When you get clean, how do you deal with people you see from the "old life"?

[donnie080208]

When you get clean, how do you deal with people you see from the "old life"?

Im just wondering how do people cope with getting clean but then having to see shady people they know from the drug scene ,out and about.
Not only is it temptation seeing old friends and dealers but ime looking at them somehow makes me embarrased about the people ive got involved with and how low i sunk. Is moving away the best option ? any stories from addicts who stayed and confronted their fears and paranoia would be a great help.

 

[MONSTA!!]

Moving away is the best option, but certainly not the easiest.

Personally I devoted myself to my family and stayed the fuck away from anywhere I thought I'd bump into old acquaintances. It's not easy, but I try to minimise the probability of seeing these people as much as possible.

Also I've starting getting into new hobbies, currently I'm mad for mountain biking. (Aint to many smackheads on the trails)

Where in the UK are you from?

 

[donnie080208]

^

I have problems trying to avoid people in my area , as they go to the same clinic and chemist . I only leave the house once a day, to pick up methadone the rest of the time i stay indoors due to mental health problems. Think im getting paranoid that ex associates are going to burgle me or something.
Im down in salford, manchester area @monsta- good to see someone from the u.k. your doing well, are you on subbies or totally drug free(not that it makes much difference)?

 

[MONSTA!!]

I'm on the Subs, I start reducing soon. One of the things I like about Suboxone is I can't use on top of it so it takes away all the temptation.

Not to much you can do about the clinic but have you considered changing chemist? When I got on maintenance I specifically chose a chemist where I knew I wouldn't bump into anyone.

 

[VerbalTruist]

I moved away, then I moved again. I changed my social circle almost completely. Its incredibly hard for me to be around people that use.

I made some seriously intense changes to my life. When I do see people I just completely ignore them.

When I do go back home there are still places I can't go and its been four years, just to avoid the temptation and the thought.

 

[donnie080208]

@Monsta yeah been thinking about the chemist change when this script runs out but there all fairly near each other though. I think with my mental anxiety/paranoia im making too much of the situation, i never really scored in local area/hanged with local drug users, the chemist is the only time i leave the house, so paranoia of being outside sends my thoughts on one.

 

[ABCDFG I Ate The E]

i recently quit everything , been sober for 8 days but during this time i havent been around any of my friends..

they're all still my best friends and thats not going to change but being around them makes it 100x harder to not do anything.
kinda scares me because i know i could stay sober by not being with them
but for some reason when im around im like daaamn i need to get in on that

 

[Khadijah]

I didnt really change much...The people who i got high with who were true friends I kept chillin with, the people who i got high with who were usin friends, I ended up just goin seperate ways, not like i decided to not see them but just that shit naturally went that way.

Iunno , for me, its always been all on me. When i was like a month clean, a friend of mine was havin trouble hittin his vein and so i booted him up with dope....Didnt use, didnt want to use....i did that many times with different friends, sat right there with em while they got high, and even shot people up cuz i always had the reputation as the 'nurse' who could hit anybody...I never "relapsed" or nothing becuz of none of that. I knew i couldnt use, and i just didnt fuckin do it. It helped that i was on weekly drug tests at probation and knew that if i fucked up i was goin straight to jail.

For me it always been once i made up my mind, i aint changin it. It took me a really long time, years to get there with dope...but once i did, that was solid. anytime i did use was a specifically planned out high...i did it, and that was is, didnt use again for months, etc everytime was like that. If i was gonna use it had nothing to do with people around me, places i went, etc. That people places and things idea is bullshit. If you got to rearrange your whole life to not use , cut out entire places, events, people (meaning, if a person was a really good friend, not just a toxic using-friend who wasnt a real friend anyways) then you really aint recovered....All you doing is removing the temptations and the abilities to use. if you had no drugs, you cant use. So its decided for you. YOU aint the one stayin clean. You just clean by default, becuz there aint nobody, nowhere, that you can get shit from.

it means alot more to be able to face all that shit and still stay on your path.

 

[theotherside]

Tell them how much better you feel now, and although you enjoyed those "old days", you are in a good place right now where you don't have to use. I am new at this as my old friends still come around from time to time.

 

[burn2shine]

Also I've starting getting into new hobbies, currently I'm mad for mountain biking. (Aint to many smackheads on the trails)
?

I've actually gotten up at five in the morning and went mountain biking on heroin, getting up the hills was tough, but the way down was amazing.

 

[MONSTA!!]

@Monsta yeah been thinking about the chemist change when this script runs out but there all fairly near each other though. I think with my mental anxiety/paranoia im making too much of the situation, i never really scored in local area/hanged with local drug users, the chemist is the only time i leave the house, so paranoia of being outside sends my thoughts on one.

Sounds like you need time to come to terms with your new situation. How long have you been off the gear?

 

[donnie080208]

On and off 4 years, but with recent relapses ive "slightly" become involved with people in my locality. Im paranoid as it is, so ive allways kept drug use, i.e. scoring away from my own area but my mental health has deteriorated recently so been on the hunt for valium. In a way i blame my doctor for being stingy with meds like diazepam, forcing me to go to dodgy places. Anyway once you get "involved" with people is it hard to uninvolve yourself? Oh yeah had a blade pulled on me while i was waiting to score some blues yesterday, thinking i was dealing H. Its a jungle out there , no wonder im a recluse.