The keys to relapse prevention in drug and alochol rehab lie in stress prevention and management.  A large degree of stress management lies in expectation.  We all live in increasingly complicated and busier lives.  Add in a drug or alcohol addiction and life gets very very complicated.  Once you remove an addiciton you may expect life to get suddenly much much smoother.  Here is a common mistake that we all make.  It is in the expectation of life getting smoother.  Life is not meant to be smooth.  Not in real life and not in a drug and alcohol rehab center.

Expectation is a real and useful resource.  It is how you define expectation that will affect your stress level.  Do not expect things to go perfectly.  Instead expect life to be unpredictable, and expect to have the resources and talent in yourself to handle these bumps and turns along the road of life.  Expect to learn new skills with these bumps and turns.  When you get what you expect, you have a lower stress level.  So when you expect to learn new skills from detours from the schedule you had originally planned, you are simply in the learning groove.  You are not at the mercy of all the chaos in the world.  Take the time while ou are in a drug and alcohol rehab program to define your expectations to support your growth.  Most importantly do not expect life to be perfect once you stop abusing drugs and alcohol.  Life is better without addiction, but it sure ain't perfect.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 10:58 am and is filed under Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.