Sense of Guilt

Making Sense of Guilt

The “G” word. The thing that always accompanies addiction at one point or another. Guilt is the dreaded reminder of what we’ve done and how wrong we know it was to do. But although we need guilt for life guidance, certain lies can accompany guilt, especially when we are dealing with the disease of addiction. In such confusion, we need anyone or thing that can remind us of our inherent worth and value. When we learn to stand against improper guilt, we make a huge leap to recovery

 

Know guilt and know your worth

Guilt is a sign of our conscience. It is a good thing and a natural emotion. We shouldn’t try to live life ignorant of guilt. Having said that, our guilt can often be mixed with lies and exaggerations on our self worth and identity. With the struggle of addiction, our self-respect is based on how much we resist said addiction. If we resist for a long period, we feel good, but when we give in we are a “terrible person”. That’s how our brain works under that lie. But in order to overcome these lies, we need to understand our self worth. People and events can tell us that we are awful and worthless, but that is an abusive lie from their own personal distortion. You and everyone else carry inherent self worth since you were born. You are a human being who is meant to be loved and appreciated. The addiction is a disease that tries to destroy your capability of living such a life. Despite any decision in the past, the horrible cycle of addiction is not your fault. You need help not because you are unworthy, but because you are worthy.

 

Spot the Lies

It is extremely hard to believe truth when lies feel so real. But when we are going through recovery, the one thing we always need is reassurance. We need to be reminded that we are worthy of help and that recovery is a reality. Our lies often take the form of discouragement and cynicism through the fear of failure and pain. These lies don’t hold up under scrutiny once we speak them out-loud to someone who can understand. There is something strange about how we can tell ourselves an encouragement, but we don’t fully believe it unless someone else says it.

 

A Push Forward

Guilt can be a troubling and even destructive emotion when taken out of its proper context. But once we separate the lies form the truth, we can start to see not only our true worth, but our true problem as well. If guilt should tell us anything, it should be that we do in fact need help and cannot stay stuck in this vicious cycle. We have to be brave enough to reach out to the person we know loves us enough to stick by and lead us to recovery. But if there is ever a reason we can’t, then there is still Recovery Care Partner to talk, understand, and offer help when we need it most.

 

If you need to talk to anyone, please contact us at 855-727-2887