[madisgram]

this is a long article but i felt it offers so much for all of us to use in our daily lives of recovery. in my active addiction self-loathing led to depression. then depression led to the drink, over and over the viscious cycle. in recovery i knew self loathing would keep knocking at my door and drinking would follow so i needed to overcome self loathing. a TALL task for me. i needed to learn to love myself and allow the healing to occur. today i have a positive perception of myself. i am proud of myself for achieving my goals in sobriety. but it is a life process, i'm not perfect by any means, but today i have a guide/12 steps of recovery/AA to help me on that journey. it's not the destination that is important but the journey of self discovery and improvement that is the key, imho.

Who in recovery from addiction doesn’t have skeletons in his or her closet – well, not actual skeletons, but actions, thoughts or words we now find repugnant, disgusting, disloyal, illegal, immoral and much more? The truth is that you can’t go through the horror of addiction, then treatment, and into recovery without facing squarely some of those memories you’d much rather forget. And facing them takes courage. Not facing them leaves you at a stalemate: not able to progress, but not yet sliding backward either. But how do you get past the trap of self-loathing? Is it just a matter of time, or are there specific things you can do?

http://www.promises.com/articles/add...self-loathing/
thanks to all who responded to my last thread on this topic. great suggestions!

I think when I loathed myself, I loathed others as well. Anyone who had a trait that I had and loathed in myself, I would loath them, as well as myself. Once I stopped loathing others, I was able to learn to not loath myself. It was a long path. It is worth it to not loath any longer.

I hope this experience of mine helps.

I'm not an authority, just an addict and consumer, mostly.