I've never had to deactivate but my little had to for the last 2 years since she was on Recruitment Exec. She said that deactivating wasn't the hard part. You don't have to completely cut yourself off from all your sisters. You can still hang out with them but just not in a big group. You also can't throw on a Zeta shirt and go to class so I'd imagine that being difficult since Zeta shirts were my wardrobe staple when I was in school.

She said the hardest part of deactivation was coming back to the chapter after Recruitment. All the sisters spent a month preparing for rush and bonding. They know or know about all the new girls and know what went on behind the scenes during recruitment. It's hard to come back to the chapter and try to get yourself back "in the loop".
But, I know she had a lot of fun being on Recruitment Exec and meeting girls from different sororities. You'll have a blast!