Going to treatment for a drug and alcohol addiction is a monumental decision. Spending anywhere from a few weeks to a few months in a treatment program means work. Treatment centers can and do offer therapies which seem like they are luxurious, including yoga, acupuncture, massage, and more. Such amenities are provided to help clients of treatment programs relax, decompress, and process everything else they are doing throughout the course of the day. Along with exercise, educational components, experiential immersions, and more, men who go to treatment engage in intensive therapy through different applications. Individual therapy, group therapy, specialized processing therapy groups, alternative therapies, literary therapy, writing therapy- there are dozens of ways that men are excavating their psyche. Each day, men in treatment continue to unearth layers of themselves, compacted over time under the settling sediment of addiction. Raw, vulnerable, emotional, and sometimes painful, treatment pushes men to become their best selves by confronting the past, learning how to embrace the present, and developing the skills necessary for a safe, sustainable, sober future.
Treatment isn’t easy. If treatment were easy- that is quitting drugs and alcohol, going through detox, and participating in all of the intimate changes which need to take place- more men would get and stay sober. Treatment hits trigger points. Treatment takes men to places they never thought they could or would go. At many moments, the temptation is strong to leave treatment behind, give up, and try living with addiction as best possible.
Though treatment is a challenge, it is not an impossible one. Your graduation from treatment will mean the beginning of a new life. You can and will find freedom from addiction on the other side of treatment. Here are ten ways to make it through.
- Remember, you’re not in for a lifetime. Addiction skews your perceptions about time, especially when your time is being spent in activity your brain doesn’t interpret as pleasure. Treatment doesn’t last forever. An investment of just a few months will change the rest of your life. One more hit, one more drink, can cost the rest of your life.
- Let go of FOMO. Yes, life still happens while you’re in treatment. People are drinking and using normally. People are out there getting drunk, getting high, and they don’t have to be in treatment. You can feel like you’re missing all the fun. What brought you to treatment is not likely what you would define as fun. Realize that there are so many men out there who are missing out on the chance to save their lives through treatment.
- Be present. Denying that you are in treatment while you are in treatment will make adapting to treatment incredibly difficult. Accept where you are and keep your eyes on where you are going: freedom from addiction.
- Find gratitude for this opportunity: Going through withdrawals, feeling uncomfortable, and talking about your feelings isn’t something you might anticipate having gratitude for. The longer you stay sober and change through treatment the more gratitude you will find. This temporary discomfort will save your life.
- Take in the reality: Between 2015 and 2016 over 100,000 people died from opioid overdose alone. Thousands more died from other drug and alcohol related issues. If you have lived in active addiction, you have lived as the ball skipping about the compartments of a Russian roulette wheel. You are statistically blessed to be alive and able to go to treatment.
Treatment is an experience at Tree House Recovery in Orange County, California. Men in our programs are finding freedom from addiction every day, by creating sustainable changes for a sustainable recovery. Call us today for information on our transformational programs: (855) 202-2138