Whatever caused you to pull yourself up and take a good, long look at the reality your life has become is uniquely your story. What it specifically was, whether it was your spouse or loved one walking out, getting fired, injuring or killing someone because of drunk driving, is the motivation that brought you to this point. While it may have been very painful or has long-lasting negative consequences, the fact that you now are willing to accept treatment is the juncture that can make a monumental difference in the rest of your life.
First Things First: What to Tell Your Busy Mind
Following a simple strategy is a whole lot easier if you start off with the proper frame of mind. For now, don’t worry too much about what’s all going to happen or what you’re missing out on being in treatment or any of a million other thoughts racing around inside your head.
What you need to do right away is to calm your overloaded mind and allow yourself to concentrate on your surroundings in drug rehab. This won’t be all that easy to do, but it does help to put everything in context. You need to be able to take it on faith that this will be good for you, that it’s something you want, and that you will find the strength and courage to make it through.
A Time and a Place for Everything
If you’re like many individuals entering drug rehab, especially for the first time, you find yourself confused and more than a little bewildered about the schedule you’re going to need to keep, what kinds of therapy and counseling and group meetings you’ll be involved in.
Rest assured that you will be informed every step of the way what your treatment consists of, and you will be actively involved in helping ensure that you’re getting the right kind of treatment or therapy based on your needs. If you don’t speak up, no one will really know, so keep that in mind when your therapist or counselor asks for your evaluation on how well things are going or whether you feel that something is working for you.
Dealing with Loneliness and Other Emotions
While it is normal to experience a variety of often-conflicting emotions when entering rehab, it doesn’t make it any easier to endure when it is happening to you. How do you deal with this? The simplest strategy is to recognize what’s happening and cut yourself some slack. You are learning about the disease of addiction and how drugs and alcohol hijack your brain and send you false signals all over the place.
Talk with your therapist about these conflicting emotions and about anything that troubles you as you continue your treatment. There isn’t anything unusual about this happening, as it happens to every person in rehab to one degree or another. Some have a harder time adjusting to being clean and sober than others. But everyone has issues to deal with, emotions to contend with, and a personal path of recovery to begin.
