Читать книгу Meditations for Pain Recovery - Tony Greco - Страница 81

MARCH 10

CARING

RELATIONSHIPS

“. . . the essence of nursing is to help a patient, whether ill or well, live as independently as possible by helping him perform the daily activities he would otherwise perform if he had the necessary strength and ability.”

Of Character: Building Assets in Recovery

It’s natural and instinctive for some people to take care of themselves—not me. As a result of active addiction, I lost the ability to care for myself in healthy, loving, humane ways. I lost the instinct to provide for my needs. Things as simple as eating, grooming, resting, and recreation—normal human experiences—became secondary to fixing my chronic pain with the abuse of pain medication.

As a result of recovery, I make an effort to care for myself, making conscious, concerted efforts to do things for myself. Part of self-care is being disciplined with the care I provide, going out of my way to make sure to monitor that I’m caring for myself, until doing so becomes second nature again. Eventually the brain will rewire, and doing things for myself will once again become habitual. Until that time, my physical health is too important for me to ignore the discipline of caring for myself.

I provide myself with the care my body deserves, until my body can care for itself, so that I can do the right things for myself as a matter of course.