For many of us struggling with addiction, not only do we feel a dependence on an addictive substance or behavior, but we also feel a sense of brokenness and emptiness. Sometimes, it feels like a void that is impossible to fill. Other times, it can feel like a problem that can’t be fixed. We can feel completely empty and unfulfilled. As we’re recovering, we assume that healing from brokenness is the only way to feel better about ourselves.
It’s common for many of us on our healing journeys to look at all the things we’ve been through and feel an overwhelming hopelessness and powerlessness. Many of us have felt as though our substance use was beyond our control. This can make us feel guilty, ashamed, and broken.
If you’re struggling with your sobriety, reach out to a professional treatment center like Athens Area Commencement Center to get the help and support you need.
Embracing Our Recovery Rather Than Condemning Ourselves as Broken
Oftentimes, we associate recovering from addiction with the idea that we’re healing from brokenness. All of our mistakes and regrets can leave us feeling unable to forgive ourselves. We can feel as though we’re broken beyond repair. Another way of looking at recovery, however, is the idea that we’re not actually broken at all. We’re undergoing a powerful process of healing.
In recovery, we’re doing the courageous work of facing our pasts, making amends, and ending destructive cycles. Self-transformation is at the root of healing from addiction. As we’re recovering, we can see ourselves evolving into our highest selves rather than as broken and in need of being fixed.
Healing From Brokenness: Creating a New Sense of Self
Many of us have come to depend on a substance to make us feel better about ourselves. Our sense of self, how we self-identify, becomes wrapped up in our drug of choice. As we’re trying to shed that dependence, we can struggle to feel whole. Often, we feel as though we don’t even know who we are. We assume that as we’re recovering, we’re healing from brokenness and fixing the parts of ourselves that are problematic or broken. What if, instead of thinking of ourselves as healing from brokenness, we choose to see ourselves as growing into the person we’re meant to become?
How can we create a new sense of self built upon self-love and self-compassion rather than thinking of ourselves as wounded beings that require fixing? How can we fill our emotional voids without drugs and alcohol? Can we heal those parts of ourselves that feel empty or broken? As we’re healing from brokenness, can we learn to love ourselves?
Reframing Healing From Brokenness Into a Challenge to Overcome
One way we can begin healing from brokenness is to reframe those feelings of weakness and brokenness and see them instead as challenges we’re meant to overcome on our path to wholeness. Our feelings don’t have to define who we are. They can be the challenges we’re choosing to face and work through. When we feel broken, we can remind ourselves that that is an emotion, not a fact. We can tell ourselves that this brokenness we’re feeling is not the entirety of who we are. Actually, it is a necessary part of our spiritual growth and evolution.
Just as there are many positive things to love about ourselves, there are challenging parts of ourselves as well that also deserve our love. Rather than seeing ourselves as hopelessly broken, we can choose to confront these difficult emotions head-on and rise to the challenge of finding ways to move through them.
How can we move through feelings of brokenness and view them as a challenge to face rather than as something that is inherently wrong with us?
Healing From Brokenness: Practicing Self-Acceptance
Rising to the challenge of healing from brokenness means practicing transforming our feelings of self-rejection into self-love and self-acceptance. We can affirm to ourselves, “I might feel broken right now, but I love and accept myself. I love and accept all the things I’m feeling, even my feelings of brokenness.” Getting to a place of self-acceptance is a matter of practicing new feelings until they feel true. Practice loving and accepting yourself until that becomes your new truth.
Discovering Our Passions: Healing From Brokenness
A powerful way of healing from brokenness is to find the things we love, and that inspire us. For many of us, this is a process of rediscovery, of getting back to the things that once made us feel fulfilled.
Old hobbies from childhood, long-forgotten interests, and passions we neglected due to our addictions are some of the pieces of ourselves that can help us learn to love ourselves again. Dedicating time to those passions can give us a renewed sense of inspiration and purpose.
When we’re immersed in something we love, arts and crafts, for example, taking nature walks, volunteering, or making music, we remind ourselves that we’re not actually broken; we’re in the process of healing.
The supportive community at Athens Area Commencement Center can help remind you of your strengths and all you have to offer.
Investing in Ourselves: Healing From Brokenness
When struggling with addiction, we tend to forget ourselves and the very things that make us who we are. Now, in recovery, we have the incredible opportunity to invest time and energy into ourselves. The more we do this, the more whole and fulfilled we feel, which in turn helps us to stay sober.
With time, we remember how much there actually is to love about ourselves. We discover that we’re actually not broken or in need of fixing. What felt like healing from brokenness was actually the process of rediscovering our connection to ourselves. We’ve been struggling with a life-altering illness, and now we’re blessed with the chance to heal from it. You’re not broken; you’re healing!
Recovering from addiction is some of the hardest work many of us will ever do. We’re learning how to deal with feelings of emptiness, brokenness, and deep sadness while no longer using an addictive substance as a crutch. Recovery requires tremendous courage and a willingness to do the hard work of rebuilding our sense of self. As we’re doing this work, it can help to remember that we’re not broken beyond repair. We’re growing, learning, evolving, and transforming ourselves into the healthiest version of ourselves we can possibly be. It’s not easy, but it is so worth it! Call Athens Area Commencement Center at (706) 546-7355 for more information on our treatment programs.