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Staying Emotionally Connected

Substance abuse can take a toll on your emotions, which means learning to live without the influence of substances can throw your emotions off too. You deserve to live free and more emotionally connected with yourself and those around you. Sometimes, after leaving treatment, the fluctuations of emotional connection can be disruptive to your sobriety. Therefore, it’s essential to learn how to connect with yourself and others around you to maintain a sober lifestyle.

What Happens if You Struggle Emotionally?

Struggling emotionally can mean bouts of intense negative mindsets, thoughts, moods, and behaviors. These things can put your relationships and sobriety at risk, but learning to manage emotions can help your aftercare plan and bring you closer to yourself and others. Staying emotionally connected requires work and frequent maintenance, but the results are worth the effort.

If you struggle emotionally, you may be especially susceptible to stress, anger, or depression. This may be part of what led you to substances in the first place. Similarly, without being able to manage your emotions, you may lash out at people close to you, which can damage relationships and cause more stress. This leads to a vicious cycle where addiction and emotional struggles are both causes and effects of each other.

Addiction treatment can teach you how to regulate your emotions. As much as getting sober is important, it can be hard to stay sober when you don’t have control over your emotions as they perpetuate the cycle. Learning to manage your emotions when you struggle emotionally is essential for the longevity of your recovery.

Bringing in New Connections and Behaviors

Feelings often influence our behaviors, and both things affect connection and relationships. Having family and peer support is crucial for your sober lifestyle. However, if you struggle with having healthy emotions, connecting to these support systems can be difficult. Hopefully, your treatment team has helped you understand the importance of connection, and you’ve worked on ways to manage your emotions without the help of substances to take advantage of this crucial element of recovery.

After leaving treatment, you may be hesitant to make emotional connections because it’s unfamiliar or your environment isn’t conducive to solid relationships. If you want to continue processing your emotions, finding new ways to work through them and make deep connections with others can help you live an emotionally connected lifestyle.

Some ways to emotionally connect with people include:

  • Reaching out to your peers from treatment
  • Staying in touch with your therapist, attending meetings
  • Establishing new activities that you can do with others that will keep your mind focused and directed on your sober lifestyle

As you try these, you can start learning different ways to deal with life and feel more emotionally connected with yourself and others.

Becoming Emotionally Connected With Maturity

Emotional connection and maturity may not be easy at first. However, with time, you may find it coming more and more naturally to you. The more you practice connecting and regulating your emotions, the more it becomes a part of your life.

During your time in active addiction, your previous behaviors may have included anger or isolating yourself. Now, as you embark on your sober lifestyle, you have learned not to let your emotions control you and to move forward in a positive direction. After leaving treatment, you learn how to feel your feelings and take back control of your life.

Addiction treatment should give you a toolbox filled with emotional resources. These tools can include journaling, routine, support resources, and coping mechanisms to help you deal with tumultuous emotions. By having your emotional toolbox available, you better prepare yourself to stay more emotionally connected after leaving treatment. This emotional maturity can help you in all areas of life.

Reaching Out for Help When Emotions Are Tough

Going through treatment doesn’t always mean that you’re out of the woods. There may still be triggers for both substance use and mental health symptoms. However, many individuals who’ve been through treatment can attest that the way to achieving long-term recovery is not to give up, have patience, and stay emotionally connected with your friends and family, who are all about your new lifestyle changes.

The best way to make sure you’re continuing on a path of sobriety and emotional connectivity is to reach out when things get difficult to manage on your own. Embrace hope by recognizing that, though struggles may come your way, there is always someone willing to help. Whether that’s your therapist, your sober support group, or your friends and family, the emotional connections you have built with these people will come back around to pick you up when the going gets tough.

You never need to suffer from addiction or emotional struggles alone. Emotional connection is an essential part of recovering from substance abuse, but it can be difficult for some people to grasp. The Guest House wants to increase your mental health awareness and dive into boosting your recovery while helping you stay emotionally connected in your sober lifestyle. The Guest House believes that there are always external forces that can influence your emotions. When you learn to better prepare yourself to stay emotionally connected in your sober lifestyle, long-term sobriety becomes easier. If you’re in recovery and struggle with emotional connection or emotional regulation, we can help. With our guidance, your recovery can reach the levels of ease you deserve. To learn more about how we can help you at any stage in your recovery process, call us today at (855) 483-7800.