Some may say that honesty is the foundation of any healthy relationship. So why wouldn’t that include the relationships you develop during addiction recovery with a therapist, recovery coach, peer, or family member? Honesty in recovery is critical to the overall journey. That includes being honest with others and with yourself, but as most of us know, it can be challenging. That’s because, in order to be honest, we must be vulnerable, and vulnerability can be a scary place to be.
You’re not alone if you’re struggling with honesty in your recovery journey. Millions of people grapple with the reality of their addiction and find difficulty in sharing their truth with the world. At Rancho Recovery, you can come to terms with the reality of your condition and find the healing you need to live your truth and be open and honest with yourself and loved ones, free of addiction.
Why Is Honesty in Recovery Essential to the Journey?
When in active addiction, we tend to keep secrets. Many go to extremes to maintain the secrecy of their addiction. Lying becomes a habit. When we lie to ourselves, it causes a sense of complacency or the struggle of living in denial. However, when we lie to our loved ones, it breaks down trust.
Honesty in recovery is essential for a few main reasons. For starters, it sheds light on your struggle with drugs and alcohol. With everything out in the open, you can seek the treatment you need.
Additionally, being honest with your loved ones is one of the first steps toward rebuilding their trust. So, what does being honest with your loved ones look like during recovery?
Being Honest With Your Loved Ones
Addiction recovery can be challenging. Some days, it truly takes a village just to make it to the next day. Having a strong support system is tough if you’re on the outs with the people in your life. You’ll have plenty of time to mend the relationships in your life throughout your recovery, but starting with honesty is key.
Being honest with your loved ones about addiction requires you to be upfront. That may include having hard conversations about things you’ve done or things that’ll be hard for your people to hear. Nevertheless, the hard conversations are critical, and they’ll help you learn to be open and honest with others throughout recovery, for instance, your therapist.
Learning to be Honest and Vulnerable With Your Therapist
Therapy is a critical component of the overall recovery process. However, therapy is only as effective as you allow it to be. To get to the root cause of your addiction and begin healing, you must be honest and vulnerable with your therapist. You can become more vulnerable with your therapist by:
- Starting slow and becoming more comfortable simply talking
- Preparing for therapy by journaling and getting your thoughts in order
- Discussing fears and reservations about being vulnerable with peers
- Managing your expectations and understanding the therapy will take time and work
- Being honest and telling your therapist about any concerns you have about vulnerability and honesty in recovery
Before being honest with your loved ones or a therapist, you must be honest with yourself. What exactly does that mean, though?
Being Honest With Yourself
At its core, the most crucial time to be honest with yourself about addiction is early on. As mentioned, we can often be complacent or live in denial when it comes to addiction. To seek recovery and begin the healing process, we must be honest with ourselves and accept our addiction.
Upon entering treatment, professionals will work with you in a number of different ways. That includes teaching you how to talk to your loved ones about addiction and consistently be honest with yourself about your progress. Doing so helps you maintain accountability, which is essential to a successful recovery journey.
You’ll also have countless times to practice honesty in recovery, especially for those who follow the Twelve Steps.
Honesty in Recovery and Making Amends Through the Twelve Steps
12-Step programs are a guide that helps people navigate their recovery journey. Steps eight and nine are particularly crucial to mending relationships and gaining support. They’re also an excellent way to practice being honest with yourself and your loved ones. Step eight involves making a list of individuals we’ve harmed and are willing to make amends to. The ninth step revolves around making amends when possible and without hurting others.
These steps require you to be honest about how you’ve hurt others and have open conversations with them about the past. Though challenging, these steps are critical to containing your path to recovery with a clean conscience and open heart. If you’re looking to amend your life and free yourself from the chains of addiction, the first step is being honest with yourself. Contact us at Rancho Recovery to start your journey of honesty and recovery today.
The path to recovery requires many steps, which is why many prefer to use a 12-Step program to guide themselves through the journey. However, before anyone can start recovery, they must be honest with themselves and others about their struggle with addiction. Honesty in recovery is critical for anyone looking to get sober. Honesty gets you to treatment, and it gets you through treatment. Even though being honest comes with a lot of hard conversations, they’re all worth it if it means the opportunity to live a life free from active addiction. You can start learning to be honest with yourself and your loved ones today by calling Rancho Recovery at (877) 484-1447.