Owning Up to Your Family and Friends about Your Addiction Problem
Addiction is a disease just like cancer and diabetes, but unfortunately, it is never easy to open up to your loved ones about your addiction problems. Psychologically, you will be pouring out your imperfections to people who are only supposed to see the best version of you. However, with the appropriate guidelines, you won’t have to worry about the hidden skeletons in your closet anymore.
What is your Addiction?
How to talk to your friends or family about getting help with addiction is not rocket science but clearly sounds like it. A lot of questions will be running on your mind, and if not careful, your emotions will overwhelm you in return. You will ask yourself questions like, where do I start? What if they judge me? How did I end up being such a mess? Will I ever recover?
Such questions mean nothing if you are still not willing to take responsibility for your actions. To clear your conscious, you should note that you are not the first addict and you won’t be the last. Everyone falls but getting back on your feet separates the strong from the weak.
Everyone is addicted to something be it drugs, the social media content, or the deep web and thus what makes you an addict is your inability to control how such things influence your life. Thus, you end up pushing yourself to an edge of moral destruction, and your character becomes impaired by the content or substance you regularly expose your inner self.
No one is born an addict, and no one has to live as an addict, and thus the following guidelines will help you come clean to your friends and family so as to receive the appropriate moral support through your recovery from addiction.
Where did it Start?
Firstly, no one wants to be an addict or addicted to anything as there is always a breeding ground that leads to the addiction behavior. The breeding ground may be at school, home, or the work environment and peer pressure from influential peers, high levels of stress, and the social media are its trigger.
At first, maybe you just thought you were hanging out with your pals and enjoying the little pleasures of life until it turned into something serious. Then the habit forced itself as a part of your character. You could no longer control yourself, and the fun part of the hangout turned you into a substance abuser.
The truth is a painful dose of reality and owning it will assist you through your rehabilitation process. Your loved ones will want to know where it all started as by hiding such facts from them might lead to a blame game. Do not let them take the fall. They will need to know if it is the environment that changed you or a specific sect of your friends. Just give them a reason.
If it is the environment, then your loved ones might consider changing it for a while so that you can regain control over your life once again. If it is your peers, then the appropriate council will be arranged for you.
Admit You Have a Problem
You will never find the courage to face your loved ones or any family member if you are still egotistical about the matter. No one is perfect; just admit that you made a mistake. Knowing that you went astray at some point in life will give you the strength to face your loved ones and admit your faults.
You will have the support of everyone through well wishes and prayers. Moreover, putting your guilt, ego, or pride aside will enable you to focus on your full recovery from the menace solely.
Take an Initiative
Taking the initiative simply means that you should be the one to take the first actionable step to show your willingness to change before facing your loved ones. Seek legal counsel or register at the nearest viable rehab center before meeting your loved ones. They will be happy to know that you became the bigger person by taking the first step towards change.
Moreover, research on the type of addiction you have and how best to cope with it. Your family members and friends will want to know your next move even if they don’t ask.
Talk To Someone Closest to You First
Maybe you are in sync with a loved one or a close member of the family; let that person know what troubles you. Admitting to that single person that you have a problem will give you the strength to face the rest of the family. That one person will give you courage and will be able to channel more strength in you to face the rest of the family members. They might even help soothe the process towards intervention.
When a particular loved one knows what you are going through, there will be less tension in the room when it comes to pouring out your heart to the rest of the family member(s). That involved person will act as an accomplice to your confession, and it will not be about you and the faults in your life anymore but about a broken piece of the family unit that needs fixing. It’s psychology 101.
Plead Your Case
After closely digesting all the above-stated facts, you should be ready to take an actionable cause by requesting a close gathering involving your family members and close friends. Be as honest as possible with your words and in the process seek their moral support for you are going to need it. Being an addict is one thing but recovering from an addiction is another thing.
Recovering from an addiction is mostly about the strength you draw from others and never about how strong you are. Admitting your faults will take you to the recovering phase and the moral support from your close friends and family members will act as the major contributor. You will be happy knowing that the people closest to you feel your pain and struggles.
