If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Fear is a natural part of our experience as human beings, and the common fears that so many of us struggle with are universal elements of human nature. Looking at the fears that many of us grapple with, one of the most common and pervasive ones is a fear of inadequacy. So many of us feel like we simply aren’t good enough, like we won’t measure up to other people no matter how hard we try. Our fear of being inadequate makes us feel inferior to other people, easily threatened by other people, competitive and deeply insecure. We can experience jealousy and envy in our daily lives and in our relationships. Whenever we don’t feel grounded within ourselves, whenever we don’t feel like we’re good enough, we’re chipping away at our sense of self which ultimately can derail our mental health. Very often our addictions are a coping mechanism to avoid facing a particular issue, and to try to escape having to feel difficult emotions. One of the things we most try to escape are our feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. We seek validation in unhealthy relationships. We feel more confidence when we’re drinking or using. We temporarily lose the nagging insecurity and self-doubt when were high. Because the high of our drug of choice feels so much better than the pain of our self-hatred, we return to our addictions over and over again in a desperate attempt to find relief from our emotional self-sabotage.

Our mental and emotional health has everything to do with our self-esteem. There is no way we can be at peace within ourselves or find stability in our lives if we’re constantly feeling like we’re not good enough. We become consumed with proving ourselves. We compete against anyone we perceive to be a threat to us in our careers, in our relationships and in our day-to-day experiences with others. We feel desperately afraid that our partner will leave us for someone better. We envy other people’s happiness and success. We can be filled with bitterness, resentment and anger towards the people we perceive to be happier than we are. We feel an aching sadness and a sinking feeling of hopelessness. We experience anxiety, depression, panic attacks and other mental health issues as a result. We go to great lengths to alter our appearance, to hide aspects of our personalities and to control how people perceive us so that they don’t see the glaring inadequacies that we perceive in ourselves. We can feel as though all of these changes are useless, that we’ll never be good enough, so why bother? Our deeply rooted feelings of inadequacy and inferiority can even cause us to feel suicidal.

The more we learn about addiction, the more we know that our substance use and addictive behaviors are merely symptoms of deeper issues. We must examine the underlying fears that are causing us so much pain if we are to truly heal ourselves.

Our treatment programs are comprehensive, profound and transformative, to help you achieve the recovery you deserve. Call 888-570-7154 today for more information.