Family members are a core aspect of the recovery process. While your family can provide a great deal of support to you throughout the lifelong process of recovery, they are not responsible for holding you accountable. The family unit has its role to assist you through recovery – however, accountability is not part of that responsibility.
A Family’s Role in Recovery
A key role for your family to engage in throughout your recovery is to learn about the process of addiction. If your family lacks understanding of the addiction you are working to overcome, they may struggle to give you the support you need moving forward. Encouraging them to attend our family groups to learn about the basics of addiction can help them understand what you are experiencing and how they can help you work through it. The following key factors are important for families to understand when supporting a loved one in recovery:
- Addiction is a disease. Just because you have an addiction does not mean you lack moral standards.
- There are multiple treatments and recovery approaches. It may take time to find the right approach for you.
- Recovery is a life-long process.
- Medication-assisted treatment is essential at times to help you overcome an addiction. If you engage in this type of treatment, it does not mean you are using medications as a crutch to get by.
- Addiction can happen to anyone.
Another key role of the family is to support you through recovery. Going through the process of addiction recovery is not an easy obstacle for you or your family members. By receiving support from family members throughout the lifelong recovery process who are understanding of potential relapses or setbacks, you can feel confident that your support system has your best interest at heart. There are often mistakes made during recovery, but viewing these mistakes as learning opportunities can help you and your family move forward.
Holding Yourself Accountable
Your family may be of great assistance through the process of recovery, however, holding yourself accountable is essentially your responsibility. You can apply many different techniques to help hold yourself accountable and avoid putting that pressure on your family members. Accountability applies to many aspects of our life beyond the process of recovery.
Finding other enjoyable hobbies and activities that require some level of discipline and accountability can help you recognize the feeling of accountability in a positive situation. Once you can recognize this, you can focus your accountability on specific things that you struggle to accomplish. This can be applied to attending meetings, taking a daily inventory, or any other habit you wish to create.
By holding yourself accountable to small tasks throughout your day, you can begin to develop that attitude throughout other aspects of your treatment. When you are in a situation where your addictive tendency is highly prevalent to engage in, remember all of the aspects you have been able to hold yourself accountable for. These obstacles may be a way of God testing your accountability. Take initiative to stay away and handle the situation in a healthy way.
Have faith in yourself and your ability to hold yourself accountable. This choice may be difficult at times, but it can ultimately lead you to a path of greatness with each achievement. Many individuals struggle with accountability because they feel that their addiction is more influential than their minds. Overcoming this mental obstacle and choosing to follow your faith will be rewarding in the end.
How Family Can Play a Role in Accountability
Having the family unit by your side and encouraging your success can help you avoid self-isolation and maintain healthy support systems. Having your family involved can enable you to remain engaged in the treatment process and continue to motivate you through obstacles. Your family can also help remind you of your goals and encourage you to rethink situations that may cause you to stray away from your goals. However, the choice to follow through with your decisions is ultimately up to you.
While in your presence, family members can choose to avoid partaking in the types of activities associated with your state of addiction to help create a positive environment. For example, if you struggle with alcoholism, your family can avoid drinking at social events to help reduce the temptation for you. This is not a key responsibility for family members, but it can allow them to play a role in your accountability.
The family’s key role to play in accountability is to support you. They can encourage you to stay on a healthy path and influence you to make the best decisions possible. If your family does not do this in every situation, though, there is no fault on them. Accountability is important for you to maintain both during and after treatment, to ensure you are keeping up with your goals while avoiding being reintroduced into addictive behavior.
Accountability can be influenced and encouraged by family members; however, accountability for your actions is not their core responsibility. You are ultimately the only person in charge of holding yourself accountable and following through with your choices to overcome your addiction. When you are presented with two choices like having to either potentially experience a relapse or give up on perceived fun and escape the situation, the decision is ultimately yours. With the support of your family, you can stay motivated and remain on the path to long-term recovery success. Accountability is an important skill to adapt. There are many ways to improve your level of accountability and self-discipline. To learn more about holding yourself accountable and how your family can help play a role in your accountability, reach out to Renaissance Ranch today at (801) 308-8898. We are here to help.