Our struggles with addiction have a way of overpowering us and taking over our lives, so much so that they dominate the ways in which we self-identify. We come to identify ourselves as addicts and little else. We forget all about the interesting lives we lived before addiction took over our days, routines, lifestyles and relationships. We forget what gifts and passions we gave time to before we started prioritizing our drug of choice over everything else. We forget how our loved ones saw us, all the different relationship dynamics in our lives that defined us as a friend, family member and partner. We see ourselves only as addicts, as people who are suffering, as people who have lost the fight.
Unearthing Our Lost Selves
Part of our recovery work is rediscovering all of the lost and forgotten elements of ourselves. It is reclaiming the person we used to be, and the lives we used to live. We can feel as though this person is gone forever. How can we possibly hope to become that person again when we’ve caused ourselves and others so much pain, when we’ve gone years self-destructing and running away from who we used to be? The self-reclamation process is part of the inner work we can do in recovery, with our therapists and recovery coaches, using journaling and creative self-expression, with meditation and energy healing. Every bit of work we do to find ourselves again will help us reconnect with the truth of who we are. We often assume we can’t reclaim our former lives. We think we’re too far gone to be helped or to save ourselves. We learn in recovery that it’s never too late to rebuild our lives, and that’s what recovery is, a rebuilding and reclaiming of the lives we used to live, along with the sense of self that has gotten buried under layers of addiction.
Recreating Ourselves
Not only are we rebuilding the former identities we had for ourselves, many of us are allowing our recovery to help us redefine ourselves and create entirely new identities. Life is an evolution. We change. No part of us, including our addictions, is set in stone forever. We can adapt, we can grow, we can improve. We can look at what parts of our identities and our lives we want to shed, and which we want to amplify and expand upon. We can make the conscious choice for ourselves to grow into the person we want to become, while giving ourselves love and acceptance the whole way.
Are you ready to take the first step on your journey to recovery?
Call The Guest House today! 855-483-7800.
theguesthouseocala.com
3230 Northeast 55th Avenue Silver Springs, FL 34488