Healing from addiction doesn’t mean hating who you used to be.
You can learn from past mistakes and love the old you and the new you along the way. Self-love is incredibly important because when you don’t love yourself, it’s hard to believe anyone else can love you and you might end up self-sabotaging relationships — be they friends, family, or romantic.
Loving yourself while you are recovering from addiction can help improve your mental health and stability.
So, what is self-love, why is it so necessary, and how do you practice it?
What Is Self-Love?
Self-love is many things. It is a practice that provides your life with meaning and depth. It allows you to construct your morals and values. It is a state of self-appreciation that’s cultivated through your thoughts. It helps you guide yourself physically, psychologically, and spiritually. It is self-compassion, being comfortable in your skin, self-preservation, and self-satisfaction that bring you happiness, resilience, and ways to engage in healthy, non-self-destructive behaviors.
Why Is Self-Love Necessary?
Self-love has many benefits; the primary benefit is greater life satisfaction. Once you love yourself more you change your perspective of your value. Loving yourself gives you a more positive outlook on life and relationships.
Another advantage of self-love is that it encourages you to develop good habits. Self-love means loving your inner self — your mind, heart, and spirit, as well as your body — physical fitness, beauty, and internal health.
When you love every aspect of yourself, you habitually take care of yourself well and don’t allow negativity to affect you. Likewise, when you love yourself well, you often refrain from doing things that will negatively affect your contentment. Loving yourself is necessary because it improves your overall quality of life.
If you’re recovering from addiction, loving yourself means you can come to terms with your mistakes, learn from them, and move on. Then, self-love will direct you toward better choices. Friends, the way you spend your time, and the things you allow into your body will be healthier for you and bring you greater satisfaction.
Ways to Love Yourself
- Learn from your mistakes: To avoid making the same mistakes you’ve made in the past, you have to learn from them, heal, and move on. You are your biggest motivator, supporter, and follower. Love yourself and move forward with your life. You now know the things that lead to making mistakes and how the consequences affect you, so you can avoid them in the future.
- Have self-compassion: Self-love often involves self-compassion. Self-compassion involves having an understanding of yourself and practicing kindness, care, and empathy toward yourself. Compassion toward others means you care for them and help them when they’re in need, and it is no different when turned inward. You should be kind and gentle to yourself and allow yourself to be patient when you’re learning from your mistakes. Self-compassion is usually developed by embracing your humanity and listening to your inner voice. Being kind to yourself promotes a peaceful mind.
- Set boundaries: People who lack self-love often engage in unhealthy relationships. How you treat yourself dictates how you let others treat you. Setting boundaries is an important tool when practicing self-love. Learn to form boundaries with regards to what you will and won’t allow someone to do to you and what you will and won’t agree to help someone else with, all of which are an integral part of practicing self-love.
- Have self-esteem: Healthy self-esteem affects overall health and wellness. Studies report strong links between low self-esteem and addiction. When you hold yourself in high regard, you know what your value is and won’t cheapen yourself with bad relationships or by putting toxic substances into your body. With high self-esteem, you’re less likely to feel depressed, anxious, lonely, or incapable of achieving new goals.
- Make yourself a priority: Self-love involves upholding self-care. Self-care is any activity that you engage in that enhances your mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health. When beginning to practice self-care, it’s best to start with the fundamentals. Do a body scan to see if you need food or water, a shower, to use the bathroom, or are too hot or cold. It’s helpful to schedule time into your daily routine for self-care. You might bake yourself a dessert, take a bath with a bath bomb or salts, treat yourself to a spa day or an outing, or spend time doing something you love like reading or stargazing. Stay in the moment by really feeling what you are doing, why you are doing it, how it feels, and what the outcomes are. Many people have responsibilities to other people than themselves. Whether you have children, a job, an elderly relative to care for, a club or class to run, or other obligations, remember that you can’t pour out of an empty cup. You must take care of yourself before you can adequately care for another.
Self-Love Means Accepting Our Weaknesses … & Embracing Our Strengths
Meaningful actions support your intentions, which can increase your self-esteem and love for yourself. Loving yourself improves and boosts your confidence as well as self-esteem. When you are recovering from addiction, having self-love and self-care is crucial. This is true if you’re recovering at a drug rehab or addiction center, or even on your own. It will help you to learn from your mistakes and begin to move on and heal.
Sober living can play an important role here. Recovering in the company of others who understand exactly what you’re going through gives you perspective on your own issues. Plus, there’s no better place to heal from addiction than the drug-free environs of a sober home.
Finding a sober home can be a challenge, however. SoberLivingNearYou.com seeks to make that challenge a little easier by giving you thousands of sober home listings to choose from. You’ll find a sober home listing for every need and budget.
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