We tend to believe that we aren’t that important. Everyone else, with their normal lives, their normal mental health, and their normal not-being-an-addict-or-alcoholic, deserve more than we do. It isn’t just about low self-worth and low self-esteem. It’s that we honestly believe we aren’t worth taking care of ourselves. Which really translates to: we believe we are worth being treated like garbage. In fact, with a growing focus on recycling, reusing, and composting, there’s a chance garbage is getting treated better than we feel we can treat ourselves. It feels as bad as it sounds. It is as bad as it sounds. For those who have spent years of their lives addicted to drug and alcohol, a lack of self-care is important. Many of us thought that we were taking care of ourselves by continuously providing the drugs and alcohol we needed to stave off those pesky symptoms of withdrawal. We thought we were taking care of ourselves by providing our minds a euphoric rush produced by our favorite substances every time we had a feeling crop up we knew we weren’t going to be able to feel if we weren’t drunk or high. Self-care is the way we start to reverse this old programming. Making time for all of the activities, tasks, routines, and indulgences that makes us feel like our own royalty instead of our garbage disposal is important for building a lifestyle which will never necessitate the use of drugs and alcohol again. The simple truth is, when we take care of ourselves we feel better about ourselves. When we feel better about ourselves, we start to believe we are worth feeling better about ourselves. Once we start really believing we are worth treating ourselves right, we are less inclined to treat ourselves poorly. Should we ever go to pick up drugs and alcohol again, we will probably have a shining moment of clarity and realization: I don’t deserve this. I deserve better.
Our forms of self-care can vary. We have the luxury forms of self-care that most people enjoy. Luxuriating, treating ourselves well, indulging our senses or finances- all of these things can be self-care. Self-care can also be tedious and a way to mask the tasks we might otherwise call responsibilities. It’s good self-care to take a shower, cook a meal, and clean up after ourselves. It’s good self-care to fill up our gas tanks, go to work, and see our therapist regularly. Anything we do to take care of ourselves and our new lives in recovery is a form of self-care. We take care of ourselves one day at a time, just like everything else we learn how to do.
Lakehouse Recovery Center aims to show clients how to learn to take care of themselves and take care in their lives by learning how to have fun in recovery without drugs and alcohol. Our clinical program and holistic healing is supplemented by recovery and non-recovery activities for a well rounded, unforgettable treatment experience. For information, call us today at 877.762.3707.