The recovery process is not easy to work through. You may reach a point where you have successfully discharged from treatment, maintained sobriety, and are on the path to long-term success. Feeling proud of your success, you also may experience feelings of guilt regarding your past decisions. This feeling is normal during the process of recovery and is nothing to be ashamed of. Recovery is an ongoing journey. There is always room for improvement and growth. If you are experiencing these feelings, rebuilding self-respect may be your next focal point.
Rebuilding Self-Respect
There are many different practices and mindsets you can implement to help improve your level of self-respect. Many of these practices require a clear state of mind and a certain level of patience, as you likely will need to rewire your natural thoughts about yourself, others, and the situations you are in.
Gaining Confidence
One of the key factors in rebuilding self-respect is to have confidence in yourself. When reflecting on your past, it can be easy to lose confidence as you consider your past mistakes. No matter what your situation is, it is important to remember that everyone makes mistakes. By gaining confidence in believing you have changed for the better and can make healthy decisions for yourself, you can overcome any negative obstacle that comes your way.
Getting to the point that you are now at takes hard work and commitment to achieve. Don’t take away the credit you deserve for making it this far. It is important to celebrate the progress you have made and give yourself the proper credit for overcoming past obstacles. There will always be more challenges thrown your way, but with each one, you become stronger.
Always Search for Improvement
Always searching for improvement and finding ways to be better can often come across in a contradictory way; however, life is a constant battle of finding our best selves. This does not mean you have to dwell on the qualities and abilities you are lacking, but be aware of ways you could improve in your future. Nobody is perfect and we all have plenty of aspects of our lives that we could use some improvement. Searching for improvement can ultimately help you to become the best version of yourself.
Increasing your self-awareness is another key way that can help you to rebuild your self-respect. Not only does this awareness help you focus on the improvements that you can make for a better future, but it can allow you to celebrate the successes you have had throughout your life. Be proud of who you are as an individual and continue working towards your best self. Life is an ongoing journey of growth that is built on the framework of self-respect.
Be Proud of Yourself
A common way to fall into the trap of lacking self-respect is to develop negative thoughts about yourself. These negative thought patterns often arise from guilt, shame, or some reflection of regret from past choices. A part of being human is making mistakes. While you may have various actions that you regret from your past, dwelling on them hinders your ability to move forward and learn from them.
It is important to be aware of your past mistakes but not dwell on them and feel shameful forevermore. Rather than looking back on all the mistakes you have made throughout your life, try to look back and remember the positive things you have done. You have put forth a great deal of work to get where you are today and taking the initiative to recover from your addiction. Give yourself the credit you deserve for this hard work. Maintaining a higher level of self-esteem about your accomplishments can help positively influence the success of future encounters, as well.
Managing Negative Viewpoints
When you are working through these self-improvements and rebuilding your self-respect, you may run into moments where your viewpoint of yourself and the world around you is skewed in a negative light. These feelings are commonly experienced during this rebuilding process. When you catch yourself mentally putting yourself down, pause and think of three good things about yourself. Each time you practice this, it reinforces the positive thoughts about yourself and encourages them to naturally arise. Over time, you will slowly notice that you are becoming more optimistic.
Each time you notice yourself thinking something positive about yourself, validate that feeling. Allow yourself to be proud of the positive attributes you have. You may be surprised by how drastically this mindset can affect your ability to maintain your recovery success and rebuild your self-respect. A positive thought can go a long way. By overcoming these negative self-viewpoints, there are endless possibilities of what you can accomplish throughout your life.
Self-respect is an essential aspect of recovery that is necessary to obtain to overcome negative thoughts and emotions, as well as avoid relapse. While many individuals gain a level of self-respect during the recovery process, it is often lost throughout the hardships encountered after treatment. Adjusting to your lifestyle after recovery and implementing all of the skills you have gained can often bring about many negative emotions and challenges. Rebuilding your self-respect is a great way to get back on track with your success and refocus your mind through a positive and goal-oriented approach. Gaining confidence, consistently working to better yourself, rewiring negative thought patterns, and allowing yourself to take pride in your accomplishments can all help you in rebuilding and maintaining self-respect. To learn more about how to rebuild self-respect throughout the recovery journey, reach out to Renaissance Ranch today at (801) 308-8898.