Our struggles with addiction can cause us to feel totally disheartened, defeated and down on ourselves. We feel self-hating, self-rejecting and insecure. We carry deep shame about our mistakes, shortcoming and wrongdoings. We wonder if we’ll ever be able to regain our confidence and repair our self-esteem. Our self-worth has been so depleted we worry we’ll never love ourselves again. After years of struggling with these very intense emotional issues, many of us eventually go on to find redemption in our sobriety. We find a way to right our wrongs and make peace with ourselves and our pasts. We’re able to make amends to the people we’ve hurt. We’re able to find some comfort in knowing that, although we can’t undo the past, we can be assured that our future will not carry the same painful consequences. We’ve found ways to feel happy and at peace within ourselves. We’re satisfied with where we are in life, and we’re finally feeling fulfilled. Sobriety gives us the sense of redemption that we might never have thought was possible otherwise.
When we finally make the decision to get sober, it is often because we’ve reached a point where we know we can’t sustain our lives as they were. We can’t hope to be happy or healthy if we continue making the same mistakes, perpetuating the same cycles of self-destruction, causing ourselves and our loved ones so much pain. We don’t know what the future holds, and we can be filled with extreme fear and uncertainty, but we know that we must make a change. Something has to give. We simply can’t keep going the way we’ve been going. We don’t know yet if we’ll ever be happy, but we know we at least have to try.
Sobriety can feel daunting and overwhelming, and many of us feel strong resistance to it. We’re afraid of doing the hard work of confronting our fears, our wounds and the traumas of our pasts. We’re afraid of the withdrawal process and all of the difficult mental, emotional and physical effects we’ll experience. We’re afraid of asking for help because we hate the thought of being judged and looked down upon. We’ve grown used to feeling rejected and shunned, both by loved ones and by society as a whole, and we’re afraid to put ourselves out there and be in that vulnerable position yet again. Our fear makes us resistant to sobriety, and many of us will put it off for as long as possible, postponing our efforts to get help and dismissing the people pushing us to get sober. We’re not yet aware of just how good it will feel to finally conquer our fears and achieve sobriety.
Finally getting sober redeems us in so many ways. It tells our loved ones that our efforts were not in vain, we’ve actually succeeded this time. It shows them that they weren’t wrong to have faith in us. They can feel vindicated in believing in us, because we’ve lived up to both their expectations and our own. Our sobriety communicates to them that we were able to put our plans into action and make good on them. Our sobriety is redemptive because it proves to us, and to our loved ones, that we were strong enough to stand up to our addictions. We finally stopped letting them overpower us. We made the critical choice not to let our debilitating illnesses have the final say. We summoned our courage, tested our faith, exercised our willpower and built up our resilience, all to achieve an inner peace that would be impossible for us without sobriety. We feel redeemed knowing that we’re stronger than our fears and our inner demons. We’re stronger than the temptation, the addictive urges, the obsessiveness and compulsiveness. We’re stronger and more powerful than the limiting beliefs we once believed that told us we weren’t good enough, strong enough or capable of recovering. We feel redemption within ourselves, and it shines like a light for the rest of the world to see.
Our stories of vindication and redemption serve as inspiration for other people who are themselves still recovering, who might need tangible examples of success stories to propel them forward. We can motivate, encourage and uplift them just by sharing our stories with them. Support group meetings, group therapy and workshops are all excellent places for us to share the joy of our redemption. When we share our stories and our struggles with other people, we remind both ourselves and them that none of us are alone. For years we felt isolated and hopeless. We thought this day would never come. We assumed we were destined for failure and that redemption wasn’t possible for us. With our sobriety, we’ve proven to ourselves that we were destined not for failure but for success and fulfillment, and we’re living proof that redemption is possible, even for addicts suffering from and struggling with addiction and mental health issues for much of our lives.
As recovering addicts, we can spend years feeling lost, empty and alone. Achieving sobriety can help us to feel empowered, renewed and rejuvenated. We can find solace in our own strength and in that of other people. We can feel redeemed by our sobriety, fulfilled by our life’s purpose, and reenergized by our commitment to living a healthier life. We can find redemption in being true to ourselves, aligning with our personal mission and values, and overcoming our addictions, some of the biggest hurdles of our lives.
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.