Addiction recovery is a difficult road to travel. There’s no point in making it harder by dwelling on past mistakes and failures. By embracing the gifts of patience, love, encouragement and grace, you’re more likely to succeed in your recovery. Here are a few ways to replace a critical, negative attitude with grace during your recovery journey.
Step Back to See How Far You’ve Come
Rather than criticize yourself for slow progress, rejoice at how far you’ve come. Step back to see where you were a year ago, so you can appreciate the positive changes that have been made in your life. Look at areas like your health, appearance, finances, relationships and lifestyle to see all the improvements that staying clean and sober have wrought.
Celebrate Small Steps of Progress
Celebrate all steps of progress towards recovery, big and small. Constantly remind yourself that you’re in a better place today than yesterday, which means you’re moving forward. Set small goals and establish good habits like exercise, meditation or journaling to help you reach those goals.
Give Yourself Space
Although it’s good to have a structured plan for recovery, don’t box yourself in so much that you can’t try something new. Give yourself leeway to explore new activities or paths that can help you stay clean or sober. Don’t gauge success by how fast you’re making progress, as sometimes it’s good to go slow. Give yourself grace to support your efforts and be satisfied with any positive results.
Don’t Fret Mistakes
Don’t fret over mistakes that can cause setbacks in your recovery. Accept the fact that setbacks are usually par for the course. Just learn from your mistakes, so you don’t repeat them. Mistakes can help you grow in strength and wisdom, traits you’ll need to sustain you long term.
Forgive and Accept Forgiveness
Forgive anyone you may be blaming for your problems with addiction and accept the forgiveness of those you’ve wronged during this difficult period in your life. Forgiveness will allow you to start over with a clean slate.
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