Life After Rehab: What to Expect

We all know rehab is the best tool for anybody who needs help living a long, healthy, and sober life. Still, less than 25% of people with drug use disorder receive care. Those who do tend to live long, healthy lives.

However, that doesn’t mean people walk out of rehab with everything figured out. For many, the real challenge of recovery is rebuilding a successful life. So, let’s talk about what to expect in life after rehab.

Understanding the Stages of Recovery

Briefly, let’s discuss the stages of recovery. Everybody experiences recovery differently, but we can still categorize these steps into five steps:

• Precontemplation
• Contemplation
• Preparation
• Action
• Maintenance

Understanding these is important to understanding life after rehab. What’s the longest one on that list? The first four steps may only take weeks, whereas maintenance lasts a lifetime.

Unfortunately, this makes it the hardest step on the list. Maintaining abstinence for a long and healthy life means overcoming the most challenges overall, which is why taking life after rehab seriously is so essential. Between 40% and 60% of rehab patients will relapse, which is not a knock against rehab, but a testament to the nature of substance use disorder.

Finding Support

It’s essential during the “good times” of recovery to set yourself up for success. Challenges will always come our way, and our only defense is how we respond to them. Simply put, if you’re feeling good now, then it’s the right time to prepare for the future. Most importantly, that includes developing a strong support system.

Friends, family, and romantic partners will play an essential role. However, there is a lot of guilt that comes with the recovery process, and our desire not to burden our loved ones can cloud our judgment. Unfortunately, this can lead to difficult situations, including relapse.

For this reason, it’s essential to have alternate support systems in place. This support could include a therapist, a support group (AA, NA, etc.), or some other type of ongoing outpatient program.

Attending Meetings

Recovery is not a “one and done” event. When people think attending rehab for 30 days will “cure” them, they miss the point entirely.

Maintaining abstinence is a long process that requires certain skills and introspection. Do you remember everything you learned in school? Healthcare workers have to continue their education throughout their careers, so why shouldn’t you continue your recovery education throughout your entire life?

Attending meetings helps you develop a strong support system, learn from other people’s experiences, and reinforce your understanding of how to live a successful and sober life in the long term.

Rebuilding Your Social Life

Often, this is the most challenging part of post-rehab recovery for many people. It is crucial to rid yourself of toxic relationships and form stronger bonds with the right people. If this means distancing yourself from family members or lifelong friends, so be it.

Understanding and identifying unhealthy relationships and how they impact your sobriety is important for your success. If somebody is a threat to your sobriety, then it’s time to remove them from your life. You will need to find a social circle that is accepting of your situation and who is willing to make accommodations.

Not only is making new friends challenging but building quality relationships with them is another challenge, especially if you’ve only experienced unhealthy relationships. However, like recovery as a whole, this is a skill that you will need to learn. Hopefully, you will have the help of your support system in some manner.

Building New Routines

Building (and enjoying) new hobbies, habits, and routines is another key component of recovery, and you can easily tie it into your new social life. For example, joining a sports league is a great activity to enjoy with friends, stay active, and enter a new community.

While in rehab and after, try to find enjoyable and healthy activities that don’t trigger feelings of relapse. We strongly recommend at least one of them to include physical activity. Exercise and proper diet are very important for our mental and physical health, and it’s shown time and time again to aid in recovery.

More importantly, find activities that you enjoy. This could include playing an instrument, running, gardening, or whatever you want!

Keep Track

One tool that’s often overlooked in recovery is keeping track of your experiences and feelings from day to day. It’s difficult to look at patterns in our behavior and moods in hindsight, so having a visual record can help you. Making this a habit will help you make necessary adjustments as you transition into a sober life on your own.

Transition to a Healthy Life

Hopefully, you now understand how to transition out of rehab and into a healthier life. Remember the key components of overall health: physical, emotional, and social. Overall health is essential for recovery, so use the tools you learned in rehab, set yourself up for success, and keep track of your progress over time.

Keep reading our blog for our latest recovery tips, and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or for help along your journey!