Now that you’re in a Florida treatment center, restoring your relationships is a top priority. Of all your relationships, your relationship with your parents is one of the most important ones you will ever have. Even though you may have lived on your own for years, working to improve your relationship with them can be well worth the effort and very possible.
Since addiction is first and foremost a family disease, you need to acknowledge the impact it has had on you, your parents, and your relationships with each other. The broken trust, disappointment, and frustration one or all of you probably feel didn’t appear overnight and can’t instantly disappear no matter how bright your outlook on recovery. Moreover, each one of you has different experiences, perspectives, and ways the past continues to influence your relationships.
Guidelines for Growing Relationships
While your relationship with your parents is one-of-a-kind and so is your recovery process, some general guidelines can help you as you rebuild trust, increase your bond, and live into the future together.
- Let go of the past. You can’t change it; you can only learn from it. It’s time to move on.
- Take the initiative. Call them first. Reaching out to your parents demonstrates courage, humility, and significantly improved coping skills than you’ve most likely displayed in a long time.
- Tell them what you want. Being direct about what you would like from your relationships with your parents. Most likely, you’ve used your parents for money or other resources to fuel your habit. Be specific about how you are changing your life and how you welcome their presence.
- Enlist professional help. Since every interaction with your parents is high-stakes communication, running possible conversation ideas and techniques by a trained professional counselor can help you say what you mean to say. Working with a therapist can also help you sound more polished like someone who really is getting their life together.
If you’re reading this and thinking that your relationship with your parents needs an impossible amount of work, you’re not alone. Our expert counselors are ready to give you the guidance you need 24 hours a day. Give us a call at 833-846-5669 and begin your journey to restored relationships with your parents.