Recovery is an ongoing process. While rehab can be a great tool, it’s only the beginning. Many factors lead to people’s addictions and their entry into rehab. Rehab facilities help people identify and address these factors, but rehab isn’t magic. It’s not some magic wand that automatically makes all of these problems disappear.
One of these problems might be a fear of success. Some people might think that it’s ludicrous to fear success, since success is a good thing. But success can bring its own set of problems. If people achieve success, they might be afraid that other people will
- envy them.
- think that they’re frauds and didn’t deserve their success.
- not have anything in common with them.
Success can also mean change, and change can be scary. If someone is successful in a new job, for example, they might make more money, but might have problems handling their new income. They might be meeting new colleagues, friends, or neighbors, but miss the old people in their lives. Some people might turn to drugs and alcohol to deal with these fears. They could become dependent on such substances and struggle with drug or alcohol abuse. This abuse could land them in rehab.
Even after rehab, people could still fear success. They might worry that their successful recoveries might be changing their lives significantly. This is a valid concern, because recovery can drastically change a person’s life by requiring people to find new
- jobs if they’ve lost their old ones due to their substance use disorder.
- housing if they live with other substance use disorderrs or in areas that could trigger their abuse.
- hobbies if they spent all of their time using drugs or drinking before they entered rehab.
These are just some of the drastic changes some people make during their successful recoveries. As we said, change can be scary. We fear the unknown, and there’s no guaranteed master plan for a successful recovery. But isn’t fearing the unknown while healthy and sober better than dealing with the same old pitfalls of substance use disorder?
