Seeking Redemption
As we’re working to recover, we can struggle to know how hard to work, how hard to push ourselves, when to ease up on ourselves and give ourselves a break. We’ve been feeling so down on ourselves about our struggles with addiction that we want to push ourselves to do as well as we possibly can. We’ve been beating ourselves up, judging ourselves, and drowning ourselves in feelings of shame and self-deprecation. We can feel desperate to achieve redemption. We want to feel as though we’ve made up for everything we’ve done, as though we’ve righted our wrongs, made amends to the people we’ve hurt and ensured that our suffering was not in vain. Sometimes as we’re seeking redemption and forgiveness, we forget to forgive ourselves. We forget to be compassionate and understanding with ourselves. We forget to be patient with ourselves and our recovery. While we want to motivate ourselves and push ourselves to keep striving forward, and while it’s healthy to hold ourselves to high standards, sometimes we hold ourselves to impossibly high expectations and push ourselves too hard. Our rigidity and self-imposed stress can ultimately hold us back in our recovery because we’re not providing ourselves with the safe space we need in order to heal.
Patterns of Self-Condemnation
When we push ourselves too hard, when we’re unforgiving, inflexible and impatient with ourselves, we’re not giving ourselves room to change and grow. We’re stifling our learning process and limiting the evolution of our growth. We’re being too self-punishing, not allowing space for the expansion that comes with self-reflection and self-nurturing. We might speak to ourselves in self-deprecating, cruel terms when we make a mistake. We might tell ourselves we’re not good enough. We might disparage ourselves, and convince ourselves we deserve to suffer. We reprimand ourselves harshly, denying ourselves love and compassion, telling ourselves we’re worthless. We think we’re pushing ourselves to be better and do better, but really we’re beating ourselves down. There is only so much of our self-condemnation we can take without cracking under the weight of it all.
Cultivating Loving Self-Acceptance
We want to get to the point where we’re encouraging and motivating ourselves without putting so much unfair pressure on ourselves. We want to be kind to ourselves when we mess up. We want to uplift ourselves and give ourselves positive reinforcement when we have a setback, rather than inflicting harsh judgment on ourselves. We want to learn, grow, and propel ourselves forward. We want to have loving acceptance for all our parts, even the messy, wounded, imperfect ones, rather than inundating ourselves with feelings of self-rejection that hold us back and make it harder for us to heal.
The caring, compassionate staff of The Guest House is here to support you as you start your journey to recovery and healing.
Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.
theguesthouseocala.com
3230 Northeast 55th Avenue Silver Springs, FL 34488