It was an emotional graduation on Celebrity Rehab this past week. The ceremony was a celebration of how far everyone had come, but the focus was on aftercare plans (I’m glad to see Jason Davis finally decided to go to a residential treatment center!). That’s because addiction is a cunning, deceptive disease—the only disease that manifests itself by trying to convince you that you’re not sick.
The way to get around that self-deception is to have a plan and to stick to it. That means a plan for when you get out of rehab, a plan for when you get out of aftercare, a plan for after the aftercare, a plan for what to do and who to call when you feel like using …
I know when I say it that way, it feels like there’s no spontaneity at all left in life. But that’s not what I mean. Every day gives us countless moments where we can be spontaneous. We can cross the street to look at something that catches our eye, stop to pet a dog, strike up a conversation with the person standing behind us on line, pick up the phone and call a friend, buy a new shade of lipstick, go out to eat something we’ve never eaten before.
While newly sober addicts like the ones on Celebrity Rehab need structure for the big things, they—and we—can still delight and surprise ourselves endlessly with the little things in life.
Sherry Gaba, LCSW, is a Licensed Psychotherapist and Recovery/Life Coach in Agoura, Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, Malibu, Calabasas, as well as by phone. Sherry is the Psychotherapist on Celebrity Rehab, as well as the author of “The Law of Sobriety: Attracting Positive Energy for a Powerful Recovery”. Contact Sherry at [email protected] to learn more about Sherry’s workshops, teleseminars, speaking engagements, and coaching packages. Sign up now for your FREE Relapse Prevention E Book here
