Happy Valentine’s Day. It’s the perfect day of the year to talk about the importance of self-love and how it’s essential for addiction recovery. While addiction recovery is far from easy, you can make it a bit easier by treating yourself with kindness and forgiving yourself for past deeds. A little self-love can go a long way in helping you build confidence and make better, brighter choices in life. If you have love and respect for yourself, you’ll be that much more inclined to nurture your mind, body and spirit and do the hard work of recovery. Certainly, you won’t automatically begin loving yourself because it’s Valentine’s Day, but you can take a few minutes today to build and improve upon a love relationship with yourself. And, similar to other relationships, it’s really the little things that count. Try these small gestures to show yourself a bit of love and appreciation today and every day.

• Write yourself a love note.  Even if you write it down and toss it out, take a minute to jot down one thing you love about yourself or why you deserve to have a great, sober day today!
• Make time to meditate. Meditation can help you find inner peace and tune out negative self-talk. Start with five minutes of quiet meditation and consider writing in a journal afterward to document your feelings.
• Quell negative thinking. You wouldn’t talk down to or criticize a friend or loved one so why do it to yourself? The best way to stop negative self-talk is to become more aware of it. Try putting an elastic band on your right wrist and, if you criticize yourself today, move it to your left as a reminder to stop.
• Enjoy little pleasures. Self-love is about enjoying your sober life, so take a long shower, do a little yoga, whip up a nutritious snack, do a crossword puzzle or meet a friend for some coffee.
• Celebrate small wins. Recovery is a long journey so it’s important to stop and appreciate the small wins and the efforts you made to make them happen. Take a minute to pat yourself on the back for any recovery milestones or victories along the way.

Learning Self-Love at Segue For more information about how our addiction recovery services can help you or someone you love care for your physical, spiritual and emotional health in order to be your best sober self, contact a Segue Recovery Specialist today: 833-485-0789.