

“Don’t miss your potential because you can’t escape your past”. – Nicholas Sullivan

What does that mean?

Sometimes we get so comfortable in where we are, who we are with, and what we do that we can easily miss out on being the best version of ourselves. 

If we keep spending time with the same people, if we keep working the same jobs, if we keep eating the same things, if we keep dating the same type of people, if we keep telling ourselves “this is just how it is”, “this is what I deserve”, or “this is how it’s always going to be”, then we are severely limiting ourselves. 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. 

If it didn’t help you in the past, why continue to entertain it? 

If you want different, you have to move different.

If you want to change who you are, you have to do away with who you were. 

Complacency and comfortability are dangerous; we can become so use to being treated horribly, accepting abuse, falling back into bad habits over and over, and hanging around bad influences that we end up believing that is all we are worth.

You have the ability to make new, better decisions starting today. Pick better friends, hang out at different places, and break off relationships that chain you to your past. 

It is time to start working on achieving your God-given potential.

If you or someone you know needs help receiving substance abuse treatment, please call (270) 900-0373 any time, any day, 24/7 for a screening with one of our employees. 

“Think it through and weight your reaction; how heavy are the consequences?” – Nicholas Sullivan

What does that mean?

We live in a highly reactive culture; people do not often think anything through or consider the consequences. 

We as human beings are prone to emotional outbursts, and we very rarely stop to think before we say something, do something, or post something. 

The words we speak and the actions we take have heavier consequences than we often realize. 

When we make descions or say something while emotional (happy, sad, angry, scared, etc.), we run the risk of experiencing a regrettable reaction.

We have all made impulse purchases that we have regretted.

We have all said something to someone and regretted it afterwards.

We have all taken part in a risky behavior that had regrettable consequences.

Before you make a decision, before you post that comment, before you make that purchase, before you yell at someone, before you do anything – stop and think it through first. 

The world would be a better place if we slowed down a little, better utilized empathy, and made kinder, more rational decisions.

If you or someone you know needs help receiving substance abuse treatment, please call (270) 900-0373 any time, any day, 24/7 for a screening with one of our employees. 

“If you want the fruit, you must invest in the root. Don’t focus on the outcome, focus on the process that leads to great outcomes”. – Jon Gordon

What does that mean?

We often times get so stuck up on the outcomes we want to see that we forget what it takes to get there.

We are blinded by the comparison of our journey to that of those around us; we think we should be able to go from where we are (point A) to our desired outcome (Point B) overnight. 

Successful outcomes take hard work, patience, dedication, commitment, and devotion.

The root of success is a collection of habits, processes, discipline, and mindsets that lead to success eventually, not instantly.

To see the fruits of success, you have to willing to put in the necessary work and commit to watering the root of who you are, how you behave, and what you believe. 

You get out what you put in – good trees produce good fruit, bad trees produce bad fruit (Matthew 7:18).

If you want to get better, do better, and feel better, you have to be willing to get to the root of the problem and put in the work necessary to achieve your desired outcomes.

If you or someone you know needs help receiving substance abuse treatment, please call (270) 900-0373 any time, any day, 24/7 for a screening with one of our employees. 

“Fail in Faith: Failure is the tuition you pay to attend the school of success”. -Craig Groeschel

What does that mean?

We often times shy away from failure; we stick a very negative connotation on it and avoid it at all cost. Failure plays a much more important role in our growth than we realize. Without failure, we wouldn’t have lightbulbs, planes, computers, iPhones, or potato chips. Failure can be taken one of two ways: 

1. A reason to give up.
2. A reason to keep trying. 

Failure is an important piece of every success story on Earth. You can choose to give up, or you can use each failure as a lesson that paves the way for future success. 

We need to learn to fail in the faith that one day we will see the success we have been working so hard towards.

Pay your way with failure until you graduate with a degree in success. 

Keep trying, don’t give up, and be encouraged. You may have found 1,000 ways that didn’t work, but that 1001st way may get you exactly where you’ve been trying to get to. 

If you or someone you know needs help receiving substance abuse treatment, please call (270) 900-0373 any time, any day, 24/7 for a screening with one of our employees.