The relationships you participate in can have a direct impact on your mental health. As you journey through recovery, it is crucial to keep your sobriety in mind as you decide which relationships are healthy to continue post-treatment. Putting your sobriety first can feel overwhelming at times. You will be faced with many choices and challenges.
Surrounding yourself with healthy relationships is key to success. We all need healthy relationships to give us comfort, support, and a sense of belonging. Recovery can be stressful and even uncomfortable at times. Healthy and supportive relationships can significantly help ease that discomfort.
A Source of Encouragement
Not every relationship will encourage you to continue in your recovery. You will have relationships with those you formerly used drugs or alcohol with or made risky choices with. Those individuals may not understand your journey or may even wish you to do those things with them again. Be vigilant enough after treatment to analyze your relationships.
Having people there to encourage your journey will help you during those challenging moments. Your triggers and temptations will change with time, and you will need to adapt and change. Making sure you are supported and encouraged through those changes is essential for your success.
Respect Your Boundaries
The people that you have relationships with should respect the boundaries you have set. Boundaries help to keep you safe. Relapse is real, and you will be faced with temptation. Boundaries help to ensure you do not end up in a situation that you are not comfortable with.
One thing to keep in mind regarding boundaries is to never assume people know or understand what your boundaries are. You need to be open and honest with what you need and expect from others. Explain the boundaries you have set plainly and clearly. Do not worry if you are hurting others’ feelings or whether or not they understand why you are doing what you are doing. Your sobriety is yours, and you never need to explain or justify the safety measures you put in place.
Positive Relationships
A healthy relationship will surround you with positivity. When you focus on the positive in life, it can be easier to manage your mental health issues, especially anxiety and depression. Surround yourself with people who bring you up — that when you are with them, you feel as if you could conquer any goal set before you. Those are the people you want as your cheerleaders. Recovery is not always easy. The temptation will be there, and sometimes when you least expect it. Have relationships around you that make that temptation easier to manage. People you have positive relationships with will want you to succeed. They want to see you make the right choice and will do whatever they can to make sure you do make the right choice. Sometimes our sobriety depends on those we trust the most.
Promote Accountability
Life gets busy. Sometimes it can be easy to push our goals to the side and power through the day. When in recovery, however, some things should not be pushed to the side. Continued support from a mental health professional often continues well into sobriety, and working towards goals and proactively maintaining sobriety are all things that should not get forgotten in the day-to-day lives of busy individuals. When you have solid support surrounding you, they will help to keep you accountable. They will know and understand the importance of every safety measure you have in place to maintain your recovery. They will also question you if it appears you are not making appropriate progress.
Sense of Reliability
Healthy relationships are ones you can rely on. You may find yourself in a situation that you are not ready for, which directly places your sobriety at risk. Have relationships with people that you can call at any time to find support and help. There is nothing to be ashamed of if you ask for help. Whether you are one day sober or five years sober, you will run across days or moments when you need extra support to make healthy choices.
Often, those who suffer from addiction or mental health struggles feel as if they do not deserve that extra support from others. Continue to work on changing this mindset. Your support system is in place so that you can rely on them at any time. Work on continuously accept the support around you.
Being able to distinguish between a healthy and an unhealthy relationship is very important when you are in recovery. Maintaining your sobriety should be the primary goal of your everyday actions. Placing your mental health first is necessary. Who you surround yourself with can impact your mental health and the level of support you receive. Not everyone will understand your journey. Not everyone will help you to continue down a sober and healthy path. Cultivate relationships that bring you positivity, support, and happiness. Here at The Guest House, we understand that the support you need throughout your recovery can change. There will be situations that make you uncomfortable, but we are here to help and support you throughout your entire recovery journey. We take a holistic approach to recovery and help you continue to grow as a person and reach the goals you aspire to. Call us today at (855) 483-7800 to learn more about how we can support you.