The Science of Step 9 AA: How Making Amends Can Help

Repairing the hurt and mistrust is important to family recovery. Once you enter into sobriety, there isn’t a set timeline for working Steps 8 and 9, so you might want to ask your sponsor and recovery support network for their insights about whether you’re ready. In Twelve Step recovery, living amends your pace is your own to determine. No doubt you will experience challenges and setbacks along the way. But by prioritizing your recovery on a daily basis and doing whatever that next right thing might be for you, you will keep moving forward in living a life of good purpose.

• Your efforts to make amends may not always go as well as you hope.
• Sometimes other people need more time to accept an apology.
• “I’ll never forget how light I felt after making that first amends.
• So much so, in fact, that there are two steps dedicated to it.
• One of the most important things to remember is that not everyone will be accepting of attempts to make amends.

But the rewards you’ll reap from living amends can help make the challenges easier and more productive. A 12-step program is designed to encourage long-term sobriety, by fostering a spirituality for recovery. Each step signifies a new challenge to reflect and/or act in a way that changes old mindsets and behaviors that once fed addiction.

My Loved One Needs Help

Making amends requires the individual to correct their mistake. This action can demonstrate the person’s https://ecosoberhouse.com/ new way of life in recovery. It goes beyond simply apologizing to taking steps to right a wrong.

For many, this is one of the most important components of recovery, because it allows them to work on rebuilding their relationships and letting go of those they cannot repair. Our team works closely with you throughout this process to help you achieve your goals in recovery. Yet, to be truly successful at forgiving and releasing past wrongs, you need to go directly to the individual you’ve hurt. When you go directly to the person, real spiritual transformation is more likely to occur. It is important for me to realize that, as an alcoholic, I not only hurt myself, but also those around me. Making amends to my family, and to the families of alcoholics still suffering, will always be important.

What Is the Best Way to Make Amends?

Also, you should never attempt to make amends where doing so is likely to cause further harm, such as making direct amends to someone you injured in a drunk driving accident. Instead, consider becoming an organ donor, or donating to charities that support victims of drunk drivers. Practice accepting other’s responses to your efforts and remember that you have done all you can.