Extreme isolation or loneliness can be a contributing factor to why someone might turn to drugs or alcohol. According to AAC, 19.7 million Americans are addicted to drugs and about 60 to 70% of them had an adverse impact from their environment. However, many of them are trying to get rid of their habit through recovery. As per stats, 22 million Americans are in the state of recovery. Unfortunately, severe loneliness can impede the process of recovery.
The Danger of Loneliness
The real problem of loneliness is the lack of connection. It leads to a sense of unworthiness, which may serve as a termite to your soul. Loneliness may lead to anxiety, depression, or other mental health issues.
There may be several factors getting in the way of overcoming addiction, but you need to address the root causes. Face the fears and take small steps towards success. There are so many activities you can indulge yourself in to stay away from compulsion, so you don’t feel bored.
Dealing With Loneliness
To get out of isolation, you need to luxuriate in everyday activities to keep yourself galvanized and positive. Here are some tactics to keep in mind:
1. Love yourself
Understanding your feelings and emotions as well as finding appropriate solutions to live a peaceful life is critical. Love the new version that you are going to create by giving up the addiction and the process too.
2. Connect with the inner self
Listen to your inner voice and believe in the power of change. Do not think that everything is an overnight change but recover every day, little by little. Take small steps, cherish and appreciate the little efforts you did to stay motivated throughout. Enjoy your own company, so if you don’t have anyone around to help, you can keep yourself motivated too.
3. Live in colors
To take yourself out of the loneliness, fill your surrounding with colors, they make dull and gloomy look bright and captivating. Take out time, paint or fill a page with your colorful imaginations. Take your stress out with the use of shades. They will help you build a new skill as well as bring out the uniqueness in you. Embrace the glorious mess that you are.
4. Scribble your emotions
Write down the problems, the fears and everything you feel. Scribble your feelings on the piece of paper and examine the cause. Nature writing helps to recover from addiction in a meaningful way. Keeping your feelings bottled up can lead to depression; share it with someone or compose a masterpiece. If you are afraid someone will read them, go on another adventure of burning the pages and watch them turn to ashes.
5. Do things on your own
Cook yourself good and healthy food and enjoy your treat, or call a friend for a hangout and serve them your treasure. Do whatever you can do in a day, keep yourself busy with everyday chores, or do something you love. This will help you stay away from the negative thoughts of drugs.
6. Surround yourself with positivity
Positivity is the key to every attained success. Learn all the ways of surrounding yourself with positivity and apply them in your everyday lives to become the better version of yourself and get rid of your issue. Positive quotes, change stories, successful people and their past will give you a sense of inventiveness to achieve your goal.
7. Read and grab the plausible
Reading is a whole new therapy. Books serve as a good friend when you have nothing else to do. Recovery blogs too serve as a great tool too. Read good books and collect positive quotes. Recall every line as soon as you wake up to stay positive the whole day. Read when you feel lonely. Read when you sit. Read when you lay. Read when you breathe. Read every minute.
8. Avoid excess time on social media
Do not indulge in social media more than you need to. Several things on the internet don’t allow you to achieve what you want to. You start comparing yourself with others and demand an overnight success which influences you to step back from the good habits you’ll be acquiring soon. Stay around good friends and good company to remove the loneliness of the recovery.
9. Practice mindful meditation
Learning and evaluating the emotions of your minds as well as dealing with them helps a lot. Meditate or try a yoga meditation. Do not engage in every negative thought that enters your mind. Take the contrary action. Think of all the opportunities you have and use them wisely. Challenges always bring out a stronger, calmer and the deeper version of you. Don’t overreact to the change, accept every emotion and find an appropriate solution.
Take Away
Recovering is a motivating process; you need to keep your mind open and act according to the situation. Self-control is one of the skills that you need to build in you before thinking of getting rid of an addiction. In short, you need to control your emotion, which is not a piece of cake. You’ll feel lonely when you are recovering, but everyday activities and actions can help you cope with stress and stay busy.