The secret to sobriety is – no more secrets.
You are only as healthy as your secrets. That is why James told his readers to confess their faults to one another. And that is why Paul said, “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25).
You can tell everyone, “I’m fine” all the time. But that would be lying. Nothing comes more easily to the addict. Northpoint Recovery states, “Lies are a natural and virtually automatic way of life for addicts.”
There are several reasons secrets are detrimental to recovery. Here are a few: (a) they keep us in shame, (b) they become an obsession, and (c) they keep us from getting help.
Not everyone needs to know all of your secrets, but someone does. You have to get the secrets out. Telling your secrets is the secret to sobriety.
Recovery Step: Laura Schlessinger was right. “There’s a difference between privacy and secrecy.” It’s okay to maintain a level of privacy. What’s not okay is to harbor secrets. And that is the secret to sobriety – no more secrets.
