Maybe the messages started smacking us when we were very young.
"Why can't you be more like your brother?"
"You'll never amount to anything."
"You're too clumsy to play sports."
"This report card is terrible."
If we hear a drumbeat of these messages as a child they eventually penetrate our subconscious. And our subconscious is the operating system for our lives. We follow it's directions without thinking. Just like a computer program. This negativity may be part of why we became addicts.
Or maybe we had a good childhood. But our addictions have led us to beat ourselves up because of the path we took.
We look at our peers. They already have jobs. Homes. Marriages and families. Careers. Here we are, because of our poor choices, eating their dust.
Our family is starting to wonder if they brought the wrong child home from the hospital. We've let them down so many times. Maybe they won't let us in their homes or help us. Maybe they won't talk to us.
But the good news is this can all change. We can reprogram ourselves. We can put new positive messages into our lives. And the messages can be simple ones.
"I'm sober today."
"I'm not in jail."
"I found a job."
"I have 90 days sober."
These are basic messages we can give ourselves in new recovery. Later on, as we build a positive history, the messages can be more powerful. And eventually our subconscious has a new operating program - one that will guide us to even more success.
Loving ourselves as a human being - not just as an image in the mirror - is crucial to our success.
