Sometimes we look back at our life stories, and in particular our experiences with addiction, and feel nothing but shame, disappointment and regret. We feel bitter and resentful that we had to experience so much pain. We hate ourselves, our lives and our stories. We’re angry with ourselves and our addictions. We’re angry with the world. We feel unable to forgive the people who contributed to our pain over the years, the people who introduced us to our drug of choice, the people who traumatized us leaving us to seek solace in addiction. Even more importantly, we feel unable to forgive ourselves. We aren’t able to find peace within ourselves or come to terms with our experiences. When we feel so ashamed of our stories and so sad about them, the last thing we want to do is share them with other people. We have a hard-enough time just thinking about them, let alone having to withstand the judgment, condemnation and rejection we fear we’ll receive from other people. There is great harm in suppressing our stories, though, and in order to heal ourselves, we’ll want to get to the place where we can find the beauty and the lessons in our stories rather than seeing only the pain.
When we suppress our stories and aren’t able to really look at them honestly within ourselves or share them openly with other people, we don’t process our thoughts and emotions in healthy ways, and we tend to use our drugs of choice to cope with them instead. When we don’t process our stories, it’s impossible to make peace with them. We aren’t able to find the deeper meanings behind our pain or understand the reasons why we went through our difficult experiences. Our stories are a crucial part of who we are. They help define us, our identities and our perspectives on life. Our experiences help empower us, strengthen us, and shape our growth. We wouldn’t be who we are without the painful things we’ve lived through. We want to be able to be proud of ourselves for overcoming those odds. We want to be able to see the accomplishment in our survival, rather than just the pain of our past defeat. Everything we’ve gone through has something to teach us, some valuable piece of wisdom or inspiration we can use to empower ourselves moving forward and to help other people. When we suppress our stories, we impede our growth and our ability to heal ourselves. We miss out on opportunities to inspire other people and to find fulfillment and peace knowing we’ve contributed to their success stories.
The Guest House is a welcoming and supportive recovery home where you will be met with open arms, wherever where you are on your journey, without judgment or expectation. Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.