As we’re struggling with addiction and mental illness, everything we do, every choice we make, every pattern we let ourselves perpetuate, is either empowering or disempowering us. When we feel empowered, we feel confident. We know how strong and powerful we are. We have faith in ourselves. We feel grounded and secure in our ability to do what’s best for ourselves. We feel happy with our choices and at peace with ourselves. When we feel disempowered, we feel like our power has been taken away, by another person, by a situation, by a mental illness, or by the force of addiction. We feel powerless, weak and afraid. We feel like victims rather than survivors. We watch as this external force overpowers us and negatively impacts our life, causing us stress, turmoil, confusion and deep unhappiness. What are some of the ways in which we disempower ourselves?
One of the most evident ways in which we give up our power is via our relationships. When struggling with addiction, we’re often involved with people who are themselves grappling with addiction, and oftentimes neither of us is in recovery yet. We enable each other’s toxic patterns and prevent each other from growing, learning, changing and getting the help we need. Every time we stay in a relationship that we know isn’t good for us, where we are unhappy and unfulfilled, where we’re being mistreated or abused, we are disempowering ourselves. We are giving our power away to this other person, and to the idea that a relationship should take precedent over our own well-being. We often are coming from a place of self-hatred and self-rejection, and we don’t believe in ourselves enough to be good to ourselves or prioritize ourselves.
Another way we disempower ourselves is in how we relate to our addictions and our drugs of choice. As strong and as overpowering as they can be, we are actually strong enough to withstand them, we just have developed the limiting belief that we’re not. Every time we tell ourselves we’re not strong enough to do what’s best for ourselves, every time we say things like “well I’m an addict, I can’t help myself,” every time we give into an addictive urge and convince ourselves we had no choice, we’re giving our power away. The ways in which we think and speak about ourselves and our addictions are often extremely disempowering.
As we work to recover, it really helps to see all of the ways that we give our power away or let it be taken from us. As we’re healing, we learn how to reclaim that power for ourselves and start living the lives we envision for ourselves.
Are you ready to take the first step on your journey to recovery? Call The Guest House today! 855-483-7800.