Sober here, got years. (Don't count though, and recovery programs aren't really the place for me to go and make friends or hang out).

The deadening motivation to socialize is part of the abuse we did to our bodies. It takes a good fair amount of time to come out of the cocoon we wrapped ourselves up in. Your internal life, comes out as you keep a commitment to staying sober. If we were that bad we destroyed / did a number / need to rehash our CNS for years to connect authentically with people, then staying healthy and as said taking care of our body is a big deal. Using, can cut us off from true communication with others quite easily. We need to be more careful than 'normal people' and work harder and loving ourselves.