[kokosugar]

I've learned the hard way of telling people I started getting close to that I went to rehab and all that stuff and as soon as I did, they looked at me differently.

Now I never reveal to any of my new friends that I went through all that, but at the same time I dont feel satisfied because thats a huge part of my life that I just have to hide so I dont have to keep being looked at as the "addict".

It doesn't help that I'm 20 yrs old and during this age everyone partys it up and I do too (i am not sober) but still, when I do want to get sober for a while, I have to avoid them and then they become mad at me, but I cant tell them.

I thought about it and some people say that then they arent real friends, but my closest friend i've ever had looked at me differently since rehab. I just hate that when I am with my friends that dont know, I have to act 'differently' i guess?

Gah and I also don't want to be friends with AA/NA people but I wont get into it because its probaly an unpopular opinion but idk what to do!

Anyone else have this problem and care to give me some advice! Thanks

[DutchCount]

I've lost all my friends after going to the psych ward and kicking weed. And I never felt like making friends in the psych ward (My best friend I met there though. The rest I've never contacted again.) And I've also had trouble making friends because they either do nothing fun or do drugs. Where I did make a lot of friends though was therapy. I'm now in a group of 5 with all of them psychosis as their background and it's really great. We support and understand each other. So I get you don't want to make friends at AA, but perhaps you can go to an alternative group therapy and look for friends there.

[Refuse2Sink]

I got clean a year ago from a ten year opioid/Benzo addiction. Since getting clean, I realized that I am in a tough place to have many friends. Most of the friends that I had recently are still using, are pissed at me for the things that I did while I was using, or they are so different than me bc they have never battled addiction. That has left me with very few friends. It was really hard in the beginning, especially bc I was very codependent. It has gotten easier as time has gone on, because I realized that I don't need to be surrounded by a ton of people to be happy. Throughout my battle to get sober, I realized that sometimes we just have to give some of those people up to achieve happiness.

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[C2015]

So far everyone who knows about my past has been understanding. If they stop liking you because of your past then you are better off finding out early in the friendship. I'm always scared to tell guys my past. Right now I don't have any friends. I have no way of making any. I have gotten used to doing everything alone. I shop alone, I go to the doctor alone and I live alone. Thankfully it has gotten better my getting used to being alone. In the past I had a few friends but without giving me a reason they dropped out of my life. I would rather have no friends than having to hide my past in order to have friends. If I'm going to have friends I would want real friends who wouldn't be bothered by my past. After all everyone has at least one thing in their past they are ashamed of.