Hi Toothpastedog,
Well, my six weeks has been very hard and there are no words to describe what I went through, but I am sure it is nothing compared to a lot of the people on this site who are addicted to, or recovering from, drug addiction. I am not in recovery, but we all struggle with surrounding ourselves in life with good people. My situation was a one time situation, and I was never addicted to the Tramadol I took for my kidney infection for the 7 weeks. And, unfortunately, the Clonidine I took to help with withdrawal symptoms, namely the hypertension, made me incredibly sick and caused serious hypotension. And, even thought I was only on that for 13 days, I had a two week withdrawal from that. It was a f***ing nightmare. I am a very strong person, and I just handled it. However, I was seeing my therapist at least weekly or twice a week which helped. But, frankly, I was so sick most of the time I did not want to talk with anyone. If I had done drugs in my life and had been addicted at any time, I am sure that getting clean and being in recovery would be extremely difficult to do. My heart goes out to you and what you have gone through getting into recovery, since I am assuming by things you said that you were addicted to something. Getting into good relationships is hard when you have had that kind of an issue in your life. Hey, life is hard enough without ever being addicted.
Yesterday, I said I was lucky cause I have lots of friends, but no S.O. And, while I would like one, I have a full life that makes me happy and I am able to not dwell on the negative. I do try and meet men online, but I can't say that has been very successful. My main sources of friends are people I have met at my athletic club over the last 30 years. I also have a few other friends that I have had since childhood and have met others through them. If you are a member of a health club, try and go at the same time each day, preferably in the early a.m., before work if you work, and get to know the people who work out when you do and start to form a group. We have a group of about 30 people who are all ages and we all interact each morning. They are not always all there each day, but on any given morning, we have about 10-12. We sit down and chat after we all work out. I have always gone early, cause I used to work. I am now retired, but I still go early cause I know everyone and they come too. Some are still working and we have added to our group over the years. These relationships are pretty close, some more than others. So, if you are looking for a way to make new friends, you might want to try this. It just might fill your needs for many things in your life.
As far as touch, I know what you mean. Touch is very important in life and I miss that as well from a significant other. Luckily, I have had some boyfriends the last few years who have helped with the sexual aspect of life, etc. And, you are right, touch does not have to be sexual to be effective, so that is good.
Feel free to contact me anytime on here and talk with me. I am real and very transparent and try to cultivate relationships in my life that also feel those things are important. Anything less, I am really not interested in.