You’re a tremendous liar who promised to help me when I was scared. I have realized that My health has deteriorated, my children have been taken away, and I don’t have a job to support myself. I believed your promises and lost track of things that matter.
- But I am happy to say both my daughter and I are now sober, and our family has become much different as a result.
- In order to survive my addiction, I killed my soul.
- There is profound freedom in truth.
- You know the truth deep down, that this lifestyle your living isn’t ok.
- In one case study, researchers looked at self-forgiveness as a therapeutic tool for moving past guilt and shame.
- This is something that will help define who you are as an individual.
My Personal and Professional Life Turned To Dust
Not only does it support the individual’s well-being, but research shows that it’s vital to long-term sobriety. As a person in recovery myself, I have also had to write a different sort of letter in the past several years. For me, writing a letter to my alcoholic daughter was more difficult than even looking at myself and saying goodbye to my own use.
Goodbye Letter to Addiction: Template & Example
You took almost everything away from me. Eventually, you took everything away from me. You told me that as long as I let you control everything in my life, everything would be okay. It has become clear that everything is not okay.
A Letter to My 10-Year-Old Self from a Person in Recovery
You are going to mess up a few times. You will have to go treatment more than once. This is going to take you a minute to figure out.
- You are smart, and you are insightful.
- Michael J. Rounds is the author of 10,000 Days Sober and an addiction recovery specialist at a correctional facility in Indiana.
- The only thing you should focus on is crafting a personal document that reflects your unique thoughts and feelings, and that helps you move toward a brighter tomorrow.
So don’t you dare think twice about not doing this. You will make it through everything, the heart break, the withdrawal, the cravings, the insecurity, the pain, the doubt, the relapses, all of it. You will make it through and you will eventually be sitting here writing this letter like I am now. Too often during recovery, individuals yearn to completely forget the past. Moving on is important, but living a life of fulfillment requires forgiving oneself for the past.
- Their belief in your ability to overcome fueled your determination to keep moving forward.
- But I don’t really know if that’s true.
- Shame and guilt are strong feelings.
- You won’t sleep at night because of guilt.
- Through the inevitable ups and downs, you’ve steadfastly navigated the challenges, emerging stronger and more adaptable with each hurdle overcome.
Benefits of Writing a Goodbye Letter to an Addiction
Your drug addicted self knows that there are people who are going to make you feel like you aren’t worth anything. Like you are the worst thing that has happened to them and their friends. They are going to make you feel so low. I am here to tell you to forget them.
Connect with Ingrained Recovery for Exceptional Treatment Support
In this treatment modality, participants learn… One of the things that will happen to you in life is that you become addicted to alcohol. I wish that this were something that had not happened in your life, but that is not the case. You spend about five years battling this demon and this is something that nearly took your life. Someone suggested that I write drug addiction treatment a letter to my past addicted self.
Any time I had a moment of clarity and entertained the idea of recovery, you talked me out of it. You controlled everything, and it was for your own self-preservation. You were the greatest thief of all time.
The Acceptance
As a result, I know I have to leave you. I have tried to leave you in the past; however, every time I try to leave you behind, you simply come back stronger than ever before. I realized that the only way I could be able to leave you would be addiction letter to self if I hit rock bottom first. The only thing is that I didn’t know exactly what rock bottom meant. How much more do I have to lose before I’m willing to leave you for good? No, I am making the decision to leave you now.