A 12-step program fosters long-term recovery through spirituality, growth, and accountability. Each step presents challenges that encourage change in mindset and behavior. Mutual Aid, peer led support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous guide members to work through these steps to maintain sobriety and help others. Making any type of amends can be challenging, but in this article, we’ll focus on living amends and tips for how to make them. If you or a loved one is struggling to stay sober or needs help maintaining sobriety while working the 12 Steps, Eudaimonia Recovery Homes can help. Call us or fill out our online contact form today to get started.
Navigating the Process of Making Amends in Recovery
Guilt and shame anchor people to their past and trap them in old ways that prevent them from growing and moving on with their lives. By tackling step nine, recovering alcoholics can be freed from their past, including addiction. Making amends is vital for the recovery journey as it helps us recognize the harm we have caused and take responsibility for our actions. By compensating the people we have hurt, us in long term recovery can begin to mend the ruptured relationships and rebuild trust while staying sober. Making amends is a crucial yet daunting step in the recovery journey, particularly for those overcoming addiction.
- Making amends is more than just an apology, it’s changing your life around and changing your ways; eliminating the destructive behaviors that were once part of your life.
- These involve acknowledging faults and resolving to live well in the future to make up for past wrongs.
- Making living amends is not just about apologizing to your friends and family.
- There are many profound differences between giving someone an apology and making amends with them.
- Making amends is the best way to reconnect with the people who have been deeply hurt as a result of your actions.
- At Augustine Recovery, we understand how addiction affects the family unit.
When and Why Do People Make Living Amends?
Your loved ones and relationships felt the ripples of your addiction, so now Drug rehabilitation is the time to consider that impact on them. Make a physical list of the harm you caused (whether intentional or not) and categorize it by impact. Step 9 aims to provide you with personal peace of mind, as well as healing in your relationships.
- They help navigate the complexity of making amends, advising on whether the suggested form of amends is appropriate and constructive.
- So we can skip the long-winded speeches and just be mom or dad.
- When someone is in active addiction, they may lie, steal, break promises, or hurt people emotionally.
- This step ensures that you are grounded and clear about your intentions and the potential impact of your actions.
- The lady you need to talk to isn’t in.” So I called Monday, and they said Tuesday.
Who wrote living sober?
To fix broken relationships, you have to put a lot of effort into making things work. It’s not enough to say to someone that you apologize and feel badly for how you acted in the past. It takes a certain maturity and level of respect for yourself and the person you’re hoping to reconnect with to get past any past issues.
By listening to them, you can begin to do the work necessary to repair the harm. Unlike fixing an object you broke, repairing the damage won’t come from a one-time act. Instead, it requires consistency in how you show respect and care for this person on an ongoing basis. The 9th Step is a crucial and transformative part of the recovery journey in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Moving Towards Healing: Making Amends in Recovery
We’ve given you journaling exercises around coping with regret. The goal at this point is simply to become willing to make your amends when the time comes. It won’t be easy, and you’ll likely feel waves of regret washing over you.
The Emotional Complexity of Making Amends
And finally, we are very aware that in order to keep this feeling of freedom, we’ll need to keep on applying what we’ve learned while working the steps. When we do this this we gain a new perspective and the promises of the Ninth Step come true in our lives. I’m sure you’ve heard that the steps living amends meaning are written in a specific order for a reason. That reason is that each step provides the spiritual preparation we’ll need for the following steps.
