Sometimes what holds us back most in our healing journey is our perspective on recovery. Our mindset on recovery and how we view it are full of resistance and fear. We’re angry we have to give up our drugs of choice, the substances and behaviors we’ve grown dependent upon for our feelings of comfort, security and balance. We’re angry that we’re being pushed outside of our comfort zones and being asked to do difficult work we don’t feel ready for. We’re afraid of all of the challenges that come with sobriety, the withdrawal, the feelings of loneliness, emptiness, and panic. We start to see our recovery as a series of insurmountable obstacles and impossible challenges we won’t be able to overcome. We see sobriety as a lifetime of difficulty and struggle. We don’t see ourselves as being able to transcend our limitations or reach our goals. We don’t believe we’re capable of healing ourselves. Our perspective on recovery, therefore, makes it harder for us to summon the courage, inner strength and hope we need to get better.
Shifting our perspective on recovery means changing how we view healing as a whole. When we view the healing process as an unwanted obligation, an impossible challenge and an unwelcome burden, we start to view our recovery with dread, fear and negative anticipation. We give into our fears. We default to assuming that the worst-case scenario, our failure, is inevitable. We decide we won’t be able to get sober. We give up on ourselves and lose hope. We don’t know how to proceed with our recovery or what steps to take. We’re afraid to ask for help. We resist humbling ourselves enough to be able to confide in others and admit we’re struggling. We’re afraid of being judged as weak, powerless and cowardly. We’re afraid of failing, so we give up trying.
Let’s start to view healing and recovery differently. Instead of seeing our recovery journey as being full of only difficulty and struggle, let’s choose to focus on the fact that each step we take is opening us up to more happiness, stability, balance and well-being. As difficult as our healing work can be, it also can be empowering and rejuvenating. We’re shedding layers of fear and pain. We’re finally facing issues we’ve been suppressing and emotions we’ve been blocking for years of our lives. We’re finally creating the energetic space for us to be able to cultivate happiness and inner peace. We’re opening ourselves up to a world of new possibilities. Our perspective on healing can be one of hope and optimism. We can have faith that as we recover, we become happier, our difficulties become easier and more manageable, and our lives become full of excitement and possibility.
Healing is a powerful component of manifestation. Without healing ourselves, we can’t design and create our lives to be what they want them to be. We don’t have to view the recovery journey as being a source of pain. We can see it as a necessary step in our self-development, in our being able to manifest healthy, happy futures for ourselves. As we heal, we’re clearing stagnant energy and removing blocks that have been preventing us from reaching our potential for much of our lives. We’re empowering ourselves to make our dreams come true. We’re being reminded of all the gifts and talents we’ve been hiding, suppressing, neglecting and sacrificing because of our addictions. We’re making time for the things that bring us fulfillment, our passions and interests, the things that are part of our heart-centered purpose and life’s mission.
Recovery isn’t just about sobriety and the difficulties we assume will accompany it. It’s also about all of the wonderful things we will now have access to when we’re sober. We’ll be able to feel clear, whole and balanced within ourselves. We’ll be able to be honest and transparent with ourselves and others. We’re reconnecting with our inner selves, learning more about who we are, and growing stronger in our truth. We’re learning to forgive ourselves and love ourselves unconditionally. We’re giving ourselves the huge gifts of self-acceptance and compassion. We’re making amends to the people we’ve hurt throughout the course of our addictions and repairing broken relationships. We’re finding peace within ourselves and in our lives, sometimes for the first time since our addictions took hold. Recovery is about so much more than the hard work we have to do, and the things we have to sacrifice, the drugs and behaviors we have a hard time giving up. When we’re being pushed and made to feel uncomfortable as we’re healing, we’re stretching ourselves and growing. We’re making transformative changes in our lives and developing ourselves into the truest, highest, most authentic version of ourselves. We’re enabling ourselves to actually be happy, when for years we’ve been blocking our chances of finding fulfillment, peace, stability and contentment.
Recovery is about elevation. It’s about transcendence. It’s about opening ourselves to growth, to finding peace and to learning self-love. When we can shift our perspective on recovery, we give ourselves a much greater chance of success. We stop limiting ourselves and holding ourselves back, and we strengthen ourselves in some very powerful ways.
At The Guest House Ocala, we have personal recovery experience and over 12 years in the recovery industry. We have helped countless people recover, and we’re here to help you too. Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.