Forgiveness in Recovery is An Important Step in Healing
Forgiveness is a simple behavior. Yet it’s so complex in its machinations. Forgiveness in recovery requires letting go of a constant focus on something you’ve felt was wrong. This is central to the recovery process. Perhaps someone abused you, or perhaps they were absent from your life for a prolonged period. Perhaps the person you most need to find forgiveness for is yourself. Regardless of the recipient, one thing is clear: in order to forge a path forward, forgiveness in recovery is required.
The Path to Forgiveness in Recovery Requires Self-Compassion
To find forgiveness, you will have to begin to look at the hurts and where healing is needed. For you to do this without immediately spiraling into a cycle of shame, you’ll need to balance the knowledge that you caused hurt with some serious self-compassion.
Self-compassion looks like remembering what you knew at the time you made those decisions. The understanding of the way your mindset was operating. It involves allowing context into your evaluation of the choices you made. Drugs and the desperate attempt to find them are potent motivators. Beyond all else, it involves recognizing that at your core, you are a good person. You are worthy of love. And you are redeemable regardless of your past and that any experience of guilt is a healthy emotion telling you who you no longer want to be.
Along with the coping skill of self-compassion regarding the past, finding forgiveness in the recovery process also requires some active choices about how you will deal with the emotions that arise. It may mean doing this work while in the safety of a treatment center’s recovery environment, a therapist you trust or once you know how to quiet your mind’s ruminations.
Reframing Your Thoughts Towards Forgivness
When you feel more confident about your ability to choose healthier means of coping, call to mind some of your past behaviors as well as some of your past exchanges with your family. It’s time to confront the past as you begin to move into a healthier frame of mind. You can then hold those feelings of guilt and shame along with forgiveness and understanding simultaneously.
- “I stole from my parents, AND the substances clouded my vision, and my body was a slave to their effects.”
- “I lied to people I care about, AND I didn’t want to be confronted about what I was doing. They wouldn’t love me if they knew the truth.”
The difference between self-compassion and making excuses is that rather than suggesting that any of things were okay, we simply acknowledge the context of the moment. It is an “and” not a “but.”
Truly, this is difficult ground to navigate, but something that the work of treatment prepares you for. Working with the clinicians at a treatment center at any of The Right Step’s Texas locations, you will find the support you need to tread this difficult part of the path and still move towards your ultimate goal: lasting, sustainable recovery.
Connect with us today at 844-584-1356 to get started!
