Everyone is telling you to be courageous, have strength, and be proud of the fact that you’re going to treatment. You’re learning about the shame and stigma that surround addiction and alcoholism mostly from yourself. All of the people in recovery are the ones who seem positive. You, however, are not quite so sure. You’ve just admitted that you’re a drug addict or that you’re an alcoholic. How does that make you strong, brave, and courageous at all, you wonder? Right now, you’re feeling weak, broken, ashamed, guilty, remorseful, afraid, weak, vulnerable, and many other feelings. You don’t feel strong or courageous or brave. You want to believe what everyone else is saying but you can’t.
Addiction doesn’t feel good. Losing control of your ability to manage your drinking and using doesn’t feel good. You might lose your job, your relationships, your money, and other material things. More importantly, you might lose your dignity, your self-respect, and your self-esteem. There is a reason people call hitting bottom the “lowest” point in their life. You feel lowly about yourself, your addiction, and having to go to treatment.
Here’s the thing. You don’t have to go to treatment. You absolutely should, especially if you want to recover and live a long, happy, and healthy life. Millions of addicts and alcoholics who are suffering around the world actively choose not to go to treatment. They want to continue drinking and using and hurting themselves through substance abuse. When you make the decision to go to treatment, you are proactively choosing something positive for your life that other people are not choosing. You are fighting against every chemical urge in your body to drink and use- that takes strength. You are admitting that you have a problem which you cannot solve on your own- that takes courage. Lastly, you are dedicating yourself to getting better and do something differently than you’ve been doing until now- that takes bravery.
Your self-esteem in recovery starts to build the minute you ask for help. Every day you learn to accept yourself and love yourself a little more than the previous day. Through esteemable acts and choices that boost your self-esteem, you learn to embrace who you are, your past, your present, and your future.
Design For Change offers transformational treatment programs to men and women who are seeking refuge from addiction. Our twelve step based treatment programs offers the best in clinical treatment and guidance for changing one step a t atime. For information on our programs and recovery services, call us today: (877) 267-3646
