Three Types Of Friends To Avoid When You’re Worried About A Relapse

One of the biggest changes that you'll need to make in your life after achieving sobriety from drugs is to keep certain bad influences out of your life. This change can be one of the most difficult to make, especially if you need to say goodbye to friends who have been a part of your life for several years. While you don't necessarily need to pledge to never see these people again, your immediate priority is your newfound sobriety. Sobriety will be easier to maintain if you choose to distance yourself from certain types of individuals.

Addicts

Fellow drug addicts are arguably the most important people to put outside of your life for the time being. These people can often be poor influences for those who have recently achieved sobriety. Sometimes addicts will even attempt to get a sober person to begin using again, perhaps because the person's newfound sobriety is a threat to the addict. Your chance of a relapse is considerably higher if you're spending even small amounts of time around addicts, so it's time to say goodbye to them until they're able to achieve their own sobriety, hopefully with help from a drug detox service such as Support Systems Homes.

Enablers

People who enabled your addiction might have been valuable allies at the time, but they weren't really acting in your best interest. Enabling can occur in a variety of ways. For example, someone may always be quick to give you money, which you chose to spend on drugs in the past. Now that you're sober, those who enable you are best to avoid. Someone who may be quick to give you some cash could put you in a difficult position: with money in your pocket that you didn't earn yourself, you might be tempted to blow it on drugs.

Those Who Stress You

Everyone has people in their life who cause stress, whether it's a friend, a family member, or even a neighbor. When you're newly sober, it's a good idea to limit your contact with these people. The risk of a relapse can be high when you're stressed. After all, it's possible that you've used your addiction as a coping mechanism for stress for a significant duration. By eliminating these people from your life, at least for the present time, you'll be taking steps to keep your stress under control, thus making you feel stronger in your new sobriety.

 


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