A big part of Drug rehab is overcoming the emotional addiction to a substance. Getting that next hit, that next bump, making the next score, it delivers a sense of purpose, something to do in a day. Shooting up, lighting up, snorting a line, it delivers real satisfaction. Quitting that, even after you’ve detoxified, even after the drug is completely and totally one hundred percent out of your system, it leaves a void.

You’re not calling your sources to see if they have anything available, you’re not scraping together a few bucks for a nickel bag, you’re not chasing the high, so what do you do in a day? How do you spend your time? How do you get meaning out of your life?

The world can be a cold and empty place if you don’t feel that you have some purpose, some reason for getting up in the morning, and for an addict, that meaning, that purpose comes from scoring and doing drugs in the same way that a musician wakes up so he can play guitar, in the same way that an athlete gets up so he can play ball.

Quitting cold turkey and then having nothing to do in place of drugs can make it very tempting to go back to the comfort of the pipe or the needle “just this once” or “just until I figure out what to do with myself” or “just for old time’s sake.”

Some people fill that void with hobbies or their work or spending time with loved ones, but every free moment is an opportunity to go score another hit, every moment of boredom an offer of the easy meaning and purpose found in substance dependency.

Say you decide to pick up painting in order to overcome drugs, but now and then you start to wonder where you’re going with all this painting. Maybe you decide you’ll make it into a career, but then even if it becomes a career, the answer still remains: Why do this and not something else? Where’s the finish line? What’s the end goal we’re working at here?

That void is something that should drive you not back into the arms of substance abuse, but towards bigger and better things in your own life.

It’s important to understand that everybody feels that want for something more, that grasping for some definite meaning and purpose, and that nobody has ever figured it out. Whatever false fronts people may put on, nobody has it all figured out, nobody has true meaning, true purpose to their lives besides the purpose they assign for themselves. Even the religious need to choose to believe in their chosen scripture before that scripture can provide them with meaning.

It’s an endless pursuit, a chase that lasts a lifetime, and in order to kick drugs and make it stick, one needs to understand that that void will always be there. Drug addiction doesn’t make that void go away, it’s only an easy distraction. Finding purpose takes time, patience, and constant, ceaseless effort, but it’s something we all have to face in order to live a healthy, safe, and ultimately more rewarding life.