Venting Relapsed on SH after two years of being clean. How do I overcome this?

[violinist]

Hey guys :) I am new to Sanctioned Suicide, but am trying hard to recover from my issues. To keep things brief because I am tired even writing this out, but I tried taking a new med to help my sleep issues. After two years of being clean, I relapsed hard with a RB all over my arm. I am taking care of it and just trying to take care of myself, but my head is always in pain and I am constantly depressed after this relapse. I haven't done this in two years and am feeling extremely guilty. Does anyone have any advice for passing this?

Thanks! :D

 

[asthedayends00]

What is RB?

 

[anapogi]

hello! im someone who's also been struggling with SH for quite a while now.
it's hard to not feel guilty after a relapse, but my biggest piece of advice - if you can consider it as such - would be to tell yourself that one (1!) day of relapsing is NOTHING compared to 730 days or so where you stayed strong. you're still recovering and there might be some days where you feel like you're failing pretty hard but that'd be closing your eyes on all the days where you did it!!
recovery is not a straight line towards inner peace, it's quite the bumpy ride, so please be patient with yourself
it might not be much but thinking this way personally helped me. i wish you the best, and take good care of yourself !!

 

[DiniMom]

The same happened to me, I was clean for years and then I've done it again.
Look, I understand that you feel guilty about it. I also know that it's harder to get clean again after that. But the good part is, you went TWO years without it! That's a lot! You can be proud of that time. I'm sure you can do it again, it's important to believe in yourself that you can always start again, a relapse is not a failure.

 

[violinist]

What is RB?

Razor blade, I don't know what gets centered here. Sorry!

 

[Loaf of bread]

Same happens to me sometimes, relapsing after months or years

Relapsing isn't unusual, its not uncommon to happen during recovery

I second the other replies in the thread, two years of staying clean is excellent, relapse does not diminish that; one relapse in two years is in no means frequent. No need to be ashamed or guilty about it, the fact that you're trying to stay clean and recover for so long is something to proud of!

I used to measure recovery by "time since last relapse" but I found that to be quite upsetting and distressing after a relapse

Currently I measure recovery by "general long-term frequency of relapses" instead of "time since last relapse" and I have been finding that a lot better in many ways if that helps?