The Emotional Purpose of Our Drugs of Choice
As recovering addicts, an important part of our recovery involves examining our relationships to our drugs of choice. As we’re learning more about ourselves and our addictions, we want to examine why we’ve been using our drugs of choice in the ways that we have, what purposes they’re serving, what voids they’re filling, and what emotions they provide that we’re missing in our lives. For many of us, our drugs of choice give us something to look forward to, a source of excitement in our otherwise dreary lives. They can give us a lift in our spirits at the end of a hard day, or shift our mood when we’re feeling down. They can ease our anxiety when we’re trying to go to sleep, or numb the pain of waking up in the morning when we’re depressed. The more we use our drug of choice and become dependent upon it, the more it becomes that bright, happy, easy thing we have to look forward to in our lives. The work we do to recover includes finding new and healthier ways of coping with our feelings and finding joy in our everyday lives, in order to replace our drugs of choice. How can we find new things to look forward to?
Who Am I?
We can ask ourselves some key questions to connect with ourselves and get to know ourselves better. What did you enjoy doing before your addiction set in and took over your life and everything in it, your identity, your sense of self-worth, your professional and personal lives, your family and career? How else can you self-identify beyond being an addict? What gives you feelings of worthiness, satisfaction and fulfillment in your life? What are your career aspirations? What are your interests, passions and creative pursuits? What lights you up and makes you feel alive? What relationships bring you happiness and peace? What things about life make you feel excited? What do you have to look forward to? Who are you, and what do you want out of life?
Augmenting Our Recovery
Asking ourselves these questions can help us brainstorm ideas of new things we can implement in our lives to feel enthusiastic, excited and optimistic about. Recovery is hard work, and we want to bolster it with feelings of happiness, ease, contentment and peace, as much as we can. We want to give ourselves things to look forward to – the huge goals we’re working towards in our recovery, the profound changes we’re making in our lives, the small everyday things that make us smile.
At The Guest House Ocala, our recovery programs include many experiential modalities including traditional therapy, conscious connected breathwork, equine therapy, somatic experiencing, art in healing, grief therapy, mindfulness and other forms of therapy.
Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.
theguesthouseocala.com
3230 Northeast 55th Avenue Silver Springs, FL 34488