Rebuilding Relationships After Addiction: 3 Tips for Recovering Addicts
You may be feeling like you’ve lost a lot right now. Life after addiction can be very difficult for anyone trying to put the pieces back together. One of the hardest parts about addiction is losing the relationships with the people that you love.
All hope is not lost and you don’t have to settle for moving on without your support systems. If you feel as though you’ve become very distant with a lot of people in your life keep reading. Here’s 3 tips to help you with rebuilding relationships after addiction.
1. Reach Out To Them Apologetically
The last thing you probably wanted to do was to hurt anyone you loved. But, sometimes, it happens and it puts a huge strain on the relationship. The best thing you can do, in this case, is to reach out to the people who may be feeling upset about some of your words and actions and offer an apology.
Make sure the apology is personalized and genuine. Just saying “sorry” might not cut it. One of the true keys to rebuilding relationships after addiction is taking others’ feelings into consideration and showing them that you do truly care.
Strategies on opening up yourself to the forgiveness of another can often be taught by professionals if it seems to difficult of a task at the moment. You can read more here for information on this.
2. Ask Them What is Expected of You
An apology is well needed but it won’t fix the entire relationship. The problem most likely stemmed from your actions so you should definitely ask your loved ones how they expect you to act so that you can be clear on boundaries and inappropriate behaviors. This is the best way to avoid repeating an issue when you’re rebuilding relationships after addiction.
When you do this step you should be very open to what someone has to say about their expectations of your behaviors. You should also be ready to make real changes. Your supporters will usually give criticism out of love and for your greater good.
3. Be Consistent with New Actions and Behaviors
After you’ve established what actions and behaviors you should be displaying, don’t ever look back. Stick to your recovery from addiction by creating new healthy habits and remaining consistent in them.
It may be a deal breaking to rebuilding relationships after addiction if you’ve promised your loved ones that you would be a better person than you were before but you don’t stay true to your word.
Are You Ready For Rebuilding Relationships After Addiction?
This is a huge step in the road to recovery after addiction. Some issues that may have been created when you were having hard times may have destroyed a lot of relationships that you didn’t mean to ruin. But you can definitely begin to get back what you’ve lost by being genuine and putting your best foot forward.
When you try rebuilding relationships after addiction, you have to commit your mind to the changes that you are dedicated to making. Your family and friends will love and support you, but you need to show them that you don’t want to engage in certain behaviors anymore and that they can trust you again. If you need a little extra assistance and support with improving your life after recovery then check out our blog.