Managing Friendship During Your Initial Days Of Recovery
While addiction is a miserable state of affairs, being in recovery is a life-changing event. Enjoying the fruits of recovery is a lifelong process, but the initial days of addiction recovery are the most challenging of all. As you make new friendships, you also tend to develop new habits. Whether your decisions about choosing your habits, friends, and lifestyle are healthy or not decides the kind of person you are going to be for the rest of your life. Therefore, the old patterns of choosing friends must be abolished, so a new realization can be gained about who you truly are, and what your purpose is.
It is imperative to understand that all those negative relationships with friends who used drugs with you no longer serve your purpose in life. Neither do they require any justification from you as to why you are avoiding them, nor do you have any need to get in touch with them. Any adjustments that you try to make in this domain are only going to cause you pain, discomfort, and negative vibes in your newfound recovery from addiction. Therefore, always avoid such confusion from where it might get difficult for you to navigate ahead.
Trust your instincts.
You might have a feeling that you are being “over dramatic” or “over-sensitive” by avoiding your best friends, whom you have known for long enough to avoid completely now. Despite this possible belief, you must not forget that it was an addiction that held you as friends together, and whether they are using drugs and alcohol today or not, the fact that you have been using together opens up a dangerous door of possibilities you cannot afford to explore again.
Avoid even meeting them at all costs, at least for a few years. That's what's best for you and your beloved recovery. During addiction, all those harmful behaviors that you and your friends engaged in may continue to haunt you even during your sober life. Whether your friends continue to engage in drug abuse or not, your being together is a serious threat in many ways.
Take charge of your friendship dynamics.
Figure out a way to handle struggling friendships where you feel lost. Know how to avoid people, places, and things that are both mentally and emotionally exhausting for you. Healthy relationships should boost your recovery efforts, not pull you down. Living a life free of drug use is highly rewarding and you cannot allow a friend to disrupt your progress.
Recovery is too personal a process and too important a cause for you to be influenced by friends. Your decisions need to be beneficial for your life. We all need friends in life, no doubt about that. And, as your friendship dynamics change over time, you'll realize that a lot of positive influencers will get added to your list of good friends. While this may take time, there is no need for you to jump onto your decisions and make the wrong friends. Trust yourself when you feel that you are making the wrong choice. Trust your heart when it says you will be wronged in a friendship. Navigate through these challenges in your early days of recovery, and your life will soon be filled with loving friends who support you along your recovery journey and understand your needs in order to sustain your recovery for a lifetime.
At Shafa, we understand that you may not be able to outgrow certain harmful friendships as well. If you ever need our help in managing these changing friendship dynamics don't forget to write to us or call us directly for some really valuable knowledge and support. If you know a friend or a relative who is still battling his addiction, ask for help now.
Do you or someone you love needs help to quit an addiction? Learn more about our deaddiction treatment or call us to discuss in detail: +91 981 022 3987.
OM
This blog post is written by a recovering addict who found his wings in the hands of 'Shafa'. Shafa Home is India's largest & oldest rehabilitation center for correction, detoxification, and treatment of alcohol and drug-related problems.
To see us in action, Please Visit our YouTube Channel.
