It’s not often discussed just how important patience and self-compassion are to the recovery process. Those recovering from addiction and other co-occurring mental health conditions must grapple with some serious truths. Their actions may have harmed people, maybe even their loved ones. They may have also caused harm to themselves. Mistakes were made and consequences were quick to follow. These truths can weigh down a person in recovery with feelings of guilt and shame. Left unaddressed, these feelings can fester and sabotage the healing process.
Mental health care and addiction treatment facilities like Driftwood Recovery understand the importance of patience and self-compassion in the recovery process. Guilt and shame are natural feelings we feel when we have caused harm. However, you must be able to move on from these feelings so you can continue with life. Learning how to focus on the lessons learned from these experiences and not default to self-punishment is important.
Practicing the values of patience and self-compassion can be difficult, but it is possible with professional help.
What Is Patience and Self-Compassion?
Patience is the ability to endure challenging or undesirable circumstances without getting upset or angry. In addiction treatment and recovery, clients must not get angry at themselves for needing time to heal. Steps like detoxing and withdrawal management must be done carefully and cannot be rushed for the safety of the client. The value of patience allows you to accept professional help and stick with it until it is complete.
Self-compassion is being kind and forgiving to yourself during times of failure, suffering, and perceived inadequacy. If you can extend basic humanity to others, you can also do so to yourself. Life can be a struggle. There’s no reason to make it harder for yourself, regardless if you feel you deserve it or not. Being kinder to yourself allows you to be receptive of help and internalize inner feelings of courage and self-worth — all of which are needed for successful recovery.
Why Is Patience and Self-Compassion So Important?
These values are critical because they prevent people from falling into destructive behavioral and thought patterns. Self-punishment is perhaps the worst of them all as it encourages people to inflict harm on themselves to “make up” for past actions. Usually, these actions are accompanied by feelings of worthlessness, which can further negatively affect mental health. The problem with self-punishment is that it escalates. No matter how much you punish yourself, it will never feel like it’s enough.
True accountability comes with patience and self-compassion. It’s normal to be hard on yourself after making a serious mistake. However, most people can eventually forgive themselves and move on. Being unable to do so stifles growth and prevents you from becoming the healthier and more experienced person you were meant to become. Practices like self-degradation keep these hard learned lessons from sticking, which invalidates the hardships you overcame.
As a human being, you deserve kindness and patience. Embracing these values ensures that you not only treat yourself better, but other people as well.
Utilizing Patience and Self-Compassion in Recovery
Learning how to be kinder to yourself is not a quick or easy process. It takes time to unlearn toxic behavioral and thought patterns that hold you back from recovery. To address this, Driftwood Recovery utilizes psychotherapies as a treatment method. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most common psychotherapy used to help you recognize harmful patterns and make meaningful changes.
Recovery also takes time — as it’s a journey, not a race. Every addiction, person, and life experience is different. Comparing your progress to others does nothing but make you feel bad. Instead, focus on taking your time so you can fully absorb what you learn and practice in treatment. Group therapy helps put recovery in perspective for many clients. Someone may seem like they have everything together, but they still may struggle internally. So don’t compare your progress with that of others. Instead, focus on making goals and achieving milestones, even if it takes a little more time than others.
Practicing patience and self-compassion is a way to inspire hope within yourself during and after treatment. Recovery is not a straight line. There will be times when it seems like you’re going backward. However, the truth is that you are still moving forward as long as you are receptive to asking for and receiving help.
Putting These Values Into Practice
As concepts, patience and self-compassion can be hard to internalize. It requires in some cases to create an entirely new mindset. However, they become more easily remembered by putting them into practice.
Giving back to the community is one way to utilize patience and self-compassion. Volunteer work is a favored activity for alumni at Driftwood Recovery because it reinforces these values in a more relaxed setting. Once you start to help other people, you realize that there isn’t much separating yourself from them. They deserve compassion and understanding, so why don’t you?
Surrounding yourself with a peer network and support group is another way to put patience and self-compassion into practice. Your loved ones are patient with you, and in time you can learn to be patient too. They love you, so surely there is something inside you worth being loved. Your friends and family can’t be wrong if they all love and care about you.
Of course, it’s always okay to seek further help should you have difficulties, even if you finished treatment. At Driftwood Recovery, you aren’t only a client; you are also a member of our community and family. Be patient and loving to yourself by reaching out for help today. You deserve patience and self-compassion, no matter the addiction or mental health condition.
It’s hard to be kind to yourself during and after recovery. For many, they feel as though they need to suffer to “make up” for their actions. However, this is not a healthy mindset, and ends up causing more harm rather than healing. Part of recovery is learning healthy mindsets, which include the need to be kinder and more patient to oneself. Doing so facilitates the healing process and allows for lasting recovery. At Driftwood Recovery in Driftwood and Austin, Texas, clients learn these valuable skills and more as part of our comprehensive addiction treatment program. If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, don’t wait. Call Driftwood Recovery today at (512) 759-8330.