When recovering from addiction, having a good support system is crucial. Whether you’re trying to moderate your drinking or quit drugs entirely and just live a sober lifestyle, having good friends and being part of a community that understands and supports your goals is essential. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the qualities of a good support system and how to tell if your friends or community are toxic for your recovery.
Signs Your Friend Group Is Detrimental To Your Recovery
Addiction is a serious issue that requires professional help and guidance to overcome. However, one’s personal social circle can either provide much-needed support or be toxic and detrimental to one’s sobriety. Here are five signs that you may be in a friend group that is bad for your addiction recovery.
They Enable Your Addiction
One of the most common signs of a harmful friend group is that they enable your addiction rather than help you recover from it. A positive and supportive friend group will hold you accountable and offer constructive criticism when necessary. They will also avoid situations or venues where they know you will be tempted to use drugs or alcohol.
On the other hand, a toxic friend group will do the opposite by continuing to party with you and egging you on to use substances. This type of behavior will only make it harder for you to break free from your addiction, especially if they outright disapprove of your choice to live a sober lifestyle.
They’re Judgmental And Critical
A good friend group will be accepting and non-judgmental. They understand that everyone makes mistakes and that we all have different journeys in life. Toxic friend groups, on the other hand, will constantly judge you and put you down. They may make fun of you for trying to better yourself or sarcastically comment on your efforts to stay sober. This type of behavior can make you feel isolated and alone, which can lead to relapse.
They Create Harmful Drama
We all have that one friend who loves stirring up drama, but a toxic friend group is full of them. These types of friends thrive on chaos and love nothing more than gossiping about others behind their backs. This toxicity can quickly rub off on you and cause undue stress in your life, which is the last thing you need when recovering from addiction. Drama-free friendships are critical to a calm and healthy lifestyle during recovery.
They’re Constantly A Source Of Negativity
It’s normal for friends to vent about their problems occasionally, but if your friends are always unhappy and complaining, it can be detrimental to your recovery process. Negative people tend to bring others down with them, and this type of atmosphere is not conducive to a healthy mind frame—something that’s essential for recovery from addiction. Instead, you should surround yourself with people who lift you up rather than pull you down.
They Make You Feel Like You Have To Hide Parts Of Yourself
In order to maintain sobriety, it’s essential to be honest about who you are and what you’re going through. If you find yourself hiding parts of yourself around your friends, it’s a sign that they’re not accepting of who you are in recovery. A good friend group will accept and understand all aspects of your identity, including the parts related to your addiction and recovery.
If you feel that your current friend group or community is displaying these traits, don’t be afraid to cut ties and find a group of friends who will support you through your recovery process. It could make the difference between another relapse and a life free from addiction.
Cultivating A Strong Community
When you’re struggling with drug use, it can feel like you’re all alone, even around people you think are friends. But one of the most important things to remember is that you’re not. There are people who care about you and want to help you recover. Cultivating a friend group of people who will support your sobriety is an important step on your road to recovery.
When trying to recover from drug use, it’s crucial to have a supportive community for several reasons. First, it provides you with people to talk to who understand what you’re going through. It can be challenging to talk about your struggles with sobriety with people who don’t understand what you’re dealing with. But when you have a friend group who has been through similar experiences, it’s easier to open up and share your feelings.
Second, a supportive community can provide you with practical help and resources. If you need help finding a job or housing, for example, your friends may be able to connect you with resources that can help. Finally, having a supportive community helps keep you accountable. When you have friends who are counting on you to stay sober, it’s easier to resist temptation and stick to your goals.
How To Find And Foster A Supportive Community
If you don’t already have a supportive community, there are several ways you can go about finding one. Of course, you should always begin with those closest to you. If you have a supportive family and group of friends, you may need to look no further than that!
Another option is to join a support group for people struggling with sobriety. These groups provide a safe space for people to share their experiences and offer support to one another while you work together on your sobriety. You can also look for online forums and social media groups dedicated to people struggling with sobriety. These platforms provide an easy way to connect with people from all over the world who are going through similar experiences and offer you valuable insight into your own personal recovery journey.
You Have A Friend In Liberty House Recovery
In conclusion, having a good support system is essential for recovery from addiction. If you’re trying to moderate your drinking or quit all drug usage entirely, finding a friend group and community that understand and support your goals is important. A good support system will be understanding and non-judgmental, while a destructive or toxic friend group will be judgmental, critical, and unsupportive. So if you suspect your friends are unhealthy for your recovery and no amount of conversations seem to change their minds, it’s definitely time to find new ones.
And if you need any assistance on your path to recovery, Liberty House Recovery is here for you. Located in Redlands, CA, it is our passion and our goal to help those in the depths of addiction find their way and welcome them back into society with arms wide open.
If you or a loved one is currently suffering from substance abuse, please call us at 909-310-8075.
