When we are embroiled in the turmoil and pain of addiction, there are multiple things going on at the same time, all of which are affecting us on a very deep level. We’re inundating our bodies with toxic substances. We’re engaging in harmful behaviors and risky, dangerous activities. We’re thinking self-deprecating and self-harming thoughts, perpetuating self-destructive thought patterns. We’re usually not getting the help we need to treat our mental health, and our very serious mental illnesses go untreated. Emotionally we’re not taking the time to understand our feelings. We’re not learning how to manage, process or integrate our emotions in healthy ways. We’re not developing healthy coping mechanisms, we’re suppressing our feelings, and we’re not learning how to communicate how we feel to other people.
All of these things take a huge toll on our spirits, our inner connection to our true selves and to our higher power. We very often fall into patterns of neglecting our spiritual health, which adds to our unwellness and contributes to our addictions, alongside our depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. When we neglect our spirits, we turn away from the truth of who we are. We get lost in confusion, overwhelm and inner conflict. We fall into cycles of self-destruction and self-sabotage. We never learn what it means to truly love ourselves. Our inner critic overwhelms the voice of our intuition and drowns out our connection to the deeper parts of who we are. We get distracted by the noise and clutter of superficial issues and drama. Our relationships become more and more toxic. We become unhappier by the day.
Our spiritual wellness affects everything we think, feel and do. Without being well spiritually, our mental, emotional and physical health inevitably suffer. We feel our spiritual disconnection acutely, often without being able to articulate it or verbalize it. We don’t know why we’re in so much pain, but we feel completely disconnected from our true essence. We don’t know who we are. We beat ourselves up and hate ourselves, in misguided attempts to prove ourselves and our worth. All of these emotions are often catalysts for our addictive behaviors. We try to escape our pain with addictive substances and activities, hoping to make ourselves feel better. Our attempts to distract ourselves from our pain, to numb ourselves and avoid our feelings, are all usually futile. They catch up with us eventually, usually when we’ve hit rock bottom and can no longer bear the pain we’ve been inflicting upon ourselves. Neglecting our spiritual health is one of the biggest contributors to our unhappiness, and therefore to our addictions.
Discover the value and meaning of your life, including the hardships but also the joy. Bayview Recovery is here to help you do just that. Call 888-570-7154 today for more information on how we can help.
