When struggling with addiction, the thought of finding our purpose can feel scary, daunting, overwhelming, impossible even. We don’t feel as though we know who we are. We feel totally disconnected from ourselves, our gifts and strengths, our passions and interests. We often haven’t given thought to discovering our purpose because we’ve been so consumed with our drugs of choice. We’ve been focusing our energy on maintaining the lifestyles necessary to keep our addictions satiated. We’ve been giving our time and energy to the toxic relationships we often find ourselves in. We’ve been trying to survive the turmoil that accompanies our addictive cycles, and all the internal conflict, depression and anxiety we’re experiencing as a result. Rediscovering our purpose is usually, therefore, the last thing on our minds.
As we’re working to recover, our sobriety forces us to ask ourselves some tough questions that we usually didn’t have the clarity, insight or self-awareness to ask ourselves when we were still using. “Who am I? What do I love to do? What do I love about life? What am I good at? What are my skills and talents? What makes me feel fulfilled? What brings me excitement? How can I bring a sense of adventure into my life?” Sobriety creates an open space within us, space we can now fill with the things that make us happy rather than bring us down. We now have extra time on our hands, along with the opportunity to find creative, productive, fun ways of spending our time.
Rediscovering our purpose brings meaning back to our lives, where we often felt unfulfilled, empty, discontent and dissatisfied. Our purpose helps us to feel aligned with our true selves. When we’re in recovery, we can find ourselves feeling vulnerable to the addictive urges that are still calling us back to our drugs of choice. We can feel overcome with temptation. We can feel susceptible to impulsiveness and compulsiveness. Once we’ve rediscovered our purpose, we feel stronger within ourselves, much better able to withstand the many challenges of sobriety. Our purpose gives us another reason to stay sober, something to give us meaning and dedicate ourselves to. We have a newfound sense of commitment to something positive and uplifting. We find productive outlets for creativity and self-expression, along with healthy ways of processing our feelings.
At The Guest House Ocala, our recovery programs include many experiential modalities including traditional therapy, conscious connected breathwork, equine therapy, somatic experiencing, art in healing, grief therapy, mindfulness and other forms of therapy. Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.