Quitting a drug is a challenge. You take the challenge and undergo recovery. You win. Now what? It is common to find people quickly getting bored with life after the excitement of recovery achievement wears off.
We love challenges. We love the excitement of it. How it gives an adrenaline kick! And when it’s over, we are left with an emptiness.
In the case of newly recovered addicts, life becomes bland. Now they don’t have drugs or alcohol to give them company and add excitement to their life. People begin to miss their “good old days.” They begin to think life is no fun now.
According to recovery specialists, this is the phase wherein chances of relapse are higher. Unless you know how to deal with these emotions, you are highly likely to relapse. That’s why experts suggest recovering addicts spend time in a halfway house before they return to their homes.
Benefits of the house
The house helps you deal with the phase when you have just recovered and feel too overwhelmed to go back to your normal life. This is the right time to enter a house. Within a month or two, you might start feeling blank or empty. When in a house, you learn how to cope with this feeling. Your chances of relapse decrease.
The house, with its set of rules, helps to give your life a purpose and direction. Once you get them, you would not fall into the trap of boredom or emptiness.
Halfway houses in West Palm Beach, FL, give recovering addicts another challenge, which continues the excitement in their life. The challenge now is to maintain your sobriety and to do something fruitful in life. This will keep your brain engaged. You won’t have time to miss your drug or alcohol.
Meanwhile, the regular group meetings, therapy sessions, counseling, and journaling, accompanied with on-time healthy meals, exercise, and recreation gives you a package of purpose.
Why do people feel bored after recovery?
Here are a few reasons, as told by psychologists at Daylight Recovery Center:
- Your brain is still in the recovery stage. It is healing from drug or alcohol abuse. That’s why you are unable to feel strong emotions. This makes you feel empty.
- About 2-4 months after recovery, you may hit what psychologists call a “wall.” Your recovery success fades. You are now facing the harsh reality of life sans drugs and alcohol. Halfway houses help you “break” the “wall” and see life ahead confidently.
- Life without drugs and alcohol is different. You must accept it. You will never feel the kind of thrill you felt when arranging for drugs and using them and, of course, the “high.” Accept this as a phase of life that is over. And move on.
Life without drugs or alcohol is not boring. This is only a short phase, which will soon get over. A little extra effort can help you infuse excitement in life and you will never miss drugs or alcohol again.