When struggling with addiction, we often face so much judgment, both within ourselves and from other people, that it becomes imperative that we find spaces and allies with which we don’t feel judged in order to help us recover. It’s crucial that we feel safe and secure enough to feel comfortable within our own skin so that we can begin to learn how to accept ourselves for who we are and to embrace our challenges rather than condemning them. It can be virtually impossible to heal ourselves when we’re still battling judgment from all sides, from within ourselves, from our families and communities, and from society as a whole.
Addiction is still very stigmatized, and there is an abundance of misinformation, misunderstanding and stereotyping around addiction and mental illness. We internalize the cultural stigmas around addicts and addiction, and we feel bad about ourselves as a result. We come to believe that our illnesses make us bad people. We’re also dealing with our own personal shame around the mistakes we’ve made, the things we’ve done wrong, and all the ways in which we’ve hurt people. We spend years of our lives rejecting ourselves and thinking there is something fundamentally wrong with us.
Over time, once we find relationships and spaces within which we feel safe and comfortable to be ourselves, we learn that having things to heal from doesn’t mean we are inherently bad, shameful, or inadequate. We have painful things within ourselves to resolve, just like anyone else. We have healing work to do within ourselves, just as we all do. We are not any worse than other people because of our struggles with addiction. We need allies who support, embrace and accept us, who make us feel heard, understood, appreciated and validated. We need to surround ourselves with other people also in recovery. We need to learn unconditional self-love and self-acceptance. Finding non-judgmental spaces helps with this immeasurably.
The loneliness and isolation we experience when we’re feeling judged and rejected can contribute to our depression and other mental health issues and can worsen our addictive patterns because we seek solace from our pain in our drugs of choice. When we feel supported without being judged, we’re able to open ourselves up to other people and stop closing ourselves off to the help we need. We’re able to start being more honest with ourselves and accept ourselves for who we are. We’re better able to come to terms with the difficulties of our addictions. Finding spaces and relationships that don’t judge us is an important part of our recovery work.
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.