One difficult part that comes later on in recovery is building your social circle to reflect your new lifestyle. Obviously, for those who have suffered from alcohol abuse, they probably have friends who partake in alcohol, even just moderately.

This may add a certain level awkwardness, and a whole swath of questions about how this will effect the newly formed you. Clearly, you may very well still want to be friends with these people, as nobody wants to say farewell to a friendship. 

Here’s some information on balancing friends who still drink… 

How badly do they use? 
Is this friend of yours also an addict? 
Do they feel that they absolutely have to drink when you are around them, sometimes without control? If so, you may feel a strong desire to help them overcome this. 
Are they committed to helping you in recovery?
And while this is certainly a noble pursuit for later in, you should probably limit your contact with them early on in your recovery. This type of environment can be very triggering for a recovering alcoholic. 

Focus on making yourself the best person that you can be before you try to fix other people. Once you have found your footing, you will be a much more valuable tool in helping a friend find recovery. However, you don’t have to avoid people who drink, as a matter of principle. Being around alcohol use probably isn’t the best idea, but most of those who drink moderately every now and then probably won’t feel compelled to drink while you are around. 

While people who still drink aren’t joining in your journey towards a life without alcohol, they can definitely still contribute support. Emotional support and encouragement can be given by anyone, regardless of their personal usage. Keep these people close and let them help you. It does nobody any good to lose relationships that are meaningful and valuable. However, if someone is acting in a way that is detrimental to your recovery, and contributes negatively to your attempts to get sober, there should certainly be a discussion on whether or not it is in your best interest to continue associating with that person. 

You don’t have to cut entire groups of people out of your life 

Remember, there isn’t always a need to be dramatic and cut people out of your life. Cutting yourself from everyone in the world who drinks isn’t exactly realistic, and is a silly way to approach recovery and life. Recovery is about being stable as your own person, and working to build a better life for yourself and those around you. If there are friends who support and work alongside you to do just that, then they are your true friends, through and through, regardless of whether or not they drink or use.

This week, we’re going to talk about your spouse… 

Closest person to you 

It is very likely that your spouse is the closest person that you have in your life. Your partner in marriage is going to know you better than anybody else, and is aware of your many eccentricities. This knowledge of you makes it easy for them to relate to you, as they will sympathize for whatever you have to go through. This attachment provides a very good support system. Sees you frequently Your spouse is somebody whom you sleep in the same bed as, every single night. They see you every day of your life, for long periods at a time. It’s very likely that nobody on this planet spends more time with you than them. 

This means that your spouse is your most readily available support system, as they are there for you every day. This constant interaction will also make them the best person to keep track of your recovery, as they can see how it is affecting your day-to-day life. 

Took an oath 
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When you marry somebody else, you swear an oath that you will stand by their side. Your spouse took that very same oath to protect you. Don’t push this person away, as there is nobody else on this planet that has taken up that same level of commitment. Naturally, the person whom you married won’t want to see you suffer, because they were the person who loved you before this all started. Marriage comes with an obligation to help and protect your significant other. Let them stand by you in your fight against addiction.
 
It’s their problem, too 

You are an absolutely integral part of your partner’s life. Don’t ever, ever forget that. You are the person that they were planning on spending the rest of their life with. Addiction is a disease that can greatly affect those plans, and nobody is going to fight harder for you to overcome that than your spouse. Whether or not you are able to recover will greatly impact their life. Don’t ever forget that!

“Benefits of Support from-” is a series about the different people in your life whose help you will need to overcome addiction. The truth is that we, as human beings, need people at any moment of great adversity in our lives. Addiction definitely qualifies as a time of great adversity, as it is a crippling disease that nobody should ever have to face alone, which is why our personal relationship should make us stronger in the fight against addiction.
This week, we’re going to talk about your friends… 

More laid back relationship 

Unlike your family or your spouse, friends don’t have as much skin in the battle for your recovery. Obviously these people will still care about you, because they are your friends, but it won’t dramatically affect their lives in the same way that it would your family or your spouse. While this may make it seem like their support isn’t as important, this may actually be a benefit, when in conjunction with support from other people, as it allows them to speak more freely with you. 

Distance 

Friends have a much greater distance from your life than somebody like your spouse, and this means that they will have the ability to see things from a less biased perspective. Get this perspective often, and utilize it if you can. If you have the right kind of friends, this perspective will grant your friends the capability to see things as they are. In the fight of addiction recovery, it may be this fresh approach you need to help you get on the wagon, again. 

It’s what friends are for 

The ideal of friendship is to have the kind of relationship where you always have each other’s back, no matter what the situation is. Fighting against addiction is one of the ultimate tests of that ideal, as it is an incredibly challenging journey that will definitely test the constitution of your friendship. However, it’s the friendships that can last such a journey that will be fulfilling and help you move forward in life. 

Activities with friends keeps you proactive 

One of the most important aspects of addiction recovery is setting up a proactive life for yourself outside of addiction. Doing this becomes a whole lot easier when you have friends to lean on, because they are likely the people who you share interests with. These kind of friends can do activities with you that will keep you away from your addiction and help you put up a new life, which will put you on track for a healthy lifestyle.

If you’re struggling with an addiction, the first step toward getting help is to talk to someone about your addiction. But who do you turn to first? If you’re looking to get your addiction out in the open so that you can find help, here is a look at some of the best people you can to about your addiction—and how each particular person might be able to best help you find recovery. 


Your family 

Your family, of course, ranks top in priority when it comes to discussing your addiction. Your relationship with your family has likely already changed drastically since you became dependent on drugs or alcohol, and chances are they already know that something is different about you. Talking to them about your addiction is a great first step toward undergoing a well-rounded recovery process. Your family loves you unconditionally and will likely be among your most dedicated supporters during your recovery. In addition, many addiction recovery programs actually implement family programs to keep family involved in a person’s recovery, so talking to family early on will help them be as involved as possible in your recovery. 

Your closest friends 

Now is also a good time to talk to the friends who positively influence you in life. Who is going to stick around during your recovery from addiction, and remain by your side once you are sober? Take an inventory of your social circle, and consider who will be supportive of your decision to become sober. Confiding in a small handful of close friends about your addiction will help you make the transition from addiction to sobriety, and they will also be able to help you create a social circle of more positive influences as you seek to build your support system. 

Addiction recovery specialists 

Finally, addiction recovery specialists will play a central role in your recovery. An addiction recovery specialist can share insights that friends and family members simply don’t have, and they can help arm you with the tools you need in order to navigate recovery successfully. Addiction recovery specialists have seen what works and what doesn’t work in helping people overcome an addiction, so their background and experience will prove invaluable as you work towards becoming drug-free. 

Enrolling in a well-rounded addiction recovery program is the best way to bring qualified addiction recovery specialists into your support.

​Whom you choose to spend your time with during the early stages of recovery from addiction can have a tremendous influence on how your recovery progresses as a whole. This is why it’s so important to evaluate your social circle early on as you enter recovery, filling it with positive influences and preparing to part ways with those who would lead you back down a road toward relapse. 

If you’re battling addiction and are looking to establish a strong recovery-promoting social circle, read on for some tips on changing up your social circle in the right ways. Identify your positive influences. Who are the friends in your life who desire to see you happy and addiction-free? 

Who do you feel that you can be your true self around, free from judgment? Seek out the friends in your life who uplift you when you’re around them, and who spend time doing wholesome things with you. These friends will form the very basis of your social circle, and you’ll want to keep them closer than ever. 

Spend time with these positive influences. If you feel that there are truly only a select few friends whom you can count on, and if you feel that broadening your social circle will help you gain the support you need during recovery, then it’s important for you to really spend time with those positive influences in your life. 

Spend time engaged in group activities and at group get-togethers with them, and let them introduce you to their friends. Let go of toxic relationships. This can be one of the most difficult parts of the recovery process. You may very well have formed friendships around shared substance abuse, and chances are many of these friendships will prove toxic as you navigate sobriety. 

Even if these friends aren’t necessarily pressuring you to use again, substance abuse might truly form the basis of your friendship, and spending time with these friends may very well tempt you toward relapse. Identify those toxic relationships in your life—particularly relationships with those who might pressure you to use again, or who might try to convince you that you don’t need to gain sobriety. It will require a measure of courage on your part, but it could mean the difference between relapsing and avoiding relapse. 

Keep in touch with fellow alumni. One of the greatest benefits to completing an addiction recovery program is the continued support you’ll receive even after the program is over. Fellow recovering addicts make an excellent addition to your social circle, and together you can bond over struggles that you might not share with others in your social circle. In addition, you can explore new activities that promote recovery.

“Few suffer more than those who refuse to forgive themselves.” ― Mike Norton, Fighting For Redemption   

We all make mistakes. We are all human thus we all are imperfect. Unfortunately, our most terrible mistakes hurt those closest to us. It would seem that while forgiving others in difficult, forgiving ourselves is impossible.  We sit for weeks, months and even years allowing the guilt of what we have done swallow us. As a recovering addict, you cannot allow yourself to become consumed in guilt.  

Not only is this damaging to your emotional health, but it also affects our physical health, worsening conditions such as cancer and heart disease. You do not have to pay a lifelong penance for how you have hurt yourself and others, or you will never truly be able to move on.  

The best way to repent of what you have done is not to allow that guilt to consume you, rather, use it as a way to move forward. So how do we forgive ourselves, especially if through a drug addiction we destroyed our lives, and the lives of those around us?   

Understand what is holding you back 

Sometimes we do not forgive ourselves out of fear that we will forget and return to our past mistakes. However, the opposite tends to happen. If you cannot forgive yourself and move on, the stress from that guilt can cause you to be more likely to repeat past blunders. It can also lead to other negative self-harm behaviors. Forgiveness is not the same as not being accountable for our actions, it means not hating yourself for what you have done. Forgiving does not mean forgetting, simply healing.      

Acknowledge the difference between who you were and who you are 

Dale Renlund shared a moment from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” at the LDS General conference in April 2015.  

    An older brother [Oliver]  attempts to have his younger brother [Orlando] killed. Even knowing     this, the younger brother [Orlando] saves his wicked brother from certain death. When the     older brother learns of this undeserved compassion, he is totally and forever changed and has     what he calls a “conversion.” 

    Later several women approach the older brother and ask, “Wasn’t you that did so oft contrived to kill [your brother]?” 

    The older brother answers, “’Twas I; but ’tis not I: I do not shame to tell you what I was, since my conversion so sweetly tastes, being the thing I am.”   

In acknowledging where he had come from, Oliver was able to forgive himself and change his behavior for good.  Realizing that who we were is not who we are anymore can help us forgive ourselves and move forward.   

Seek help 

The cycle of negative self talk can become impossible to escape without help. A therapist can help you better understand the situation and find reconciliation. They can help you healthily express your emotions and rebuild your confidence in yourself as you seek self-forgiveness.   
“When you initially forgive, it is like letting go of a hot iron. There is initial pain and the scars will show, but you can start living again.” ― Stephen Richards, Releasing You From The Past

“Forgiveness has nothing to do with absolving a criminal of his crime. It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being a victim–letting go of the pain and transforming oneself from victim to survivor.” ― C.R. Strahan   

Someone once said that refusing to forgive was like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Harboring hatred is more harmful to you than it ever will be to those who committed the crime.  Addictions affect not just the addict, but friends and families as well. It may be difficult to forgive the lies, neglect, stealing, manipulation, etc. of a drug addict. Do not lose hope. Be patient with yourself as you seek healing.   

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” ― Mark Twain   

Understand what forgiveness is NOT Forgiveness is not excusing behavior.  

Forgiveness is not forgetting the pain and suffering you have been caused.  It does not eliminate consequences or necessarily cause reconciliation.  Forgiveness is a state of mind that helps you accept what has happened.  It is acknowledging the past and moving forward in a healthy way.  It is more about finding your own peace than fixing the past.   

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” – Paul Boese   

Understand that addiction is a disease 

Addiction is a disease that affects the brain as well as the body.  Addicts can become a different person while seeking and using drugs.   They can create a physical dependency and tolerance that leads many to do extreme things to obtain the substance. It is hard to understand the powerful effects that drug addiction can have on an individual, but striving to understand it will help you gain peace and forgive those who have wronged you.  
 
“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” ― C.S. Lewis   

Give it time 

“Rome wasn’t built in a day.”  Emotional wounds are deep and painful and take time to heal.  Do not become frustrated with yourself if you do not find peace and forgiveness overnight.  Emotions are a healthy way to express yourself.  Become familiar with the 5 stages of grief and be patient with yourself.     

“To err is human, to forgive, divine.” ― Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism   

Realize it is for you 

You may never tell the addict “I forgive you” or in some cases, ever speak to them again.  That is ok.  Forgiving another person will not change their behavior or create reconciliation, but it will change the way you live.  Anger and resentment are toxic emotions that can exhuberate physical illnesses like cancer and heart disease.  Letting go of these emotions and learning to forgive will help you become whole.   

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” – Lewis B. Smedes

Post acute withdrawal syndrome goes by many names—post-withdrawal syndrome, protracted withdrawal syndrome, and prolonged withdrawal syndromes, to name a few. All of these terms collectively refer to the set of persistent impairments that come to someone after he or she chronically abuses alcohol, opiates, benzos, and other substances and then ceases use. 

It’s important to note that PAWS occurs after the initial acute phase of withdrawal, which lasts for a few weeks at most. During the acute phase of withdrawal, an individual typically experiences the bulk of physical symptoms that coincide with suddenly ceasing use of a particular drug. During the PAWS phase, on the other hand, that individual will experience more emotional and psychological withdrawal symptoms. This is because while the body may have more or less adjusted to the absence of a particular substance, the chemistry in the brain is still returning back to normal. 

Most people experience post acute withdrawal symptoms to some degree. And while the physical symptoms of withdrawal that occur during the acute withdrawal stage can vary significantly depending on the drug and the individual, many recovering addicts experience very similar post acute withdrawal symptoms. 

Symptoms 

Symptoms of PAWS can come and go, almost in wave-like recurrences, or fluctuations in severity of symptoms—much like a roller coaster. This is because as chemical levels in the brain return to normal, the chemicals actually fluctuate. PAWS might begin with symptoms changing by the minute and hour, and then even eventually these symptoms will disappear for weeks or months, only to come back again. The longer a person gets down the road to recovery, the longer the stretches between symptoms cropping up. 

Some of most common post-acute withdrawal symptoms are: 

Mood swings 
Anxiety 
Irritability 
Fatigue 
Low enthusiasm 
Depression 
Impaired interpersonal skills 
Variable concentration 
Memory problems 
Physical coordination problems 
Sleep disturbance 
Cravings 
Outlook 

PAWS typically improves over a period of time that can range anywhere from six months to a matter of years. One thing to remember about PAWS is that when symptoms crop up, those symptoms are time limited. A recovering addict can take comfort in the fact that while symptoms of fatigue or low enthusiasm might come suddenly and unexpectedly, they will eventually subside in much the same manner. Overall, it’s important for a recovering addict who is coping with PAWS symptoms to practice self-care, reaching out for help when needed.

Prescription drugs represent a category of drugs that are seeing a rising rate of addiction in the United States. Opioids, meanwhile, represent one of three major categories of prescription drugs that pose significant risk of abuse, the other categories being stimulants and central nervous system depressants (benzos). Here is a look at the latest nationwide statistics surrounding opioid use. 

According to the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use, released by the U.S. Department of, about 2 million persons aged 12 and older had used a prescription drug non medically for the first time within the past year. That averages to about 5,500 new initiates each day. This rate was lower than rates seen in the decade prior, which ranged from 2.3 million to 2.8 million initiates. Looking at pain relievers specifically, about 1.5 million of the 2 million initiates were initiates to pain relievers—much higher than initiate rates seen in the stimulant and sedative categories (603,000 and 128,000 initiates respectively). 

This same survey reports that in 2013, about 1.9 millions persons exhibited pain reliever dependence or abuse. This rate is similar to that of 2012 (2.1 million) and that of the years 2006 to 2011 (ranging from 1.6 million to 1.9 million). The years 2004 and 2005, however, saw lower rates ranging from 1.4 million to 1.5 million, so these numbers could indicate an overall rise in prescription drug abuse. 

There has also been a general rise in the number of individuals seeking treatment for prescription drug abuse, with rates climbing from 360,000 to 604,000 between 2003 and 2008, ranging from 726,000 to 761,000 from 2009 to 2011, and then climbing to 973,000 in 2011. 

Opioid prescribing does seem to be on the rise, and this could point to a growing opioid addiction epidemic. About 76 million prescriptions for opioids were dispensed by U.S. retail pharmacies in 1991, and as of 2013 this rate has climbed to 207 million. Oxycodone and hydrocodone products are two of the most commonly prescribed categories of medications. 

The National Institute on Drug Abuse speculates that this rise in opioid prescriptions could be due to increased social acceptance surrounding using medication for different purposes, and it could be due to aggressive marketing by pharmaceutical companies as well. These two factors have worked together to create a broad “environmental availability” of opioids and prescription medications in general.

​If you have a friend or family member who is struggling with addiction, it can be difficult to relate to him or her if you yourself have never faced that struggle. You might feel caught in a situation where you strongly desire to help your loved one but simply don’t know how. If this describes you, here are some ways to better relate to and support a loved one facing addiction. 

Learn about the addiction. 

Doing your best to educate yourself first about the substance that your loved one is addicted to—and what typically accompanies addiction to that substance—will not only better prepare you to help your loved one but will also be an outward expression of how much you care. Do your best to understand the triggers that might be associated with your loved one’s substance use, what side effects are involved, and what could be at stake when it comes to your loved one’s health. 

Talk to a friend with similar experience. 

Do you happen to have a friend who might be recovering from addiction, and therefore might be able to share some insight on what your loved one might be experiencing? Reach out to them. If you feel comfortable, ask your friend if he or she has any insights on what your loved one needs most right now, and what you might be able to do to help. Chances are your friend will be more than happy to share his or her past experiences and struggles with addiction in the interest of helping someone else overcome addiction. Moreover, asking your recovering friend for advice could help him or her feel needed at a time when he or she might be having difficulties finding self-esteem or confidence again. 

Remember that you can help in other ways. 

Just because you can’t relate to your loved one on the level of common experience, that doesn’t mean that you can’t play a vital role in your loved one’s recovery. While working with specialists and meeting with peers to overcome addiction is central to successful recovery, your loved one will also need you to fill roles that others simply can’t fill. Your loved one will need your moral support, a listening ear, and gentle reminders of your unconditional love for them. Remember your value as a close friend or family member, and realizing your desire to help will come naturally.