Patients recovering from coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery face four key challenges in the posthospitalization stage: monitoring their progress toward healing, understanding the desirable and undesirable indicators of recovery, appraising their own body state, and acting in accord with the alignment of what was expected and what actually occurred. They must manage their own recovery protocol, integrating recommendations from clinicians regarding medications, wound care, and activity tolerance into a home routine. They must mend, or heal, following the prescribed activity/rest/nutrition guidelines to ensure both physiological healing as well as psychological recovery. Finally, they must be motivated to adopt new heart-healthy behaviors while avoiding those that interfere with healing and recovery.