One of the biggest fears people face before entering treatment is life after. When addiction has overtaken your life, it’s hard to imagine living without it, even when you know it’s stolen your joy and excitement for living.
The truth is that rehab won’t magically fix everything; you aren’t going to walk out of treatment feeling like you suddenly have all the answers. But rehab does give you hope, and it’s that hope that can help you begin to find joy in living again.
What Really Happens in Rehab
Many people aren’t aware of how much pain they’ll have to face when they finally sober up. Years of painful memories, repressed feelings and self-loathing typically come flooding to the surface. Depression and anxiety aren’t uncommon, and you might feel like you dislike yourself even more now that you don’t have drugs to mask anything.
Don’t give up. This is only the beginning. It takes tremendous courage to come face-to-face with your demons, and the darkest parts of you are often the ones that need the most love and acceptance to heal. You don’t have to be proud of what you’ve done, but your life also doesn’t have to be tinged with regret forever, either.
You don’t have to earn your way back into anyone’s good graces to start recovering. You just have to be willing to be honest and open in therapy. The more you tell a therapist, the better they can fine-tune their suggestions to help you start healing.
Confidence Comes in Waves
No one is 100-percent self-confident all the time; even the most famous politicians and adored celebrities doubt themselves now and again. But one thing you’ll learn as you go through a substance abuse treatment program is that self-love and confidence as not the same. Even if you can’t think of loving yourself right now, you can learn to accept yourself and the progress you’re making.
Acceptance is the cornerstone of confidence; when you fully acknowledge where you’ve come from and the work that lies ahead, it becomes easier to accept yourself in the present moment. Rehab will teach you that all we can do is plan for the future; no matter how hard we may want to change the past, focusing on it will only bring us down.
Living here and now will give you the freedom to start embracing who you are in recovery, not who you’ve been or who you want to be. Goal-setting and predicting the future aren’t the same thing. You’ll learn how to create healthy, short-term objectives for yourself that are much easier to manage, rather than thinking about big picture ideas that could freak anyone out.
How Treatment Helps
By going through a treatment program, you’ll get to connect with other people who are also facing their substance abuse problems. Sharing your fears and struggles in a group setting can be incredibly powerful and promote healing. You’ll feel a sense of acceptance and belonging, which may be two things you haven’t ever allowed yourself to truly feel in a long time.
Therapists will also help you begin to unpack your own addiction from the inside out; you’ll be able to openly talk about how you feel, why you started abusing drugs or alcohol and how it’s helped you in life so far. Maybe you were using substances to cope with trauma or mental illness; you can learn how to tackle painful thoughts and difficult feelings in a healthy way.
Perhaps one of the best parts about rehab is that it is an entirely non-judgmental environment. No one there thinks of you as “less than” because you struggle with substance abuse. For many people who have lost connections with their friends and family as a result of their addiction, the feeling of being welcomed and rooted for can be life-saving.
When You’re Ready to Feel Better
You’ll know when it’s time to get help for your substance use disorder. Even when you’re afraid, you’ll feel the pull in your heart to reach out and start truly living, maybe for the first time ever.
That feeling is hope. Believe in it. We would love to help you make the first steps in your journey. Contact us anytime at 844-639-8371 to learn about drug and alcohol treatment programs near you.