Aftercare course Session 13
How much to share, with whom, and the case for staying mostly off social media in early recovery — plus the one-sentence answer for the cousin at the party.
What you'll learn
01
Even if you really want to. Even if you think it would help others. The helping-others instinct in early recovery is real, but it lands much better in a meeting, sponsoring a newcomer in year two, or in a one-on-one. The internet doesn't forget. The version of you in week three is not the version of you who has to live with the post for the rest of your life.
02
Use whatever screen-time tool your phone has. Set a limit. Charge the phone in another room — sleep matters more than you think it does. Late-night scrolling, especially in the first ninety days, is a high-risk hour. Get the phone out of that hour.
03
Privacy is the default. Not disclosure. Have a one-sentence answer rehearsed: I had some health stuff to take care of, I'm doing well now. Then change the subject. The wider circle is not your support system, and turning it into one tends to leave you exposed without leaving you supported.
Two different rules
Two impulses, in the first sixty days at home, deserve careful handling. The first is the impulse to announce — to post, to make it official to a wide audience. The second is the impulse to hide — to scroll, to watch other people's lives at 11 p.m. when you can't sleep. Both can hurt you. Not tomorrow, necessarily. Eventually.
The platforms in your hand are designed, very deliberately, to keep you scrolling for as long as possible by feeding you the content most likely to spike your nervous system. Your nervous system, in early recovery, is more sensitive than it has been in years. That is not a moral problem. That is a dosing problem.
There is a particular kind of loneliness in early recovery that the phone seems to fix. You scroll, and for a few minutes, you forget that you don't know what to do with your evening. But simulation is not the thing. The thing is the meeting on Tuesday. The thing is the person you call on the way home. The thing is the husband across the table. That kind of community is a lot quieter than the internet — and it is the thing that holds.
Your worksheet
Four small moves that shape your relationship with the screen and the conversation, both.
Session 13 · Worksheet
Ten quiet minutes. Answers save on this device as you type — no account, no upload.
Three reflection prompts for the week
For the screen
Today, on your phone, cut your daily social media time in half. Set the limit and honor it. If there's an app you cannot stop scrolling, remove it for thirty days. You can put it back. You probably won't.
For the bedroom
Tonight. Charge the phone in the kitchen, the living room, anywhere that is not where you sleep. Buy a five-dollar alarm clock if you need one. Most people who try this for one week never go back.
For the conversation
Write the sentence you will say when somebody you don't owe the full story to asks how you've been. Practice it out loud, two or three times — ideally with a coach, sponsor, or therapist. Then make the list of people who do get the full story. Pick one and have the conversation this week.
Up next
The apology you want to make in week three is, almost always, the wrong gift. Why behavior change has to come before the apology, and what your loved ones actually want instead.
Continue to session 14If this brought up more than it answered
CVR recovery coaches work with one client at a time. Private, one-on-one, no scripts. If you want to talk to someone, we can usually get back to you within a few hours.
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Naloxone (Narcan)
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A note on privacy: If you're reading this on a shared device, consider clearing your browser history when you're done. If you're in danger at home, know that these links open in this tab — your back button will show you were here.
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