Inner Critic in Recovery #recoveryispossible

The inner critic is that voice, and you know it because you have experienced it. It has a special tone, special quality, has its own distinct personality, and it's different than your voice. And that is the voice that tells you that what you did is not good enough, or you're going to fail at that, or you are a failure. All those messages that we call intrusive thoughts, and they come from that inner critic. Doesn't have to do with just recovery. It's also in every aspect of your life— work, friends, when you're at home alone, whatever you're out there doing. That inner critic voice will come and try to control you. Typically, the inner critic voice sounds like someone from your past, usually an authority figure. So the cycle usually goes like this: something happens in our life, the inner critic starts to become harsh and judgmental, we feel shame and guilt around who we are and what we're doing in life, That triggers a craving because our body knows what makes us feel better is to use crystal meth. Then we relapse, and then we feel even more shame and guilt. The inner critic makes us feel even worse about ourselves, and then the cycle begins again. It all starts because we have listened to this inner critic voice. The first thing you have to understand is this inner critic voice is trying to protect you. It's trying to keep you from feeling discomfort and pain. It's anticipating that you're going to fail, and when you do, you're going to feel worse about yourself. So it actually has your best interest at heart. Oftentimes we villainize this inner critic. We turn against it, and when we turn against it, we're turning against ourselves. There are ways to try to get to know this inner critic and understand what its agenda is, and then we change the agenda so that you're working together. This is something that we do in my program. If you're interested, just let me know.