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It is common for people to feel remorseful for all of the time they are lost to addiction. All of that suffering can appear completely pointless and unnecessary when they discover how easy it is to live a great life away from addiction. The truth is that not all of that pain needs to have been for nothing. We have listed some of the reasons for this below.
Where You Have Been Got You to Where You Are Now
If your life did not happen exactly as it did – good and bad – you would not be who you are right now. If you happen to like the person you are, it is important to understand that all of the suffering of addiction got you to this place. Much good can come from those years of addiction if it has brought you to a stage in your life where you finally feel happy.
What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger
There really is a great deal of truth in the old saying, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. The pain of addiction will have forced you to change your life, helping you become a better person. If this suffering had been even slightly less, it might never have given you the motivation to change your life. Plenty of people settled for a mediocre existence because things never get tough enough that they felt compelled to change.
You Know Now It Is Possible For You to Radically Change Your Life
The fact that you have been able to radically transform your life has provided indisputable evidence that you do have the power to change. This is not something that most people believe; you have probably heard the old saying about a leopard never changing its spots. The fact that you have made such a radical change to your own life means that you are going to be able to do it again in the future. You have the power to become almost anything you want, and this is the most powerful knowledge in the world.
You Are Better Able to Understand the Pain of Other People
The ability to identify with the pain of other people is a wonderful ability. It means that you can really empathise with what these individuals are going through instead of just feeling pity. This ability to share their pains means that you can really be in a great position to help them. The fact that you have managed to overcome your own problems is also going to make you an inspiration to those who are still struggling. The highest satisfaction in life comes from helping other people and your experience with the pain of addiction makes you better able to do this.
You Have Developed Better Coping Skills for Dealing with Life
In order to build a great life away from addiction, you need to develop effective coping strategies. In early recovery, these skills may only be effective enough to keep you sober; however, over time you will pick up increasingly powerful tools as you deal with life on life’s terms. The fact that you become much better at coping means that you develop the ability to face anything that life can send your way. You can eventually reach a stage where you experience a high level of serenity no matter what is happening in your life. This level of emotional sobriety is wonderful, being one of the real gifts of sober living. All the pain that you experienced during your years of addiction will have helped you to develop this high level of serenity.
