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Addressing one’s relationship with an addictive substance or behavior and all of its challenges takes time. Recovery isn’t something that has an end date - those who have suffered from addiction in the past may still be dealing with urges for the rest of their lives. As someone identifies a need for change in their lives, they may also begin to feel guilty about past mistakes or see their past as shameful. However, needing a change in one’s life doesn’t mean that they have wasted time. The idea of time lost in recovery is a fallacy, and each moment in someone’s life can be an opportunity for growth and context with which someone can establish their changing future. Regardless of how long someone spends in recovery, time is never wasted. Seeing one’s actions as the important events they are can help someone cope with this fallacy.
Each Moment a Step Towards Yourself
One’s experiences in life, whether positive or negative, all play a part in molding someone’s identity. While some aspects of one’s life may be considered a mistake, they are still critical defining factors of their present identity. Recovery isn’t intended just to help instill necessary coping strategies for dealing with urges. Instead, it is intended to help someone reach a transformational mindset, realize their ambitions in life, establish their own identity, and ultimately achieve their self-actualization goals. Someone’s experiences and mistakes can provide needed context for how someone views their present or future.
Those who have suffered from addiction can use their experiences to learn the value of essential aspects of life. Having been through times of strained trust, someone can learn to more deeply treasure their relationships or better understand and sympathize with peers. Someone may also see the importance of loving what they do on a professional level, helping pave the way for fulfilling careers focused on their interests and health. Each of these realizations can help someone realize the importance of their time and how their past is shaping their better future, providing context to consistently reinforce one’s decision to maintain a healthy recovery mindset.
Measuring Yourself Against Other Metrics
The fallacy of lost time often comes into play as someone is leaving a recovery transformation and starting a new life path. However, social media can complicate this transition by exposing someone to others’ personal and professional development. Such exposure can cause someone to begin comparing themselves against those around them, disregarding context. Instead, they may create an unfair way of measuring objective achievements between others and themselves. Context is vital for each person to take into account in their lives. It can be unfair to judge oneself based on another’s criteria without accounting for experiences and other resources that may not be shared by all. Time in recovery wasn’t spent standing still. Just because someone on social media may be posting about a professional advancement doesn’t mean that one’s life skills learned in recovery were of any less value.
Identifying Your Strengths
One’s time in recovery is spent learning many different skills, and by no means is “lost” on any account. While someone may feel set back in specific goals, making a list of the various skills that one has acquired can help someone realize how much they have grown in their time. While grounding strategies to help cope with urges are essential skills, there are other skills that each person may have learned at their time in recovery, such as:
- Interviewing tactics
- How to market one’s self
- Communication
- Accountability
Along with these skills, someone may have learned new therapeutic techniques such as fishing, yoga, or becoming adept at a variety of sports. These factors all play a part in each person establishing their identity.
Time cannot be lost, and no matter how good or bad, every experience is essential in establishing one’s identity today. Without past pains, someone may never have learned the actual depth of meaning that a romantic relationship can have. Recovery isn’t about losing time, but learning how to look forward to taking pride in the person they have become. Being proud of oneself is the only fair metric for any person to use, and no matter how each person spent their time, it has all helped to mold them into the person they are today.
Time is never lost. It is essential to remember that each moment spent in recovery is a step towards yourself. Identifying your strengths can immensely help in realizing the progress you have made in your recovery journey. START UP RECOVERY can help you recognize the value of yourself and your time at any stage in recovery. If you or a loved one struggles with stresses in life, especially in terms of drugs, alcohol, and any co-occurring mental health disorders, the supportive and luxurious atmosphere at START UP could help you regain your agency and build upon your sense of accomplishment in life. Your stay with us can be personalized to help you recognize your strengths daily. You will participate in daily community events intended to help each person continue to grow their social and support circles alongside professionals, mentors, and peers. For more information on the various ways in which we can personalize a plan for you, or to speak to a caring, trained staff member about your unique challenges, call us today at (310) 773-3809.