![the notion of self in the journey back from addiction the notion of self in the journey back from addiction](https://i0.wp.com/40.media.tumblr.com/6b6c345cf7bc5ae71831461ff32a2ec5/tumblr_inline_o0cc07L69d1s8mxtj_500.png)
Refusing to engage in unhealthy behaviors and continuing to address your emotions, and honoring the healing process. Love means caring for your mind as though you were the best teacher you ever had and taking good advice on honesty, reliability, integrity, and setting limits and boundaries. Love means caring for your body as though you were a small child dependent on good care, healthy food, exercise, baths, outdoor activities, playtime, rest. Love means you’re willing to change, and then you DO. Love does feel good, but it’s the result of an action, not the other way around. Many people think they understand love, but they confuse love with a feeling. The second step is to replace addiction with love - love for yourself and others’ love. This is the glitch that gets people into trouble - thinking that they’ve “done the work,” but they don’t actually feel better. Healing the past won’t fill the emptiness, and in some cases, will only make you feel lonelier and more miserable. You will never be cured of the urge to use something or someone unless you decide to choose love over fear.Įven though the first step of self-love is facing the pain and working through it, that’s not enough.
![the notion of self in the journey back from addiction the notion of self in the journey back from addiction](https://origin.healthyplace.com/sites/default/files/images/stories/insight/quotes/quote-on-addicton-30-healthyplace.jpg)
Therapeutic release of anger and sorrow means you heal without wounding others. Pain doesn’t kill you unless you refuse to welcome it to the surface and allow it to be released. If you don’t face the pain, you will keep on using in one form or another.Īre you willing to face the wound so that it can heal? Or, are you running away from it while it follows you every minute of the day like a nuclear reactor set to go off without notice? You weren’t born with that void, so you have to go on a personal expedition to discover the causes and ongoing conditions that caused the hole and then grieve the unresolved pain. Next, you recognize there’s only one way out of the hole. But once you see the game, you have all the control. It’s sly it morphs around and constantly disguises itself. Will you respond, or will you allow that invisible hole to continue to consume every good part of you and your life?įirst, you must realize there’s only one addiction. That angst is a wake-up call - the pain is trying to save your life. If not, your suffering will be unbearable. If you’re lucky, you’ll see what’s happening and surrender once and for all.
![the notion of self in the journey back from addiction the notion of self in the journey back from addiction](https://addictionfreedomnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AddictionFreedom_Alcohol-Addiction_Sobriety-Support.jpg)
Eventually, the hole engulfs the user rather than the other way around. The more is never satisfied, and the hole gets bigger. Feed me, love me, fix me, followed by more, more, more. It’s not a thing it’s hidden by an invisible antenna that is always on the hunt for anything that will cover up that empty, lonely, turbulent void. Besides, what’s the point in staying sober if misery is the only thing to look forward to?Īddiction is a bottomless pit. The highs and lows activated by these addictions eventually become unbearable and demand soothing. But when we are continuing to be addicted and don’t know it, the likelihood of staying chemically sober while engaging in these other addictions is highly unlikely. Many of us, myself included, took decades to recover fully because we didn’t have the conscious awareness of our ever-seeking addiction.Ī typical pattern looks like this: stop drinking and drugging, stop binging and purging, stop smoking, spending, gambling, constant work, stop love and sex addiction, stop anything that has negative consequences. Rigorous honesty can prevent a great deal of pain and suffering in the long run. The emphasis is on being conscious of our behaviors. I’m not suggesting that everything is tackled all at once. I realize that the notion of facing and stopping all forms of addiction sends many people into an emotional tailspin. Instead, these things are either enjoyed to nourish the body, mind, and soul properly or, if unhealthy, altogether eliminated. As for the other addictions, they are no longer used as a quick fix. All drugs and actions that involve putting toxins in your body are entirely eliminated. To recoil from all addictive behaviors and the poison that they are. I’m talking about a different kind of medicine - one that means you lose all desire to use anything ever again. I’m not talking about a cure in the traditional sense that you take medication and then you forever are asymptomatic. It prevents a person from discovering the true path to freedom - a cure. Switching from one addiction to the next serves only one purpose. Any old habit will do co-dependency, drugs, electronics, food, gambling, nicotine, pills, pot, romance, sex, shopping, work - the list goes on ad-infinitum. Addiction is a bottomless pit that always seeks fulfillment - forever searching without an end. But stopping a single behavior does not usually end the disease of addiction. People who have decided to face their addiction have made a courageous attempt to reclaim their lives and cease self-destructive behavior.