21 Important Life Lessons One Learns at Drug Rehabilitation Centers

Addiction is a disease—that is one of the first things you need to understand.  This does NOT give anyone the right to behave badly or to hurt anyone, but it is important for you to know that while you have a disease, the disease does not have YOU.  You have control, but you have to choose to USE that control.  Most people I have talked to feel that they had to reach “bottom”, wherever that happens to be for them, before they could begin to address their addictions. 

It’s also important to keep in mind, that while we usually talk about addictions to drugs or alcohol, you can be addicted to just about anything—anything such as food, tobacco, running, shopping, gambling—addiction is defined as “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.” 

I have worked with alcoholics and addicts—and here are some of the things I have heard from people in recovery that they have learned.

1. Wherever I go, EGO. Ego is the part of you that always wants to be right, to be better, to be successful.  The problem is that it is always there—and most often gets in the way of your health and happiness.  This is because the Ego is never quite satisfied—you are never good enough, smart enough or successful enough.  Using this phrase, reminds people to “let go” of their egos—which brings me to the next lesson.
2. Let go and let God.  If you have a belief system with God, this means that you let your Higher Power take care of things.  If you don’t have a belief system, it usually is taken to mean to simply “let go”  As it says in the Serenity prayer “..accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference”.

While you have a disease, the disease does not have YOU

• Serenity comes when I stop expecting and start accepting.
• Ten out of ten people die, so don't take life too seriously. This has also been said as—we all die, the question is how well we can live!
• HALT: Don't get too...

Hungry,
Angry,
Lonely, or
Tired!!

Here are a few things people have learned about resentment:

• Resentments are like peeing your pants--they don't affect anyone else quite as much as they affect you!
• Expectations are premeditated resentments.
• Expectations are resentments waiting to happen.

Reality based life lessons and sayings nearly everyone talks about:

• Smoking the dope won't help you cope.
• Just for today. This usually is repeated over and over if someone is concerned about drinking or using again…just for today, I’ll stay sober or just for today, I’ll stay clean.
• One day at a time—you can stay clean and sober for one day at a time—don’t worry about tomorrow.  Remember—today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
• Wherever you go- there you are.
• You must be present to win.
• When you feel left out, reach out.
• If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got.

or:

• If you keep doin' what your doin' you'll keep gettin' what your gettin'
• Remember: It's ok to look back but just don't stare.
• I don't thank God for opening the gates of Heaven and letting me in, I thank God for opening the gates of Hell and letting me out
• I came for my drinking and stayed for my thinking 
• Stay away from stinkin’ thinkin’
• I used to be a hopeless dope fiend; today I'm dopeless hope fiend.

And, as Mahatma Ghandi said “We must become the change we want to see”  It is all up to you.  Yes, it’s a huge responsibility, but people have not only said these words, they have LIVED them—the proof is everywhere that addictions can be beaten—but it has to start with you.  After the start, then you’ll find people everywhere willing and able to support you in YOUR decision to stay clean and sober.