When we have been living with addictions for much of our lives, we can easily lose sight of who we are. Our attachments to substances, behaviors and relationships can cloud our vision, and we lose touch with our identities, our purpose, our connection to our higher power. We can feel like we’ve lost everything. It can feel like we’ll never get back to who we truly are. We may not even remember who or what that is.
Finding the truth of who we are is a lifelong process, just like the recovery process is. The two are inextricably linked. In order to recover, we need to find ourselves, and to figure out who we are, we need to heal. While no one can do this process for us, there are some guiding questions we can ask ourselves to help us explore our inner selves and find who we are.
Who am I? This is a huge question, with no easy shortcuts to arrive at the answers. Within this larger question, there are many other questions we can ask ourselves to help guide our reflection and introspection. What do I love to do? Maybe you love to write, be in nature, or create art. What am I grateful for? Maybe you are grateful for your family, your gifts and talents, your strength, your will to survive. What do I love about life? Maybe you love cooking, volunteering, spending time with animals. Answering these questions can help point us in the direction of self-exploration. They can help us to go inward and look within.
We very often form our identities around the people surrounding us and the external things in our lives, but who we are, the essence of our inner self, is within us. We can become heavily distracted and misguided when we develop a sense of who we are from things outside of ourselves. When these things leave us, such as a relationship ending for example, we can feel totally lost, totally confused, totally hopeless. We develop our sense of purpose around our jobs, as another example, but what happens when we are laid off? Who we are is in our hearts, souls and spirits. Who we are is in our ability to love, in our unique gifts, and in our connection to our inner power and higher power.
Exploring who we are on a deep heart-soul-spirit level is an important, sometimes difficult, but beautiful part of recovery. Finding who we are is part of our life’s purpose!
Recovery can be complicated, but we’re here to help. Call (800) 871-5440 for more information.