Embarking on a journey towards a new life is an exciting endeavour, so why do you have such mixed emotions when thinking about life after rehab? Here are five reasons to put those fears to rest and move forward into recovery.
You know that getting sober will prolong your life, improve your financial wellbeing, and benefit your relationships. So why do you still feel so nervous about what life will be like after rehab? Letting go of addiction, and all the chaos and negativity that comes with it, is a major change, and many people feel at least some hesitation about moving forward into a new life. Clearly understanding the advantages of recovery can help alleviate some of those fears and boost your energy and excitement around this positive step towards your future.
1. After rehab, you will have healthier relationships
Living with addiction often creates tension between you and those who love you, which puts significant strain on your relationships. This tension can manifest in a variety of different ways, such as avoidance and distance, ongoing conflict, or enabling. While some loved ones may be able to maintain a somewhat balanced connection with you, this will likely be regularly tested by the addiction, resulting in pain on both sides. Codependent relationships are also common for people with addiction, and you may become enmeshed with a partner or loved one in a way that reinforces toxic behaviour.
During treatment, therapeutic sessions will focus on your relationships and how these link to and are affected by your addiction. You’ll analyse your relationships to better understand how they contribute to your overall mental and physical health, what your role is in those relationships, and what is needed to maintain positive, healthy bonds. This may include family therapy sessions, which can be highly constructive in helping to heal the entire family unit from the effects of addiction. Clearly understanding the impacts of addiction on your relationships often has a profound impact on how you move forward, resulting in more supportive, healthier bonds with family, friends, and partners.
2. After rehab, you will realise that you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for
Rehab is scary for many people because of the common fear of failure. “What if I can’t make it through detox? What if I just shut down in therapy? What if my stories are too much for my support group? What if I relapse?” The endless stream of “what ifs” can easily stop recovery before you even start. You know things aren’t good right now, but it’s what you know, and you can deal with it – right?
It is important to remember that living with addiction takes a tremendous amount of resilience. Think about what you have been through, the risks you’ve taken, and the losses you’ve suffered due to substance abuse. Your addiction takes from you, while recovery helps you build back. You have what it takes to get better because you’ve already survived addiction. You’re strong enough to heal, if you give yourself the chance.
It’s true that addiction is a chronic condition, one that requires lifelong management. Rehab occurs in a variety of stages to help gradually reorient you to sobriety, while giving you tools and support to thrive once you leave. This can include engaging in a step-down programme that gradually transitions you back into daily life by offering opportunities to leave residential rehab and join in volunteer or other outside activities, while still benefitting from onsite support groups and therapy. You may also choose to participate in long-term aftercare sessions for ongoing check-ins and support as you maintain your recovery and manage your addiction. There are many options available to ensure that life after rehab is full of the tools you need to have a successful, sustainable recovery.
3. After rehab, you will feel less anxious
It’s easy to forget the fact that the use of drugs and alcohol actually fuels anxiety rather than erases it. When you are intoxicated you may experience a break from your worries, but during the comedown and hangover phases, you probably have noticed that your anxiety feels even more acute. This occurs because of how drugs and alcohol interact with the brain, initially flooding the brain with “feel” good neurotransmitters, but ultimately causing depleted levels of the chemicals we need to stabilise our moods and experience pleasure.
When you choose sobriety, after time these levels recalibrate, making you feel far more emotionally balanced than you were during your addiction. In rehab, you will also focus on learning about new, healthy coping mechanisms for stress like yoga, meditation, exercise and more that will naturally boost levels of neurotransmitters and establish a mind-body connection that helps quell feelings of anxiety. In short, you’ll be able to manage stress with tools that reinforce good physical and mental health, rather than break it down.
4. After rehab, you will understand more about what bothers you – and how to deal with it
Life after rehab means re-entering your daily routine without drugs or alcohol – the coping mechanisms that you have become most accustomed to. This can spark fears of how you’ll handle stress, past trauma, or the unknown discomfort that you feel swirling inside you on a regular basis. You might wonder, “Do I just have to learn how to live with these feelings? Will I be able to do it?”
The starting point of recovery is identifying the root causes of your addiction, as well as your triggers – the people, places or things that spur cravings and fuel your dependency. Many people with addiction find that they also have a co-occurring disorder like depression or anxiety that also requires medical care and treatment. As you discover more about what feeds your addiction, you will also learn and practice specific ways to address and manage these issues in order to feel better without needing to use drugs or alcohol. For example, therapy may be used to help resolve feelings around past trauma that may have been at the root of substance misuse.
Additionally, specific treatment for previously undiagnosed mental health issues like depression can alleviate the desire to self-medicate and make you feel more balanced. When you start down the road to recovery, you are not simply committing to sobriety, but gaining a wealth of resources designed to help you manage the issues at the heart of your addiction and live a happier, healthier life.
5. After rehab, you will have many new opportunities
Giving up drugs or alcohol can feel strangely like a loss, despite all the losses they have caused you over the years. Getting sober however, can open so many new doors both personally and professionally, allowing you a fuller life than you could have ever imagined.
- You will gain back hours in the day that your addiction took from you – instead of being too intoxicated or hungover to work or focus, you have time to pursue hobbies, build relationships, or dive into your work.
- You will be physically healthier, giving you the strength and confidence to get outside more, or engage in new activities.
- You will feel more balanced emotionally and mentally, allowing you to interact with others and yourself in productive, healthy ways.
Recovery means you have a winning combination of clarity, time, and healthy coping mechanisms by which to charge forward in reclaiming your life.
Choosing Recovery at The Dawn
The Dawn Wellness Centre and Rehab Thailand is an internationally accredited treatment centre that caters to an international clientele in a peaceful, supportive residential setting. The fundamental objective of our signature addiction programme is for clients to achieve and maintain long-term recovery by equipping each client with a personalised set of coping tools to use when dealing with life’s challenges.
Rehab in Thailand: What Addiction Treatment in Thailand Looks Like
The Dawn uses a “Twin Pillars” holistic approach to addiction treatment that is further customised to meet each client’s specific needs. The First Pillar incorporates the most effective modern psychotherapies used today, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), trauma reduction therapy (TBT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and more. These therapies are delivered in either a group setting or during individual counselling sessions.
The Second Pillar includes a wide range of proven, traditional wellness practices that enhance the therapeutic sessions. Every day, clients take part in mindfulness meditation, yoga, Thai massage, and fitness training to achieve complete mind-body healing and build healthy coping skills that last a lifetime.
All of this takes place at our beautiful location in northern Thailand. Located on a quiet riverbank and set amidst gorgeous gardens, our clients enjoy a range of resort-style amenities during their respite from the stressors and pressures of home.
Call us today to learn more about our programmes and how we can help you down the path to a successful, lasting recovery.
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