Addiction Recovery: Building Your Self Confidence
I feel comfortable making the blanket statement that anyone in the throes of addiction has little to no self confidence. I know, "jeez, how did you come up with that one...what an epiphany." So what happens when you enter into addiction recovery and still feel zero self confidence?
Are You Still Keeping Secrets In Your Recovery?
"They Say" that a huge part of addiction recovery is un-burdening yourself of all those "secrets" that you keep inside because of the fear of judgment. I guess this goes along with Step 5 of the 12 Steps. You admit to your higher power, yourself, and another human being the exact nature of your wrongs.
The purpose of this step is supposed to be about openly acknowledging the positive while committing to work at rectifying your negatives. I do understand the purpose of it, I guess I'm just NO WHERE near being ready for this type of outward honesty. I'm not saying I'll never be there, just not right now.
It seems that I'm not alone in my unwillingness to admit my secrets to another human beings. I have found some sites recently who's main purpose is to let people anonymously admit their secrets...both good and bad.
Taking Responsibility For Our Choices
Our choices in life, good or bad, are just that... ours. Because of that, we need to take responsibility for our choices. What may seem like a poor choice to one person may make complete sense to another. None of us know exactly how life is going to play out so all we can do is make choices in life that are based on self honesty.
I talked recently about staying honest with myself and how for a long time I had been just going with the flow to avoid hurting anyone close to me. Thankfully I realized that no one can go on like that forever. It was a tough and painful lesson to learn but I'm so fortunate to have learned it.
Downer Junkie Asks:How Am I Supposed to Sleep?
One of my huge problems has always been that when I lay down to try and go to sleep...I think and think and think. Thoughts pop into my head about certain things I should have done, things I'm supposed to do, things I have no business worrying about but can't help it. If you read my story you can see that this seems to be a big part of my drug use.
Instant Gratification Is A Huge Part of Addiction
Our world today is based upon instant gratification. Taking into consideration all of the technology that allows us to get what we want right when we want it, it's really no wonder that we are trying to apply that standard to our emotional state.
Think of all the ways that people use drugs or alcohol pertaining to instant gratification. If you are having a stressful day...pop a pill and feel de-stressed. If you are feeling a little social anxiety or lack of confidence in a situation...have a few drinks and get some liquid courage.
By feeding these types of emotional needs with drugs or alcohol we are in a way giving ourselves a quick fix - instant gratification. We are not working on the actual problems but finding an easy way out of them. But since instant gratification in all other areas of life have now become the norm...how are we supposed to delay our need for instant gratification?
Accountability In Addiction Recovery
Ultimately in order for someone to have success in addiction recovery they need to have a sense of accountability towards themselves. With that said, it's also beneficial to feel accountability towards someone/something outside of yourself.
In very early recovery just being accountable to ourselves doesn't always work out very well. We are usually still plagued with addictive thinking. That is why learning self accountability through being held accountable to sources outside of ourself is so important in addiction recovery.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Valentine's Day is a day made for love.
Take a moment today and think about all of the people in your life that you love.
It doesn't matter if they are here or passed...take a moment and think about them today.
Happy Valentine's Day to all those that I love...including myself.
Loneliness In Addiction Recovery
Think about all of the isolating that we did in active addiction. Is it any wonder that a lot of us experience a sense of loneliness in addiction recovery?
Because in addiction you have distanced yourself from a lot of the positive people in your life and have instead chosen to surround yourself with people who have the same addictive qualities as yourself, once you enter into recovery and have cut ties with the "wrong type of people" you may be left with the feeling of loneliness.
Addiction Recovery:A Bad Person Trying To Become Good Or A Sick Person Trying To Become Well?
There is still a debate out there as to whether or not addiction should be considered a disease or a sort of mental disorder of the weak willed. It seems that these two schools of thought will never find common ground on what truly causes addiction.
I have been on both sides of the fence. At one time, I didn't want to believe that it was a disease. I wanted to think that possibly this was something that I brought on myself from lack of will power or self discipline and that possibly, since this wasn't a disease, I would be able to go back to using "every once in a while".
Now however, after a lot of reading up on the subject, I can accept the fact that addiction is a disease which was with me far before ever drinking my first beer or taking my first pill. Something causes my mind to work in an addictive thinking pattern and it is that addictive thinking pattern which is truly the disease.
It is easy to lose sight of why and how I got into this situation though. It often leaves me pondering that old addiction recovery question: Am I a bad person trying to become good or am I a sick person trying to become well?
A Touch Of The Sniffles, Get Me Some NyQuil
I abused over the counter drugs for many years. I used situations where I was "sick" to sleep days at a time away with the help of OTC drugs like NyQuil. Since I am no longer practicing this destructive behavior the question is now presented to me: I have a cold, what do I do?
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- The First Year Of Recovery: Where I Came From…Where I’m Going
- Relapse:The Warning Signs Were There
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- Reach Out and Touch Someone…Online
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