Episode notes
Welcome to early recovery- do good things for yourself even though you don't care about yourself yet. How do we navigate this irony? We talk about the issue that arises when we do feel like nothing matters and everything else becomes an option, including destroying our lives again. So how do we act as if we care? Desperation and avoiding negative consequences can certainly help. We also talk about how many recovery paths encourage engaging with supportive people- most of the time, people who have been where we've been will empathize, trust, love and care for us even when we can't. It's so important to feel valued when we've got broken relationships and don't even care for ourselves. We discuss how we often did have values, but we had to park them underground during addiction. We couldn't afford to do the right thing when using came first. These values can come to life in recovery, and we can start to visualize a destination which helps us decide where to go on the roadmap. Luckily, even if we're still rebuilding old relationships, the support we seek in recovery can help us on the road when we doubt ourselves and remind us that we are worth it and so is the journey.
Tool References: Nothing Matters (Toolkit 3), Something Matters (Toolkit 3)