Building your recovery community is a huge part of establishing your recovery journey. To some people, it may not seem like the easiest thing to do. You have always had a sense of community from within your culture and maybe your religion. However, those were communities that you were born into. Others may struggle to form a community.
The value of a supportive community is unwavering in recovery from addiction. It can make or break your recovery journey. Let’s examine how to help you build yours and protect your sobriety.
Displaced From Society: It’s a Different World
Building a community is different than the ease that comes with being born into one. It takes work to build anything. Of course, being open to a sense of community for your journey may be challenging, but it is more than worth it.
Feeling displaced from society after getting sober is normal. There are social settings that you will no longer be a part of or are invited to. You may notice that when someone asks what a room of people wants to drink, everybody pauses to look at you.
You are living in a different world now, and there’s not much you can do to change the one you came from. However, building a recovery community changes everything for your journey. When you are among like-minded individuals who can relate to your experience, you do not have to feel out of place. You all can relate in some form or fashion, and no one feels like the odd man out.
What Is a Recovery Community?
A recovery community is a community of individuals who are all in recovery. This could be individuals who are just seeking sobriety and treatment or individuals who have been in recovery for years.
Your recovery community is a group of people who can understand you on a level that people who are not sober simply cannot. You can find comfort in the presence of these individuals and offer comfort to them as well.
Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals is vital. Someone who knows addiction’s struggles is an enormous benefit to your overall recovery journey. Together you may save a life here and there by showing others recovery is possible.
Building Your Recovery Community
Although this may feel a lot like making friends in middle school or high school, the discomforts are well worth it. Most sober people are looking to or are open to making connections with other sober people.
You can make sober friends while in treatment, at meetings, or in other sober settings. There are even virtual/online support groups where you can connect with others in recovery. These new and random connections offer additional opportunities for support.
Having a sponsor is important for your journey, and they are a critical piece of your recovery community as well. Asking someone to sponsor you can feel like you are asking for a lot. Don’t allow that feeling to keep you from making the connections you need. Usually, sponsors make themselves known as such and will make you feel welcome to approach them.
It is important to push past your fears and make these sober connections. Your lifelong friends who still fully exist in a world in which you have to make room for yourself cannot always be there the way you may need a friend to be.
You will want to still feel normal, and for a while, that may mean only being in dry event settings. That, however, requires you to be invited to or host sober events. So get out there. Make connections and build your new sober life in recovery from the ground up.
Using All of Your Resources: Building Your Recovery Community With Alumni Programs
Taking advantage of each resource you are provided is one of the biggest favors you can do for yourself in recovery. The individuals that you meet in treatment do not have to just be a part of the beginning of your journey. Those initial connections can continue your journey with you. You can start new circles of friends with the individuals that you started your journey with.
Building your recovery community does not have to start after you have graduated from treatment programs. The alumni you graduated with that you have already started developing relationships saw you at the end of your active addiction. They will know you in ways that people you meet in the days, weeks, months, and years to come simply will not.
You can make some of your best connections with alumni from your recovery program. Lantana Recovery offers our clients the ability to stay connected after their time with us. We want you to start building your recovery community from the beginning of your journey.
If you or someone you know wants to know how to get and stay sober, Lantana Recovery can help. We want you to have all the resources you need. Community is one of the greatest resources that support your journey. Reach out to us today.
If you or someone you know is seeking treatment for addiction recovery, Lantana Recovery can help you. Entering sobriety can be a jarring experience. You are leaving behind a life that has become familiar. Even the bad days were okay because you were already expecting them to come. The transition to the slew of bad days that are to come in early sobriety is one of the hardest ones there is. Solidifying your recovery means putting the tools in place that will help ensure that you remain sober. One of the biggest tools is community. The people that can relate to your experience will help you through your journey. Call Lantana Recovery at (866) 997-2870 to start building now.
