Stages of Recovery: What to Expect After Entering Sobriety
Entering recovery for a substance use disorder is an intimidating proposition for anyone we come in contact with – and many people cite the fear of what’s coming next as a primary hangup to getting started. Here, we’ll shed some light on the stages of addiction recovery right from the early days through the first few years, hopefully to provide a roadmap through some of the predictable time frames to expect.
The phases of recovery from addiction typically include detox and withdrawal, early optimism and adjustment, emotional skill-building, renewed focus during mid-recovery, and long-term stability as sobriety becomes part of daily life.
In this article, we’ll walk through the stages of recovery from addiction, what symptoms and emotions often show up, how treatment centers support each phase, and what it really takes to maintain sobriety over the long run.
The First Week: Detox and withdrawal
The first week after quitting drug or alcohol use is usually the most physical stage of the recovery process. Depending on the substances used, symptoms of withdrawal can vary significantly.
During this early stage, your body is adjusting to functioning without substances it has started to rely on. Withdrawal symptoms can look different for everyone, but the goal is the same: stabilize safely so you can actually benefit from treatment.
Common withdrawal symptoms in the first week can include:
- Anxiety, irritability, or restlessness
- Trouble sleeping or vivid dreams
- Nausea, appetite changes, or stomach issues
- Headaches, body aches, or fatigue
- Mood swings, sadness, or feeling “flat”
Sometimes, our THC users think they are exempt from this phase, but this is generally not the case. It’s worth it to expect some trouble sleeping, irritability, and mood swings during this phase, even for the marijuana user.
Note that for alcohol addiction and some drugs, withdrawal can be more intense and may require medical monitoring. If this is the case, we generally recommend folks seek a professional detox center to manage this first few days. We recommend having an initial assessment done by a professional trained in addiction in order to mitigate any potential health risks during this phase.
Weeks 2-4: the Pink Cloud
Weeks two through four are often when many people hit the “Pink Cloud” phase. This is a stage of sobriety where energy comes back, hope spikes, and life can feel dramatically better compared to week one. Newly sober people will sometimes go as far as to say, “I don’t even want to use anymore!” Feeling better can be a huge initial win.
This stage includes more mental clarity, fewer acute withdrawal symptoms, and a noticeable lift in mood. Motivation can be high as we feel that we’re “turning over a new leaf” this time, and it’s normal to feel proud and hopeful during this phase.
However, this phase comes with a serious caveat. Towards the end of the Pink Cloud phase, we begin to really feel the consequences of our use and we re-awaken to discover the complicated mess we’ve now got to untangle. Many people struggle towards the end of the first month, and we refer to this as “falling off the Pink Cloud.”
Takeaway: it is extremely important during this time to be a participant in a proper treatment program that can see this phase ending and help you respond accordingly. Just like all the phases of sobriety, “This Too Shall Pass.”
Month 2-3: Developing emotional coping skills
During the next couple of months of sobriety, we begin to really develop and rely on the emotional coping skills we’re gaining from our treatment programs, our 12-step meetings, and/or our individual therapeutic appointments. The good news is that this phase doesn’t last forever, and there is a carrot: using these tools should become a habit, and we’ll then be set up for an unreasonably happy life moving forward.
This stage is where we begin actively applying the first four of the 12 steps in daily life. That work – honest self-reflection, developing a positive support system, and beginning to find and rely on our higher power of choice – become tools that set us up for emotional stability and happiness over the long haul.
During months two and three, treatment plans focus heavily on building emotional coping skills that support long term recovery, such as:
- Taking an honest look at our behaviors and choices
- Identifying emotional triggers tied to substance use
- Using healthy coping strategies to manage fear, ego, and dishonesty
- Learning how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors influence one another
- Beginning to repair our strained relationships with family members
This is the phase where we really start to imprint and reap the benefits of a substance abuse support group. By the end of this phase, we are generally feeling pretty good and hopeful, and our friends and family start to notice that we’ve changed as well. However, there’s more work to do!
Months 6-9: setting priorities
After the initial treatment process, we begin to put our lives back together – we’re getting jobs, returning to school, moving into new apartments or sober living facilities. Ideally, we’re participating in some kind of substance abuse Aftercare program that’s helping “bump” us back to the path whenever we begin to stray (we highly recommend asking about Aftercare when weighing your treatment options!).
It’s important not to be too hard on ourselves during this time – we’re still truly in early recovery at this point.
Around the six to nine month recovery stage, many people begin to struggle with consistency. That’s why the 9-month chip in AA is regarded as the “hardest chip to get.”
What’s happening under the hood:
We don’t feel the sense of urgency that we did previously, because our lives are looking a lot better than they were before. We’re becoming respectable again, and others have taken notice, and even started to trust us.
During this time, we can sometimes place other priorities ahead of our recovery – which is the mistake that causes so many to falter at this point.
What to do: Continue with your Aftercare program, 12-step meetings, and fellowship. Participate in any service projects you’ve got going on, and keep sobriety as your number one priority. As they say, “anything placed ahead of our sobriety is the first thing we lose.”
See our full article on preventing relapse during this phase for more information on why substance users relapse when things are going well.
1-4 Years: Living sober
Between one and four years of sobriety, recovery begins to feel less like something you’re doing and more like the way you live. Life doesn’t suddenly become easy – challenges, stress, disappointment, and loss still happen – but your relationship to them is fundamentally different. Now, you have tools that you can access at any time to respond to stress, fear, ego, and pride.
By this point, we should be finished with our initial run through the 12 Steps (or close to it!), and it’s time to make service and giving back to others a focus. Why is this so important? It keeps in touch with why we’re here in the first place.
As they say, drug users have a “good forgetter.” In other words, we forget the pain and suffering we had when we came in, and we sometimes begin to reminisce on the “good times” of getting high.
However, if we’re honest with ourselves and in touch with our support groups, we begin to realize during the first year or two of recovery that even on the hardest days, sobriety is still better than active substance use ever was. We often hear some version of, “My worst day sober is still better than my best day getting high.”
Keep pushing through and growing. Many describe “early recovery” as the first five years of recovery. In other words, we’re still getting acclimated to our new life, and – the best is yet to come!
5 years and beyond
For those of us with five years of recovery and beyond, life takes on a new meaning. By this point, most people have lived through enough real-world experiences sober to know that using substances would only complicate, not solve, their problems.
Challenges still happen. Loss, stress, disappointment, and uncertainty don’t disappear. But there’s a deep, earned confidence that comes from having handled life on life’s terms for years.
In our experience, five years and beyond is where sobriety becomes deeply integrated. Recovery is no longer about avoiding the past; it’s about living fully in the present and continuing to grow, one day at a time.
