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learning to love yourself

The Process of Learning to Love Yourself – Part Two

Articles, Australia, Education, International, LGBTQ, Malaysia, Treatment, Understanding Addiction, United Kingdom, United States

In part one of this series, we talked about how important it is to learn to love yourself. In this blog post, we will outline the process of practicing self-love.

How Do You Start The Process of Learning To Love Yourself?

The first step in learning to love yourself is coming to an awareness that you don’t already. This is usually a very painful realization, but it is a necessary one. Self-awareness is always the first step to changing a deeply engrained behavior or altering your current state of being.

Most people realize they don’t love themselves when they really start paying attention to how they talk to themselves. If you have nothing but negative things to say to yourself about yourself, you probably don’t love yourself.

Are you constantly telling yourself that you are fat, stupid, bad, worthless, useless or ugly? Do you call yourself names like idiot, loser, moron, monster, or failure? Are you mean to yourself in your own head? Are you very unforgiving of yourself when you make a mistake? If so, you may have a deeply rooted negative self-image that doesn’t reflect self-love.

If you want to begin the process of learning to love yourself, start paying attention to what you are saying to yourself. When you realize you don’t love yourself, you will suddenly feel very uncomfortable, which will motivate you to want to learn how.   

To Love Yourself, You Have To Understand What Love Is

The second step to learning to love yourself is to define love.

Most people who have had problems with addiction do not really know what love is. They almost always confuse love with infatuation, obsession, great sex, or feelings of elation. But, these are not demonstrations of real love. Real love is much deeper.

Furthermore, when most people think of the word love, they almost always associate it with romantic love. They think of finding “the one,” falling in love, getting married, and living happily every after. But it is important to understand that love is not limited to romance. To learn to love yourself, you have to start relating to the concept of love in a different way. 

The reason why so many people are confused about love is that we overuse the word. We say we love French fries, or we love drugs and alcohol, or we love sex. We seem to equate love with a strong liking for something. When we want more and more of the feeling something or someone gives us, we think we must love it/him/her. But, the truth is that we don’t love French fries, or drugs and alcohol, and sex. We enjoy the way they make us feel.  

The thing is, love is not a feeling. Love is an action.

To Practice Self-Love, You Must Get Into Action

In the process of learning to love yourself, you first have to understand that you don’t love yourself so you will become motivated to change. Then, you have to come to understand that love is an action. Finally, you have to go about the business of practicing self-love through action.

Be sure to check out the third and final part to this series – The Process of Learning to Love Yourself – Part Three where you will learn how to practice self-love. 

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Love yourself

The Process of Learning to Love Yourself – Part One

Articles, Australia, Education, International, LGBTQ, Malaysia, Understanding Addiction, United Kingdom, United States

This is part-one of a three-part series about self-love.

In Recovery, You Must Learn To Love Yourself

If you are in recovery – whether it’s from drugs, alcohol, or sexual addiction – part of the process is learning to love yourself. When you were in active addiction, you perpetrated harm against yourself. If you were addicted to mood or mind-altering substances, you used toxic chemicals and abused your body. If you were a sex addict, you put yourself in compromising positions that led to shame, guilt, and self-hatred.

Now that you are in recovery, you have to develop a healthy relationship with yourself that reflects self-love. If you are constantly engaged in a cycle of self-defeating thoughts and behaviors, you are doomed to a life of misery and discomfort. After all, you are stuck with you all day long! You have to live with yourself because you are the only person who can leave you. If you are unkind, unloving, and disrespectful towards yourself, it makes for a very difficult journey.

In Recovery, You Realize The Relationship Have With Yourself Needs Work

Chances are, you didn’t have a great relationship with yourself when you started engaging in whatever addictive behavior you are currently recovering from. You might have had low self-esteem. You may have been the victim of abuse or neglect growing up, which caused you to feel worthless and unlovable. Or, you might have been going through a divorce or grieving the loss of a loved one, which caused you to want to numb your pain.  

Whatever individual circumstance brought you to use drugs or alcohol or act out sexually, you engaged in negative coping skills that did not reflect self-love. Drugs, alcohol, and sex can trick you into believing you have found a solution to whatever dilemma you are facing – even if that solution is fleeting and counterproductive. Ultimately, addiction brought you to your knees because you came to terms with the fact that it was never a solution and it only created more problems.

When you get into recovery, it becomes painfully obvious that you have been harming yourself with your own behavior. You begin to realize that you don’t know how to love yourself or be kind to yourself. You recognize the fact that the relationship you have with yourself needs some work. This is a good place to be.

Learning To Love Yourself Is A Process  

After losing an exhausting battle with addiction, you feel defeated. Life feels overwhelming. At first, it is all you can do just to overcome cravings. Learning to live a life that isn’t centered around drugs, alcohol, or sex is hard work all by itself. But, when the time is right, you find that in order to stay in recovery, you have to begin the process of learning to love yourself.

Be sure and read Learning to Love Yourself – Part Two. In the next blog post, we will talk about how you can begin the process of loving yourself.  

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Kratom Use and Abuse

Kratom Use and Abuse

Articles, Australia, Education, Malaysia, Treatment, Understanding Addiction, United Kingdom, United States

As the opioid addiction epidemic has grown all over the world, a number of things have emerged as potential alternatives to illegal and dangerous drugs like heroin and prescription opioids. In the United States there has been a growth in the availability and use of the herbal substance known as kratom. Although the federal government has sought to classify kratom as an illegal substance. There has been considerable push back on this issues from citizens and even from some medical professionals. Just what is kratom?

Kratom is a tree-like plant indigenous to Southeast Asia. Its botanical name is Mitragyna speciose, and it has been used by people in this region of the world as both a stimulant and as an analgesic pain reliever. As with so many folk remedies, the plant found its way into widespread use and can be abused in sufficient amounts. Kratom has been banned in Thailand, Maylasia, and Myanmar allegedly for its potential for abuse.

Research on the chemical in kratom which produces the desired effects is still extremely limited. What is available is largely anecdotal. Kratom can produce some of the same feelings as opoid drugs if taken in high enough doses. The side effects from this kind of use seem to minimal. They include nausea, anxiety, and constipation.

Both the promise and the danger of kratom is that the alkaloid chemical which produces the effects users are after follows similar neuro-pathways as opioids. These chemical attach to the neurotransmitters which allow for a rush of endorphins and other chemicals. Chemicals which induce a feeling calm and also alleviate pain and anxiety. These are the same neuro-pathways which are activated by opioids. However, kratom does not seem to cause the same sorts of addictive neurochemical issues as opioids. It is not addictive in the same way as opioids and some researchers believe kratom may actually be a potential treatment for opioid addiction.

The danger here for anyone who faces addiction of any kind is that the mere presence of a chemical in the body. Chemicals which alter the way one feels and alters brain chemistry in a way the effectively makes you “high” can be a potential danger. If someone is wrestling with addiction. They need to seriously consider whether or not is makes sense to take any mind altering substance no matter how safe that substance may seem to be. It is the fact of compromising ones state of mind which could be the factor one needs to weigh.

There is much left to be determined on the safety and potential therapeutic use of kratom. Authorities in the United States are trying to regulate kratom as a schedule I narcotic. Researchers and users are battling this regulation. There is a serious debate around the world about the safety of kratom. For the time being, anyone who has an issue with substance abuse would probably be better served to not use anything that induces something akin to intoxication. The risk of going down the road back to active addiction is too great to experiment with untested and unknown substances.

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Opioid Crisis in Australia

Opioid Crisis in Australia

Articles, Australia, Education, Understanding Addiction

Australians have long had the reputation of being hard drinkers. In a recent BBC poll over 80% of Australians stated that they believe Australians in general have a drinking problem. Binge drinking is at over 40%, up from 37% from the previous year. What many Australians may not be aware of is that on a regional level, Australia leads the region in opioid use and addiction. Only Southeast Asia exceeds Australia in amphetamine abuse. Australia is suffering from a drug abuse epidemic.

It should not come as too much of a surprise since most of the world is currently in the grips of an opioid addiction crisis on at least some level. Of the four groups of drugs most commonly abused (these include alcohol, amphetamines, opioids, and marijuana) opioids cause the most deaths and lead to the most disabilities over all the other drug groups. It is now estimated that somewhere on the order of 52 million people are addicted to opioids. The bulk of the people afflicted by this epidemic are men aged 25-29.

What is more, the use of heroin in particular, because it is often injected as a favored method of getting high, the spread of Hepatitis A,B, and C along with HIV is on the rise where heroin use has increased. The one bit of good news for Australia is that they have been able to minimize this unfortunate aspect of the opioid crisis through education and injecting programs.

Authorities in Australia attribute the widespread problematic use of opioids to a youth culture that just does not see the use of these drugs as in any way dangerous. There seems to be a pervading attitude among young people that using drugs, even heroin and other opioids, is simply a part of life as a young person.

Another factor that influences this problem among younger people is that heroin in particular is remarkably cheap. It goes for as little as 50 Australian dollars for small amounts (“caps”), and the price of a gram of heroin has actually gone down in the last several years. This makes heroin a cheap and easy drug for young people. What is more, as others become addicted to prescription opioids they find that the low cost and easy availability of heroin a temptation too difficult to resist while in the grip of addiction. 

Clearly, a combination of education and treatment is the answer to this problem. Australian officials have already advocated treatment options. As stated above, Australia offers some injection programs in order to minimize harm. Yet, the long-term solution to the opioid crisis in Australia is effective treatment. There are treatment programs available which make use of the best and most recent science based methods for treating addiction of all kinds. DARA Drug and Alcohol Rehab offers the best options for those suffering from opioid addiction, as well as other addictions that currently vex the region.  DARA has a full staff of specialist fully trained and experienced to help treat people dealing with opioid addiction.

CLICK HERE to get a Free Confidential Opioid Addiction Rehabilitation Assessment.

independence as part of recovery

Independence as Part of Recovery

Articles

Previous articles have covered the basics of gaining independence in recovery, but there is more than simply caring for yourself and paying off old debts as part of recovery. You need to find employment, create a support group, and learn to rely on yourself. This may seem overwhelming, but you have already taken the hardest step in not using. Read on to learn a little more about becoming independent.

Finding employment can be tough for a recovering addict. You may have a jail record or large gaps in your employment history, but this is far from insurmountable. So how do you go about finding employment? Try a few of these tips to get started.

Create a resume that reflects all of your skills. Include work history, but also anything that you are good at that would be a useful skill in the work place. Perhaps you are a strong communicator, so you have people skills. Maybe you know how to do basic construction tasks from numerous DIY projects, include this information. If your counseling center, a local organization, or rehab facility offers job training, then utilize this. They can help you create a resume and practice for interviews. Some facilities even offer to help set up interviews or offer job placement. At first you may want to look for jobs that are not that challenging so you can stay focused on recovery without much additional stress. This allows you to get your feet wet and ease into the workforce. This also allows you to make money while looking for another form of employment. Baby steps will still move you forward. Try not to get frustrated while looking for work, it can take time but you should keep trying.

You should also start building your support system. Being independent is much different from being isolated. Recovery is not about being alone or bored, but about finding supportive people and having fun in ways that do not involve drugs or alcohol. There will be days you just want to hang out with friends or need the supportive shoulder of someone you care about. Build this support system as a form of personal cheerleaders to help you along the way. These will be the people you turn to when times get tough or you are thinking about a relapse. This does not make you less independent, it makes you human. Friends and loved ones can give us a reason to keep going when we feel like giving up.

Finally, learn to rely on yourself. Many addicts have low self-esteem and do not trust their own judgement.  This is understandable, but you will never learn to trust your judgement if you do not practice. In active addiction your judgment led you down the right path, but now you know what to do or not do to stay in recovery. Learn to love yourself again to become more independent. Give yourself a clean start by correcting what you can from your past and letting the rest go. You cannot change what you have done, but you can change what you are doing now.

Independence creates confidence and self-esteem over time. Once you learn to take care of yourself you will feel like you can take on the world. You will find yourself being happier and joyful with less stress as you take care of yourself mentally, physically, and financially. As you grow you can also begin helping others and find your purpose in life. There is nothing you cannot overcome if you are willing to try.

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