Detox off Drugs

Looking at addiction is a case of good news and bad news. The first is the good news. Hating yourself and your addiction is one of the initial stages on the road to recovery. How can hatred be a good thing? It isn’t the hatred itself that is good, but the fact that you’ve gotten to the point where you recognize that your past actions and addictive behavior have caused so much hurt to yourself and others.

Addicts often have a very difficult time accepting that they are, in fact, addicts. Denial of the problem is the first hurdle to overcome, and once you’re past denying it, the reality of your situation sets in. This paves the way for self-hatred. Look at it this way. You can’t overcome your addiction until you go through the work required.

And it’s tough work, make no mistake about it. That’s the bad news.

But when you’re on the road to recovery, you’re taking the incremental steps to put your life back in order, to regain your self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-respect. The pendulum swings again and it’s another example of good news. The longer you work at your recovery, the small successes you have – a day without giving into your addictive behavior, a week, a month, and longer – all add up to a huge plus.

Allow the Emotion to Pass

At first, all you’ll see is your own self-hatred. You’ll need to give this very powerful emotion time to pass. You’ve already taken the big first step of saying to yourself, “Okay, I hate what I’ve done to myself and the ones I love. I hate that I’ve lied, been untrustworthy, let my loved ones and others down. I hate that I’m addicted to (alcohol, illicit or prescription drugs, gambling, compulsive sexual behavior, etc.) and keep falling back into my old ways.”

There’s a lot of truth in the statement that giving voice to your feelings allows you to get past them. It isn’t just some hokey mantra that psychiatrists, psychologists and addiction counselors dish out. One reason acknowledging your hatred is important is that you are releasing it instead of keeping the emotion bottled up inside you. For that matter, any powerful negative emotion, whether it’s anger, despair, bitterness, spite or hatred, that isn’t released will go on to cause further emotional and even physical problems.

How long do you need to wait before the hatred starts to dissipate? You’ll be surprised at how quickly it will go away. No, you won’t be able to tell that it’s gone in a matter of minutes, or even days. Actually, you shouldn’t think about your hatred after you’ve given voice to it. You need to be moving on, doing the necessary work in your recovery.

To begin with, you may find that these thoughts creep into your mind at odd times. Just acknowledge that they’re there, and then go on to do other things – positive things that are working toward your detox recovery. Don’t wallow in the emotion or allow it to stymie your efforts at recovery.

Before you know it – maybe weeks or months down the line – you’ll be able to look at yourself in the mirror and it will seem like a different person is staring back at you. It’s the same you, yet different. What’s different is your outlook. Gone is the hatred and loathing that furrowed your brow, drew your mouth into a hard line and stifled your life energy. In its place will be acceptance of the new you, recognition that you are making progress toward your recovery and the glimmer of hope in a better tomorrow.

If you or someone you know is suffering from addiction and needs a professional detox please contact 1.877.272.0895