You are probably all too familiar with the impatience that arises when you have to wait in line. Oftentimes, that impatience comes with ending up in a line to do something you have to do rather than something you want to do.
Examples of this phenomenon might include waiting in line to check out at the grocery store, waiting for your number to be called at the DMV, or waiting in line at the drive-thru when you are trying to grab a meal on the go.
In other situations, however, you find yourself waiting in line for something you really want. Examples of this situation include waiting in line to ride your favorite attraction at an amusement park, waiting in line for hard-to-get concert tickets, or waiting in line to see a highly anticipated new exhibit at a museum. In cases like these, your impatience is likely blended with a feeling of anticipation.
As these examples suggest, it is possible to feel a somewhat negative emotion (impatience) and a generally positive emotion (anticipation) at the same time. In fact, those two emotions are often in play together for a person who is going through treatment for a substance use disorder. They might also both be present at various times during the recovery journey.
Feeling Anticipation and Impatience During Treatment
When you are struggling with a substance use disorder, it can seem like you will never be able to reclaim your life from drugs or alcohol. But when you make the decision to seek out evidence-based treatment, you may well feel a surge of hope. That surge of hope is the first spark of the anticipation you will certainly feel about the possibility of leaving substance use behind.
Once you are in treatment, however, you may feel some impatience creeping in. You might, for example, wish you could get through the medically supervised detoxification process more speed and ease. You may find some of the therapy sessions during rehabilitation to be repetitive, overly long, or simply boring. These things can be true even as you continue to appreciate the work you are making toward a lasting recovery—the situation you are anticipating throughout the treatment process.
As treatment proceeds, you will likely feel impatience to get to the finish line and anticipation about returning to your day-to-day life. And you will, no doubt, feel wonderful when your time in treatment comes to an end.
Soon enough, however, you are likely once again to find yourself feeling anticipation and impatience at the same time.
Feeling Anticipation and Impatience After Treatment
As we have noted, you are likely going to feel anticipation about returning to your daily life as a person newly in recovery—as well you should. As your recovery journey gets underway, however, you may feel impatience that things are not going exactly the way you had hoped.
You can lean into your spirit of anticipation—looking forward to repairing broken relationships, making amends for mistakes, and reclaiming your ability to work or go to school. Still, you might feel impatience when you experience cravings or when the forgiveness you crave is slow in coming, or when it takes time to rebuild your reputation at work or school. You might even feel impatience around the many routines you need to build—going to meetings, eating healthily, getting enough rest, exercising regularly, and more—to give yourself the best chance to keep your recovery intact.
Still, the ongoingly good news is that you can anticipate each sober day as an opportunity to live your life in pursuit of your hopes and goals. That is a gift you have given yourself by getting treatment for a substance use disorder and committing yourself to an ongoing recovery.
We Anticipate We Can Help. We Are Impatient to Get Started.
At French Creek Recovery Center—located in Meadville, Pennsylvania—we are in the business of helping people put drug and alcohol use behind them so that they can take back control of their lives. We develop personalized treatment plans to address substance use disorders as well as co-occurring mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, and issues grounded in traumatic experiences. We do this work on a beautiful and serene campus—an environment that supports the work we do and the people we help.
When you seek treatment at French Creek Recovery Center, you can count on effective approaches built on our years of training and experience. Our inpatient treatment program includes medically supervised detoxification, a process that ensures safety, increased comfort, and a lack of temptations during the withdrawal period as drugs or alcohol leave your system. Our rehabilitation program is built around group and individual therapy sessions and is designed to provide resources, strategies, and mental health support that will support your recovery. Our commitment to a continuum of care means that you will continue to have access to resources and support as you start your recovery journey.
If you are struggling with drugs or alcohol, we anticipate we can help—and we are impatient to get started. After all, the best time to seek treatment for a substance use disorder is always right now.