Self-esteem is a sense of confidence, self-respect, and satisfaction with oneself. It is important to your recovery because it reflects your thoughts and feelings about your sense of self-worth. If you usually have positive thoughts about yourself, your self-esteem is likely high. But if you focus on negative thoughts about yourself, it is probably low. Accepting that you’re addicted to alcohol or other drugs can be hard on your self-esteem. For most of us, our idea of an addict is partially based on social prejudices, cultural beliefs, or movie and television characters, which often portrays an inaccurate picture. In the past, you may have thought of addicts as losers or failures, or as people in the gutter of life—which is certainly not the way you want people to see you.
One way to improve your self-esteem is to envision your idea of a rewarding and fulfilling life and begin to see yourself there. Action for the Day Find a quiet time and place to relax, breathe deeply, and answer the following questions: If you could create a wonderful, but realistic, sober life for yourself—a life not defined by addiction—what would it be like? Where do you want to be a year from now? Is there anything you could do now to make these things happen? Thought for the Day “Each day I practice seeing myself as the person I am becoming—not as the person I was.” Quoted from the app COR-12.Four Rivers Behavioral Health Center for Specialized Addiction Services.
Other recourse: https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/addiction/types-of-addiction/opioids