After you have done all the hard work to get through rehab, you have a right to be proud about the start of your recovery. In the coming days, you will certainly face a number of challenges. The key to staying sober outside of rehab is remembering everything you learned in rehab.
As you work towards getting back to living a normal life, you will have to make some important decisions about people in your life. The easiest decision you will have to make is about who to eliminate from your life. Regardless of the relationship unless it’s a spouse or child, you need to eliminate anyone who was part of the drug or alcohol world from which you just worked your way out. Unless these folks are willing to change their behaviors, all they can do is pull you back into that one place you don’t want to go.
For everyone else, you will need to make decisions related to how to reconnect with the people to which you were and are closest. It might sound like an easy thing to do, but people struggle with this part of recovery. It’s not easy to go back and reconnect, especially if there had been issues with some of your loved ones while you were in the throes of your addiction.
As you are deciding how to reconnect, you should certainly consider the feelings of your loved ones. Still, these are the people you will need most for support going forward.
As for who should make the first move, that is something you will have to decide on your own on a person-by-person basis. Some people will be a lot easier to approach than others. If there is anyone that you believe will receive you warmly, that’s the person or persons you should reach out for first. They could certainly serve as a support resource as you contemplate approaching others.
As for the ones who might be a little more difficult to approach, you would likely do better dealing with each of them one at a time. If we were to make a recommendation without knowing the circumstances surrounding each relationship, we would recommend you make the first move. Aside from being a warm gesture, it would signal that you are doing better and are willing to confront your past head-on.
Resolving Family Issues in Family Therapy
While you are in rehab, you might want to consider bringing in or inviting in key family members for family therapy. It might be a good way to start smoothing things out before you leave rehab.
If you were to participate in family therapy sessions, you would most likely be looking to do any number of the following things:
- Educate your family members about the truth surrounding your addiction
- Trying to mend fences with family members that might have been harmed by your addictive behavior
- Looking to identify and build support resources you could count on after leaving rehab
- Confronting family issues that might have had a role in your addictive behavior
As a word of caution, family therapy can get a little intense at times. Your family loves you, but you likely created family issues while you were toiling away from your addiction. It’s you that needs to be understanding and willing to sit a listen to what is being said. From the interactions that are taking place, you should be able to get a good idea of where everyone in the family therapy session stands on your past and the future.
As it relates to dealing with loved ones moving forward, you should refrain from resentments against loved ones who may decide to stand on the sidelines where you are concerned. They have their reasons and most likely, your addictive behaviors are behind those reasons. In time, things should heal. However, you need to take responsibility for the things you did when living in the cycle of addiction.
Before you start worrying about how to deal with your loved ones, you need to work on yourself. You need to get yourself into treatment so you can gain the strength you will need to start dealing with your past. Individual and family therapy are two aspects of treatment with which we can help. What we need from you is the chance to do that, which you can give up by calling one of our staff members at 833-820-2922.