They go to rehab for the wrong reasons. Stopping your addiction isn’t an easy thing. It takes a lot of will power and you must be really tired of living in insanity that your addiction creates in your life. While being in the rehab myself I noticed that people who fail are simply just not ready to take this step. Their addiction to whatever their drug of choice might be haven’t gotten that bad in terms of what pain they are wiling to endure.
They still enjoy all the chaotic lifestyle that comes with it. One might ask so why do they go to rehab? The main reason is usually that their relatives trying to push them or that they are mandated by courts (at least that’s mostly the case in United States). They enter the rehab to please someone else whether it would be wife, kids, parents or avoid going to jail.
Here is the problem. You can never quit addiction unless you yourself so tired of all the pain that you are willing to do anything it takes.
That brings me to the second reason. People are not willing to take self responsibility for staying sober.
I wrote about this in detail at my alcohol recovery journal that I post on to keep myself accountable to staying sober after leaving the 28 day inpatient rehab.
Drugs wont stop existing just because you went to rehab, its especially true with alcohol because its legal, socially exceptable and its pretty much everywhere. The recovering addict might even encounter it at home right after leaving rehab if his/hers household members are alcohol users. There is no way to avoid it. I learned this at the very beginning myself. I can run but I cant hide. Drugs are everywhere.
The only way how I can protect myself from relapsing is to take self responsibility for my sobriety. No one can make me do anything, no one can make me drink unless I choose to pick up that first drink. After I took self responsibility and stopped blaming others for my drug use I gained the power of control. I am in control whether I will relapse or not. Its a scary thing but at the same time its kind of comforting to know that I have all the power needed to stop drinking.
Third reason why people fail in rehab is because they are not willing to follow rules. We as addicts have problems with following rules. Maybe if we have followed rules at the first place we wouldn’t have digged ourselves into this insanity. This is very true for the illegal drug users where they have to brake laws constantly just to get the next fix. We got so good at breaking rules that it has become our way of life.
While in rehab I have seen many people get kicked out from the program just because they simply think that no rules apply to them. They didn’t seem to understand the importance of rules. There are rules for a reason and if you cant follow even the simplest rules how are you going to stay sober after rehab?
Part of sobriety is willingness to accept and follow new rules. Its understandable why it is so hard for us to do that. I myself have this problem. Saying “no” to yourself is painful especially when it was always “yes” to everything.
About Author: I refer to myself as anonymous because I am still very insecure about this part of my life. It took 28 days of inpatient rehab for me to start living sober again. Before rehab, I never knew how to quit even though at the end I wanted to, I felt insane, broken and had no hope. I am blogging to keep myself accountable to staying sober long term. Its something special that I do for my recovery and self development.
