While it is crucial to surround yourself with friends, family, counselors and support networks who will support you in your sobriety, it’s just as important to learn how to overcome loneliness in recovery.
Feelings of loneliness or boredom can compound substance abuse. You may be tempted to abuse substances to cope with feeling isolated from friends, family members or society in general.
Loneliness and boredom do not have to be permanent. There are many ways to battle these feelings in recovery.
Is Feeling Lonely During Addiction Recovery Normal?
Feeling lonely during recovery is common. While you were using drugs or alcohol, your friend group was most likely made up of people who did the same. However, when you start an addiction recovery program or decide to stop using drugs or alcohol, you may find that the people you used to spend time with are no longer conducive to your recovery journey.
Joining a support system or finding like-minded people in recovery may offer new opportunities to forge healthy, lasting friendships.
Boredom in Recovery
After starting your addiction recovery process, you may experience an array of emotions, one of which is boredom. Because boredom has the potential to increase your likelihood of relapse, it’s essential to find ways to overcome or avoid the feeling.
Tips to combat boredom in recovery include working toward a goal or focusing your mind on a new hobby.
How To Overcome Feeling Lonely in Recovery
To battle loneliness in recovery, try to:
- Restore your relationships. Rebuilding your relationships with supportive family members may help you battle feelings of loneliness and reattach you to an essential social circle.
- Take a class or join a club. Taking a class or joining a club are excellent ways to get out of the house and meet new people.
- Connect with yourself. There are numerous ways to connect with yourself daily. These include talking to yourself, keeping a journal to document your thoughts, learning to enjoy solitude or meditating for at least 30 minutes.
- Confront and accept your emotions. To deal with and overcome your feelings of loneliness, you must confront them.
- Take yourself out to dinner. Being alone doesn’t mean that you have to be lonely. Solo dining is not uncommon. It’s a great way to enjoy your meal rather than focusing on conversation.
- Exercise. Exercise releases dopamine and endorphins to flood your body and brain with positive feelings.
- Avoid excess time spent on social media. A study published in the American Journal for Preventative Medicine suggests that people who spend more time on social media may experience heightened feelings of social isolation.
Find Support for Opioid Addiction
Beginning recovery from opioid addiction with effective treatment is the best way to improve your chances of long-term success.
BAART Programs has provided patients with medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder for over four decades. With medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, you can bring withdrawal symptoms down to a minimum and avoid detox’s harsh and potentially harmful process.
If you are ready to find support for opioid addiction — as well as battle boredom and loneliness in recovery — call us at 844-341-4040 or contact our team online today.
