Battling addiction isn’t easy. Wait, that’s an understatement. Battling addiction is probably one of the most difficult things to happen to a person. Typically, along with addiction comes a co-occurring disorder such as depression or anxiety. When attempting to cope with addiction and mental illness, life might not seem like it will ever improve. Or, things could be trending upwards, then all of a sudden something tragic happens in our personal lives or we may even relapse. Whatever the reason may be, I think many of us at some point have asked ourselves, will it ever get better?
Think back to a time when you felt this way, or maybe you feel like this now. Now I ask you, has it gotten any better?
If it has, what did you do to get yourself out of the dark and what would you tell your past self, now that you have elevated insight to the situation? If it hasn’t improved, what are you doing to help stop these feelings?
Nobody wants to feel hopeless, but it’s a natural emotion. "Getting better" (and what this may mean is different for everyone) is up to ourselves, because we hold the power in our hands to facilitate change. What direction the change goes in, depends on our mindset and what we are willing to do. Making choices that are in our best interest and an effort to be optimistic are surefire ways for things to improve. Life can be unpredictable, but our response to the life events have an incredible impact on the way we view our world.
What it comes down to is evaluating what amount of effort we are putting towards the situation, to see it progress. If we don’t try to see things in a new light or won’t accept things for what they are, then we are going to have a difficult time upgrading our thought patterns and life. We have the choice and that is beyond empowering because it gives us the ability to flip our trajectory. Our efforts do not go unnoticed; small positive changes add up!
I also believe that acceptance is key to enjoying a fulfilling life. Resisting what life hands us creates friction in our realities. Once we are able to reflect and cope with what is going on, we are then capable to set goals to achieve more. If our mind is constantly preoccupied with hating where we are, all of our energy is going towards the negative, and we ultimately lose sight of how we can make progress.
The change starts with ourselves.
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