We often hear that addiction is a lifelong illness that we will always have to manage. Some of us feel fully recovered but continue to work diligently to prevent ourselves from relapsing. Others feel completely cured of their addictions. The experience of addiction recovery is unique to each of us. Every addicted person has different genetic traits, lifestyle factors, life experiences, strengths, skills, and challenges. There’s no stock answer for whether each of us will continue to feel like addicts during our recovery. We can, however, change the way we think of ourselves and our addiction, which can be a powerful first step in recovery.
How Do You Envision Yourself and Your Life?
Do you believe recovery is possible, or do you feel destined to fail? Can you envision yourself living free of your addiction, or do you see yourself always battling temptation? Are you convinced that you will always feel like an addict? Our self-perception carries a lot more weight than you might know. Addicted people tend to have very limiting beliefs about ourselves and our capabilities. We tend to view our recovery with pessimism rather than positive expectation. We are accustomed to hopelessness and defeat rather than self-empowerment. By shifting our belief systems, we can shed those limiting beliefs. We aren’t as helpless and powerless over our addictions as we might think. Likewise, we have a certain degree of control over our thoughts. Try making the conscious decision to believe in your ability to heal. Affirm to yourself that you don’t always have to feel vulnerable to your addictions. When we believe we can heal, we start to change our perception of recovery.
Changing Our Beliefs Around Recovery
Our beliefs are the thoughts we practice over and over again until they are ingrained in our conscious minds. On a deeper level, our beliefs become lodged in our subconscious minds. The good news is that our thoughts, and therefore our beliefs, can be changed. We can actually reprogram our subconscious mind with new thought patterns. With time and practice, we begin to default to these new thoughts. Our negative, self-deprecating belief system will begin to dissipate as we stop reinforcing it. The subconscious responds especially well to repetition and the written word. Meditation and visualization are powerful tools for shaping the subconscious, as well. Many of us in recovery write down, read, and repeat positive affirmations aloud. We also meditate on those affirmations and practice visualizing ourselves being fully healed. “I am perfectly healed. I am freeing myself. I am at peace within myself. I am happy, balanced, stable, and centered. Recovery is possible.”
It’s not always easy to see the light at the end of the tunnel, especially when we’ve been living in the dark for so long. Our addictions have defined our lives for too long, but it’s never too late to make a change. Are you ready to take the first step on your journey to recovery? Call The Guest House today! 855-483-7800.