When you leave a drug and alcohol rehab center, and you want to have a great life, you will probably need to be able to get along with other people better.  Drug and alcohol addicition is an isolating condition and the longer it continues, the poorer you become at relating to other people.  So part of a stay in a drug and alcohol rehab program might involve learning to reconnect with people.

We have all heard the golden rule.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Treat others as you would like to be treated.  There are a lot of variations, all along the same theme.  Recently I heard a variant, that I thought was a real improvement on the golden rule. There was a small change, but a very powerful one.  It was, "Treat others as they would like to be treated".   This statement has two unique implications that take it to a whole new level from the golden rule.

Number one is that people are different, so most likely they may want to be treated differently.  If you treat people as you would want to be treated, you will treat them all the same.  For example, if you like small talk before discussing anything important you will then treat everyone this way.  However what about the person who just likes do get down to business, who finds small talk boring and intrusive?  They do not want to be treated the way you like to be treated.

The second difference in this new improved golden rule then becomes, you have to spend the time to get to know the person a bit so you can know how they would like to be treated.  You can't assume the way you would like something handled is the way they would like it handled.  You have to ask them some questions to figure out where they are coming from.  You have to become a better listener.

What better place to try something like this then in a drug an alcohol rehab program.  This is your chance to attempt things in a safe enviroment, and if you stumble or crash you can always simply say, "I was trying something new, sorry I didn't mean to confuse you".  then both of you can laugh and try it again.  Drug and alcohol rehab is a safe practicing ground.  Why don't you try this new golden rule a bit today?

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 23rd, 2007 at 8:34 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.