Hello, everyone. This is Searita from Burning Love Outreach. And we are here today to talk about why you should forgive yourself.

First of all, you should forgive yourself so that you can be successful in your recovery process from drug and alcohol abuse. And when you choose to forgive yourself, you’re making a mature decision that “I am changing the trajectory of my life.” No longer are you willing to play the blame game anymore, because usually when you’re an active user of alcohol and drugs, you play the blame game. You blame everybody else for your mistakes, for things that are happening in your life when it’s actually you who have caused these things to happen. But you have to get to the point of where you say, “I choose to forgive myself.” And so you can move forward in your recovery process. Because as an active user, you probably have done a lot of bad things. You probably have cheated on your spouse. You probably have stolen from people that you love. You may have screwed up your job, or your career even committed crimes that you normally would have not done if you hadn’t been under the influence of drugs. So for those who are in the recovery process or those who are considering changing their life for the better, learn to forgive yourself so that you can be successful at whatever it is that you put your hands to and that you can leave the life of drugs behind you.

All of your mistakes, you cannot undo. None of us can undo the mistakes that we have made, but we can put our best foot forward and to changing our lives for the better. And we know that addiction is a chronic illness and you’re really not a bad person, you’re just a sick person who needs a chance to recover. And once you make that decision that I am going to forgive myself for all the things that I have done, then you’re on the right road to success.

And if you like, it’ll be a great idea if you could amend relationships that have been severed because of your drug use. If you can do that with certain individuals, I would suggest that you try to do it. But if you can’t, you know what, still continue to move forward in your recovery process. And those that you can go to and ask for their forgiveness, say that you’re sorry, do it. Stand up to your mistakes. Take responsibility for the things that you have done wrong so that you can just continue to move forward.

And I know many of us and me too, I’ve walked this road. I’ve been in your shoes. Those who are using drugs or those who are in recovery, I have been in your shoes. That’s why this outreach has been started. Burning Love Outreach has been started so that I can help those who are in the recovery process and those who are addicted to drugs, but you have to start somewhere. And the place that you start is admitting that you have a problem and then admitting that you need to forgive yourself so that you can get the proper help that you need.

The best decision that you can make for you and your loved ones is to start making different choices. And a lot of times family has been hurt so deeply by your drug use that trust has been betrayed and they don’t trust you anymore. And you have to earn that trust back. But if they see that you are making solid choices, that you’re really putting in effort to change your life, most family members are willing to step in and help you and forgive you. Because deep down they love you, but your drug use has changed their outlook because you became dishonest and they couldn’t trust you. So when that happens, a lot of hurt takes place. And we have to try to get over that hurt and restore the love. And hopefully forgiveness is in their hearts and they can forgive you so that they can truly support you in your recovery process.

Now you may say, well, how do I forgive myself? You know what, you could start by writing down the things that you have done. Write down all of the bad things that you’ve done, all the people that you have hurt, and just go over it and process in your mind the way that you want to make up for this. And then hopefully you could share your feelings with someone. Because if you’re in drug rehab, they usually have meetings. There are groups, there are sponsors, there are ministers, there are counselors that you could talk to. It’s really important, I believe, is to sit down and speak to someone about the things that you have done so that you can get the proper help that you need. One on one conversations with individuals work really well. If you’re comfortable sitting down with someone, with a counselor, a minister, a sponsor, or someone, and talk about these things, they usually can give you very good advice on how to start that process of forgiving yourself and restoring your relationship with your loved ones.

You definitely don’t want to make the mistake of speaking to someone who would be judgemental. That’s not the type of person that you want to speak to. I would suggest speaking to someone who has been down this road before, or a professional who could help you to start that forgiveness process and move forward. You got to get in the habit also of giving yourself credit because as an ex crack addict myself, every day that you don’t use is a good day when you are in the recovery process. Every day that you do not use as a good day. So start giving yourself credit, give yourself a pat on the back for every day that you are successful, every day that you do not relapse and go back and use. It’s okay to do that. It’s okay to praise yourself, long as you don’t become arrogant or boastful, but to give yourself credit for yes, I made it through another day. I made it through another day. That’s okay. And I want you to learn to congratulate yourself every day.

And also you can make affirmations. Affirmations are very good. That you affirm that I forgive myself. I love myself. I’m going to do better. I am doing better. I am the child of a king. Whatever affirmations are that you decide to make, make those affirmations every day and you will be successful.

Now, if you want to reach out to Burning Love Ministry, well Burning Love Outreach, I must say. We are here for you. We want to help you. Thank you for watching this video. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us. You can go to our website, burningloveoutreach.org, that’s the best place, just to go to our website because you can contact us there. You can put in a prayer request there, you can put a testimony there. And also we are asking for other individuals who are out there, if you would please consider partnering with us because this is a nonprofit organization and your financial help is appreciated so that we can continue to work and put information out for those who are addicted to drugs and those who are trying to recover.

We want to help them. We want to be here for them, and we would appreciate your support of this outreach so that we can continue to change lives and help people to get on the right track, stay on the right track, follow up with them and to help them to become a part of society again. So thank you for watching this video and bye-bye for now.