Many individuals who have gone through addiction will vouch for the fact that the disease thrives off of loneliness. To not allow the disease to feed off your feelings, it is critical to know how to cope with loneliness while in recovery. Of course, everyone feels lonely from time to time, but this can pose a risk to sobriety for those in recovery. Knowing how to cope with loneliness can help you stay on track and maintain your sobriety. Here is how to overcome loneliness in addiction recovery.
Learn to Accept It
While this may seem counterproductive, learning to accept the feeling of loneliness can help your recovery stay on track. You cannot avoid loneliness, as it is a normal human experience and will occur from time to time. Learning to accept the emotion will help you overcome it without becoming distressed or overwhelmed by it. Trying to avoid this emotion will only make it grow stronger. Sit with it and allow yourself to feel.
Participate in Group Therapy
In treatment, you will most likely take part in group therapy. While it can be easy to do the bare minimum during these sessions, you can reap great benefits by actually participating. One such benefit is overcoming loneliness. Feeling yourself become part of a community and making friends can help you fight against those feelings of loneliness and allow you to connect with others.
Reach Out
Perhaps there are individuals you haven’t spoken to since before you got clean due to damage to the relationship. Reaching out to these people and working to restore friendships can help you fight against loneliness and help you heal. Talk to your therapist or sponsor to help you navigate this part of the recovery process and overcome another aspect of loneliness that may otherwise pose a threat to your recovery.
Loneliness is something that happens to everyone at some point in their lives. However, it poses a more significant threat to those currently recovering from addiction, as their sobriety can be put at risk. Learning to cope with and overcome loneliness can help you stay on track. Alta Loma Transformational Services can help you overcome loneliness and prevent relapse through our individualized programs and expert care. Together, we can sit down and help you live your best life in sobriety. Call Alta Loma today at (866) 457-3843 to learn more and begin your healing journey.
