I know, I know… it’s hard to make yourself call or text people through the holidays. After all, aren’t they trying to celebrate with their family and loved ones? Who are you to interrupt their celebration with your problems? These are the things that our shame and addiction tell us and keep us from getting the support we need to stay sober. Just remember, in our addiction we often didn’t care who we bothered or what day it was.
Sober Christmas: Celebrating Christmas in Recovery
Why is the holiday season an especially tricky time? We are told relentlessly on television, at the movies, at our workplace, and at school that this time of year is the most fun, spiritual, exciting, intimate, and joyful time of the year. While gratitude lists can be effective tools to help sober holidays keep the momentum of treatment moving, meditating from a place of true gratitude, however, changes the brain and the way the brain functions.
Hatch a holiday escape plan, and plan to protect your sobriety
The realization that everyone is experiencing stress during the holidays should help lower expectations and allow you to be more forgiving of yourself. Also take some time to review the work you did when you first began recovery, she added. «Create or revisit your relapse prevention plan,» Marcum said. «Preparing for a potential relapse is an important part of recovery, and gives you a tangible place to turn for guidance whenever you might need it,» she explained. «It can be overwhelming to think about what to do when emotions are high, so having a written plan can be an excellent strategy.»
Avoid H.A.L.T.
If it feels safe to stay at the party into the night then by all means enjoy the evening, but if feeling triggered or tempted starts to enter the picture we need to have a plan to exit without excuse. If you want to stay sober during the holidays, look for every opportunity to be of service. Serve a meal at a homeless shelter, reach out to a newcomer at a meeting, spend time with an elderly loved one or neighbor. There are a million different ways to give back, pay it forward and be of service, and each opportunity guides you further away from resentment, self-pity and fear. Stress-reduction techniques provide a simple, yet essential strategy for helping to prevent relapse in addiction recovery, especially during a busy or stressful holiday season. You don’t want to start thinking about your drinking or using days.
Here are some relapse prevention tips and self-care ideas for the holiday season, or any time. Staying sober from drugs and alcohol during the holidays, for some, is https://ecosoberhouse.com/ only half the battle for staying grounded and secure in recovery. But these celebrations also often include drinking, making them sometimes difficult to enjoy for people in recovery. Stress is a common trigger for relapse not just during the holidays, but at any point in the recovery process from alcohol or drug addiction.
Difficult Memories
- Going to the bathroom isn’t the only way to accomplish this, of course.
- Given the season, we are going to explore 10 strategies for staying stable and sober through the holidays.
- Do something that is good for humanity and your recovery this season to avoid relapse.
- Consider playing board games, watching holiday movies, or taking a stroll to gaze at the beautiful lights.
- Anticipation, on the other hand, is living with a loose grip and being willing to accept the gift that is the moment at hand.
To get started on your recovery journey, contact a treatment provider to learn more about your options. The holidays aren’t just filled with parties, Santa, and Aunt Betty’s famous fudge. They’re also jam-packed with time-strapped travel, stress, and high expectations. And for those in recovery, the holidays can also come with a stocking full of triggers, including people, places, and events that present both the opportunity and the lure to return to substance misuse. The end of the year brings people together with Halloween parties in October, Thanksgiving dinner in November, and a plethora of holidays in December such as Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. These events can be exciting and sometimes overwhelming.
- Take the time to connect with a mentor or recovery coach.
- This post assumes you are in recovery from some addiction (i.e., alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, porn, work, food, etc.) and want stay that way even under stress.
- Sometimes, even well-meaning family won’t understand your boundaries.
- However, not everyone who experiences sadness or depression has a mental health condition, and these feelings can act as a trigger.
Practicing gratitude is not an exercise in the denial of difficult circumstances in our lives, nor is it the practice of taking inventory of our material possessions. Gratitude is the cornerstone of serenity which is often scarce this time of year. Getting through the end-of-year holidays while maintaining recovery, especially for people newer to this life-changing process, is an important accomplishment—one worthy of celebration in its own right. At Renaissance Recovery our goal is to provide evidence-based treatment to as many individuals as possible.
Anxiety
Anyone who can be a person to confide in and talk to when things get rough during the holidays. Nothing can lead us to entitlement faster than resentments. This time of year, there are countless opportunities to harbor, nurture, and rehearse them in our minds. Everything from the extra obligations we take on to the lack of appreciation we may experience for all our efforts to create the perfect holiday backdrop for our loved ones can take center stage.