If you are an addict or alcoholic, you are more than fully aware of the isolating effects of addiction. Drinking or drugging may have started off as a sociable event, but by the end, it was anything but social. It was more than likely a lot of fun in the beginning, and something you looked forward to on the weekends. At the end of your addiction career, mornings were filled with dread that yet another day of drinking and using was upon you. When we get clean and sober, the work is not done the moment we stop polluting our bodies. In fact, the work is only beginning, and if it’s not continually tended to, the wheels start falling off the cart.
Part of the self-improvement work we do involves reaching out to others. As addicts and alcoholics, we have a hard time asking for help, but reaching out is part of getting well. Maybe you haven’t been hanging out with anyone lately. Call a friend and ask her to coffee. We’re all human, and we will experience loneliness in our lives from time to time, but we have to safeguard ourselves against isolation. The fellowship of various addiction programs assures us that although we may feel lonely at times, we are not alone. For drug addicts and alcoholics, we have to protect ourselves from spending too much time solo. Our disease wants us alone. It wants you all to itself, so that you’re wandering the frightening neighborhood of your mind alone.
Isolation in sobriety is one of the biggest triggers leading up to relapse. If you want to protect your sobriety and your life, you must do everything in your power to prevent it from creeping into your life. Pay attention when your mind is telling you not to go to that meeting, or to not meet your friends for dinner. This is your disease sneaking into your thoughts, and you need to be proactive to fight back. If it is telling you to isolate, go be with your people. You need them, and they need you. Join a Meetup group, make plans with friends and family, take a class…get out, have fun, and do it with your tribe.
If you are struggling with addiction, we can help you. When you begin your journey at The Lakehouse Recovery Center, you will no longer be alone and isolated in your disease. It wants you to die alone, but you don’t have to go out this way. We have a solution, and all it takes is a willingness to stop drinking and using. Give us a call, we’re available 24/7, toll-free at (877) SOBER | (877) 762-3707. Alll you need to do is pick up the phone. Recovery is possible, you can do this, call us today.