After I completed my twenty-eight day treatment program I thought I was ready to go home and resume my life despite what my therapist in treatment was telling me to do.  There suggestion was to go straight to a halfway house for a minimum of three months.  Of course I thought that I was “cured” and would be okay on my own without structure in my life.  That could not have been further from the truth.

While I did not relapse during my time at home I must say that I was not the happiest camper.  The only thing that kept me sober was going to meetings.  Living at home I was not able to get myself connected to alcoholics anonymous.  I was staying up really late at night, sleeping in, hanging out at bars with my friends.  Basically living the life of an addict without the use of drugs or alcohol.  I was a “dry drunk”.

Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and I checked myself into a halfway house before a relapse occurred.  Living in a halfway house provided me the structure that I needed.  I had a curfew that I had to abide by, rules to follow, a daily job duty to maintain the house, and most importantly I was forced to get out of bed in the morning and be an active member of society.  Basically I was taught how to live again without the use of drugs or alcohol.

For me, going to a halfway house after my inpatient program was the best thing that I did for myself.  I wish I would have listened to my therapist from the get go and gone straight from treatment instead of putting myself through misery.  Without admitting myself into a halfway house I really don’t think that I would have been able to achieve any sort of meaningful sobriety.  It built on the foundation that I got in treatment and allowed me to slowly implement the tools I was learning into the real world.  It was the perfect stepping stone for me.