Deciding to seek help for an alcoholism addiction is a tough, but important decision. However, when your time in rehab is over, you may wonder what you can do next. Most people are concerned about their post-rehab social life. There’s a few things you can do to stay social and sober…
How-to Have a Post-Rehab Social Life: Useful Steps
Be honest with your friends
An important element of your post-rehab social life will be your existing friends. Odds are that they’ve already supported you when you went to treatment. Now, it’s good to talk to them about how you feel, and in particular, the sort of changes you want to make.
Mainly, you may want to still hang out with them, just without alcohol. It’s likely that most of them will agree and try to help you keep sober. Some of them may also reflect on their own drinking and try to cut back in the process. However, be prepared that some may not be willing to make those changes.
Find sober friends
Even if your existing friends want to help, they may also want to drink sometimes. These situations can make you feel uncomfortable, even if they don’t mean to make you feel that way. As such, you may also want to find sober friends as part of your post-rehab social life.
Sober friends are those who understand what it’s like to get help with an alcohol addiction. Therefore, they also won’t want to be around alcohol. This can make it a lot easier to enjoy yourself when you’re out with them.
Know how to turn down alcohol
Eventually, there may a situation where you’re offered alcohol. It’s important for your post-rehab social life to know how to turn down these drinks. After all, you don’t want to jeopardize your sobriety. Still, you also don’t want to come off as rude.
That’s why it’s helpful to have a few responses at the ready. These should be polite, but also make it clear you don’t want to drink. Plus, you don’t have to let them know about your rehab stay and your sobriety if you don’t want to. What matters is letting them know you don’t wish to drink.
