You are in a place of growth and change. When you struggled with addiction, you experienced what you did not want your life to look like. Now that you are in recovery, you can reflect on the life you have dreamt about. You have figured out how to navigate this world in recovery and have conquered some of the hardest parts of your life.
Perhaps you think about the reasons that you should love yourself, or maybe you get caught up in the bad choices that you made and refuse to give yourself grace. You are here at this time to gain hope. By exploring ways to learn to love and appreciate yourself, you get to live a more fulfilling life. Perhaps you want to be more confident. Whatever your reasons for arriving at this article, you have shown up, and that is enough.
Loving yourself is a journey of self-awareness and exploring your innermost vulnerability. You may have resentment based on your past. Perhaps you struggle with finding self-worth. Maybe you base your self-love on the past version of yourself. No matter where you are in your journey, you can learn to love yourself in recovery.
Learn to Love Yourself in Recovery
This is a simple question, yet so involved. Learning to love yourself takes time and patience. You learn to rebuild yourself in the manner that works for you. This is not an easy process, nor is it quick.
Learning to love yourself in recovery is about processing the feelings and experiences that you do not talk about. It is about reaching inside yourself to explore the parts of you that you keep hidden. Loving yourself requires growth and change. Growth can be a sticky process that takes a lot of self-reflection, exploration, and patience.
Experience With Loving Yourself
At times, you can look at yourself and not recognize the person you have become. Sure, you are sober; however, you may have gotten caught up in avoiding and isolating yourself from who you used to be. Now you have a hard time recognizing who you are.
It is hard to look in the mirror and love the person looking back at you. However, it is essential to step out of your comfort zone to push through barriers. This will increase your confidence and ability to love yourself.
Adventure therapy provides guided natural experiences that give you the opportunity to connect with yourself and can increase your feelings of self-worth. When you engage in an activity and complete it successfully, a feeling of accomplishment and self-love begins to emerge.
Choose Kindness
You have probably heard it before: be kind and choose kindness. These words seem to be everywhere. This sort of kindness is about being kind to yourself. You have probably heard the saying, “Treat others as you want to be treated,” so what about treating yourself how you treat your best friend? Choose to embrace kindness, and remind yourself that you are deserving of love.
Forgive Yourself in Recovery
To love yourself, you must learn to forgive yourself. As mentioned above, recovery is a time of exploration and growth. Holding onto negative feelings about yourself can increase stress, resentment, and anger and can cause negative feelings about yourself to take root and grow.
You acknowledge spaces within your life where you struggle to forgive yourself. Maybe, you are aware of the consequences of your addiction and will explore your feelings associated with an event that you struggle to forgive. Consider that every human has made a bad choice, and you are no exception.
It can be hard to forgive yourself if you have not tried to make amends. You cannot change the past; however, you can ask for forgiveness. Understanding that your thoughts were in a different place then than they are now can make a difference in self-acceptance. Each day you are growing; therefore, you are not the same person you were then.
Use Yoga to Love Yourself
One of the most beneficial ways to love yourself is to connect to your true self. Yoga is a tremendous way to reconnect and build self-love. Yoga allows you to be completely present within your body, which provides space to be still and care for yourself.
Cultivating self-love reminds you to take moments to celebrate yourself and your accomplishments. In yoga, you are aware of the movements of your body. You feel a sense of connection due with yourself and can practice self-love through poses that increase the body connection.
Stop Talking Negatively About Yourself
Allowing love to flow for yourself means that you cannot be the avenue of negative self-talk. Self-love gives you the power to acknowledge all the positive things you have done. You can spend time reframing negative thoughts into thoughts of love.
Journaling can be a tool to eliminate negative self-talk. For example, you may journal your negative feelings and challenge yourself to flip the negative into the positive.
Celebrate Yourself in Recovery
Pat yourself on the back. You deserve a celebration. The growth through self-exploration is worth honoring. Whether you get a special coffee, a new book, or a massage, you must permit yourself to acknowledge your growth.
Looking at the person in the person in the mirror and knowing that they deserve love can be a tough concept to wrap your head around. You have spent much time forgiving others. Now it’s your turn to practice self-love and recognize the tools you have already gathered. You may struggle with loving yourself while finding it easy to love others. Sometimes you think that you are not worthy of love. At The Guest House, we value where you are in your recovery journey. We understand that the path of self-discovery is not easy, and we honor your space. We will meet you in this moment with unconditional positive regard. Give us a call at (855) 483-7800.