When first going to rehab, it can feel like walking into a brand new room full of classmates the first day of school. Nobody knows each other, and everyone is walking in with different experiences, from different places in the journey. At first it is overwhelming, but with a little time, it begins to feel safe, a space for healing along the journey.
Fitting In
The first days and weeks of rehab are challenging. They are not meant to be a cake walk, but they are also a space to rest and rejuvenate the mind, body, and soul. Trying to fit in feels like such a challenge, with all the new people and experiences they come in with. It can feel like it may have been a bad choice to be there, but it really is the best place for you, right here, right now. It just takes some time to adjust to the new environment. When a person releases the sense of anxiety and hopelessness about being in rehab, it leads to finding a better way forward in recovery.
Coming to Terms
Finally, it will all start coming together when everyone starts coming to terms with what is going on inside themselves, and the four walls of the rehab center. Guilt, shame, alienation, and other feelings are all quite common to experience, even if they look different for each person. Whatever drink or drug was used for the various personal issues isn’t the biggest thing. What truly matters is relating to one another because of feelings that were suppressed by the use of substances.
Letting Go
Picking up drugs or alcohol is the symptom of a bigger issue. This “a-ha” moment can help release a sense of struggle from within a person who is wrestling for control over addiction. Letting go means to finally step away from this hurdle in recovery and recognize that everyone is struggling in similar ways with different stories to tell. The common thread that binds us all together; hope, desire for peace, a need for rest, is universal for those who struggle with addiction. Doing the journey together in rehab can help people recognize there is a wider community out there, it takes time to do the work, and the work never gets easier, it just shifts. It shifts into higher consciousness about how to cope more effectively when life happens, or when triggers come up. Once a person lets go, they can finally lean into the recovery they have always longed to have.
It’s a commonly held belief that picking up drinks and drugs to the extent we did was just a symptom of a bigger problem, and I didn’t need another hurdle in the way ofmy recovery. I’ll be forever grateful that I learned to let these meaningless differences go.
Serenity Oaks provides an intensive 5 week program to support your sobriety and recovery from addiction. We provide medical support, detox, and other help such as building life skills. Through individualized programs we help you move forward in recovery. Call us to find out how we can help you get started: 844-720-6847.
