The loss of self-identity can make people question themselves. Significant upsets or changes in a person’s life can turn everything upside down. When left without a sense of safety, support, or the familiar, it is possible to have a personality crisis.
What Is a Personality?
Your behaviors, ideals, and sense of self define who you are. Shifts in your life can throw you for a loop. Maybe while you’re coping with unexpected or life-defining upheavals, you wonder who you are. Wondering who you are is normal, especially if disruptions or unexpected challenges shift your priorities.
Who Am I?
How you define yourself may not be how someone else defines themself. Your experiences, reactions, and environment shape you. What you find funny, cry over, or hold dear are all a part of you.
Sometimes you can get lost in the ebb and flow of life. Perhaps seeing a friend do well or achieve a goal makes you re-evaluate your life. Stepping back and rethinking your goals and place in life can lead you to a realization. Maybe the actuality is that you strayed from your core values or that your current life doesn’t fit you anymore. Assess your present so you can set goals.
How Do I Define Myself?
Defining yourself by outside influences can tilt your perspective. For example, if you tell people you struggle with addiction, you may label yourself as one thing. Instead, try sharing with others that you have a substance use disorder(SUD), but your SUD isn’t what defines you. You are a unique person who deserves to be known as a person, not a disease.
You also form your definition of yourself based on what you believe is right or wrong. Your core values are guides for your decisions. For example, being a decent, compassionate, and kind human being is who you are.
Does Addiction Define My Life?
Consider the effects of addiction on you and your loved ones. The hurt and damage done to those relationships are repairable if you’re willing to make amends. While in addiction treatment, explore how your personality changed while drinking or using. Understanding your behaviors and triggers can help you replace unhealthy habits with healthy habits.
Learning how to change your behaviors means addiction doesn’t define you. Use what you discussed in individual and group therapy sessions to build a solid foundation to become a healthier person. Incorporate holistic therapies like yoga, conscious breathwork, or music to guide you when stressed. Let go of who you were.
Addiction treatment is a part of your life story. While it does play a vital role in your goal to live a healthy, sober life, it isn’t what defines you. Instead, addiction treatment allows you to stop, assess, and revise your definition of yourself. You aren’t a chronic illness, and it isn’t what determines your self-identity. The Guest House, located near Ocala, Florida, knows you’re more than a diagnosis. Our comprehensive therapies help you discover and express yourself. To learn more about how we can help you, call (855) 483-7800.