At the end of the day, you crawl into bed, and all you have is you. You are the one who has to live with you for your whole life. Understanding yourself and being kind to your mind and body is essential to leading a happy life. Still, there are many people who struggle with loving themselves.
You look in the mirror, and you nitpick your body. Acne, body weight, size, blemishes, hair, nails, the list goes on. It can be challenging to accept your body for what it is and care for it. People go to great lengths to cover up their insecurities with clothes, diet, and exercise. While there are a great many things you can do to cover it up, it still does not solve the problem that you are uncomfortable in your own skin.
Many people have been known to turn to drugs and other unhealthy behaviors, trying to fix their problems. Anorexia, which is a lack or loss of appetite. Bulimia, which is the desire to lose weight through overeating and purging or fasting. Extreme exercising to the point where your body is exhausted and starving. There are also crazy diets you can try, pills, and catching illnesses.
Turning to drugs is a common choice among people trying to create the perfect body image for themselves. A symptom of cocaine is a loss of appetite, drugs like heroin results in sudden weight loss, and steroids help you to bulk up muscle easier.
You pick up the substance or habit to help make you feel better, but the truth is it does not always make you feel better about yourself. A common thought is that when you reach your goal of extreme weight loss or all that muscle that you will stop abusing your body, but that is not always the case. You have been looking at your body so negatively for so long that often when you do reach your goal, you are not satisfied.
Soon enough, you are enveloped in a spiral of using. Your body is being broken by drug use. You may have only intended to use substances for one specific goal. Often, people become addicted accidentally. We think, “I won’t get addicted. Not me.”
Substance abuse does not develop overnight. Some drugs are more likely to cause you to become addicted almost immediately, but substance abuse takes time. The more you take it, the more your body hurts. You might notice that you are losing or gaining weight like you desire and become happy that it is working and use more. While you are not instantly seeing the harm it is causing you, it is there building up.
Upon taking illicit drugs, you may begin to notice unpleasant physical side effects. You discover sores on your skin, a pale complexion, rotting teeth, needle marks, and burns covering your arms and face. Not only does this affect your outside appearance but it destroys you from the inside out. Your cardiovascular system shuts down, your metabolism changes, your brain is in a frenzy, not knowing what to do with these new chemicals. Your risks of stroke and heart attacks shoot up.
You may have picked up substances to alter your body. However, in the end, you are still going to be unhappy with yourself. You might even look more negatively upon yourself because of the drugs’ negative impact on you. On top of all of that, you can start to feel unhealthy. Fatigue, nausea, and withdrawals make it harder for you to do your daily routines. If you turn to drugs to fix your body, then you are more likely to develop poor eating and nutrition habits as well.
If you do not like the way your body looks, there are healthy ways you can go about helping yourself to become the best you can be. Eating disorders and substance abuse are not going to solve your problems. Loving the skin you are in is an essential thing for your mental and physical health. Professional help is available to help you maintain a healthy body through counseling and educated eating habits.
If you have found yourself using drugs to change your appearance, you must seek help. Substance abuse can wreck your life and make it even harder to think positively about yourself. There may be multiple things that can be done to help you and your addiction through detox, counseling, and education. You can learn to love yourself.
If you’ve found your substance abuse dictating how you feel about yourself, it might be time to get help. Unsure of what services would be the best fit for you? Call Steps Recovery Centers today – 385-250-1701- to talk with one of our trained clinicians. With levels of care from outpatient to residential, we can meet you where you are and help boost your journey to recovery.
