How To Stay Sober Over The Holidays

You just want to relax, enjoy yourself and be with your friends and family. If you can’t get out of a party or other get-together that you’re worried about attending, ask a close friend or your sponsor to accompany you. Discuss your concerns ahead of time and make concrete plans for how you will both respond if you find yourself slipping.

People get time off of work, travel to see their families, spend time preparing for the holidays, and often don’t adhere to their typical routines during the holiday season. Your exercise routine, healthy eating patterns, and even your Alcoholics Anonymous meeting attendance may fall by the wayside. All of these disruptions can put serious stress on your sobriety.

Put Your Sobriety First

RecoveryGo virtual outpatient addiction and mental health treatment directly to you. Everything you need to know to stay sober this holiday season. If someone invites you to an event and you know they will serve alcohol, politely decline the invitation. As long as you’re at peace with your decision to abstain, you can get through mild temptations. However, if you don’t feel strong enough on a particular day, stay at home. Alternatively, you can try another activity that you know will not present temptations that you don’t want to face. After the hoopla, with the whole party watching from the doorway, we fanned the smoke from the kitchen and served dinner without stuffing and yams.

• I’m not alone in not being especially worried about my drinking but also wanting to drink less on holiday; the pandemic has accelerated a growing trend for sober vacations.
• «There are a lot of social cues around the holidays that involve alcohol, like toasting in the New Year or having wine with dinner at a family holiday event,» she said.
• Honoring your needs, leaving parties early, and saying ‘no’ to intrusive questions or conversations are just a few of the many boundaries you can put into place.
• There’s the pressure to spend money on extravagant gifts, to spend time with people we don’t always get along with, and to attend parties where most people celebrate with a drink in hand.

When you’re faced with a question on whether to have a drink later in the week, think back on those conversations. What should be the most joyous time of the year is sometimes a struggle. There’s the pressure to spend money on extravagant gifts, to spend time with people we don’t always get along with, and to attend parties where most people celebrate with a drink in hand. It can be tough to revisit familiar people or places if some of our problems related to alcohol are rooted deep within us. With the holidays right around the corner, you may think of fine food and good company as a wonderful disruption to the college routine. As some traditions and celebrations may consist of alcohol and other substances, it can become overwhelming to navigate for those in recovery.

So That’s Why Some People Have More Earwax Than Others

This may result in you feeling tempted and impulsive by substances like drugs and alcohol. Proper nutrition is crucial for your health and mental well-being, especially during recovery. Have a healthy snack or meal about everythree hours. Also, make sure you are consistently drinking water to stay hydrated. The holidays may mean being brought back to places and parties where you used to have fun and use drugs or alcohol.

You could eat a nice meal, get a massage, spend time with someone you love, or find another small way to reward yourself for staying sober during the holidays. Holidays are a time many people let down their hair and free their inhibitions. But when you’re in relapse, you can’t necessarily partake in the same activities, especially if you’re hoping to have a sober holiday.

Start Your Recovery Today

Nourish your spirit, too, through personal reflection and connection with those you love. Find some quiet time each day for relaxation and meditation—if only for a few minutes, no matter how busy you are. 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.

So, although you may have been able to let go of toxic friendships after getting sober, you might not have been able to cut out all family members. I carryKava Stress Relieftea with me wherever I go. You can also try chamomile, holy basil, or any herbal tea. A lot of times just the simple act of drinking something that we count as healing or nourishing is enough to pull us back to ourselves. This is a Kundalini meditation called “Sunia Antar Meditation,” (I still use Kundalini, though we don’t teach it in the Tempest program anymore,read about that here). It’s simple and effective, and you can do it in the bathroom if you need a quick fix.

Where Addiction Endsand Recovery Begins

For some, the holidays bring instances of happiness and camaraderie. For others, the holidays can be a time of family conflict, strained wallets, loneliness, and seasonal affective disorder, also known as seasonal depression or winter blues. It can be helpful to create visual reminders of your goal to have a sober holiday season. For each event that you successfully get through, reward yourself with a brunch date with a good friend or buy yourself that book you’ve wanted. Sometimes, it’s easy to distract yourself from a party temptation by bringing sugar-free pocket candies. Pop a hard candy in your mouth when you feel yourself getting nervous or worrying about what other people might think.

• If you don’t think that you have the willpower to say no, check yourself into a long-term rehab program.
• Aside from the gustatory pleasures, I worried about being the sober one.
• Even if you choose to disclose your sober-curious status — which, again, you don’t have to — Whitmore recommends being honest about it (if you’re asked) and then moving on.
• Thinking about this statistic, along with the added stress that comes with the holidays, and it makes a recipe for potential disaster.

Learn more about Tempest’s unique approach to alcohol recovery. Relationships are assignments.Consider everyone an angel or a spiritual teacher. If I can remember to insert this into my interactions, I can remember to use something really triggering to practice not being triggered, to choose a different way.

Stay Strong And Treat Yourself

Content is reviewed before publication and upon substantial updates. Friends and family members will understand, and the most important thing is maintaining your recovery. Take some time to rest for a few minutes after your negative experience and reflect on what was difficult for you. To avoid the temptations of the holidays, start each day with a plan. Bring a notepad with and write how sober holidays you feel and how you can navigate those feelings while being at a social event throughout the day. I’m going to share them with you in the hopes that you can go into the holidays feeling confident, strong, and able to navigate the holidays while being your authentic, true self. These are only a few activities that can keep your mind and body busy without turning to drugs or alcohol.

How the hell do you stay sober over the holidays? Be mindful of asking someone else to grab you a drink. They may misunderstand you or forget that you don’t intend to drink alcohol. If you do accidentally take a sip of an alcoholic beverage, don’t panic. It’s only a sip, and it doesn’t mean you’ve relapsed—or that you should entertain the thought of relapsing now.

Is it possible to find peace and happiness when a loved one is addicted? Our hope is merely to capture the spirit of the fellowships, and to approach people with the language they commonly use to describe the disease of addiction. If you become a ball of wretched energy during the holidays, perhaps your own expectations have become your downfall. Hazelden Betty Ford’s Family Program is now offered virtually and free to anyone who would like to attend.

Lean On Your Support System

Be compassionate towards yourself, recovery is not always easy, but you can do this. Ask for help from family and friends when going to gatherings where substances will be present. If they cannot join you, check-in before and after significant events with an accountability partner. If you are supporting someone, offer alternatives to alcoholic beverages and activities that do not encourage use. Substance abuse often increases during the holiday season.

These are my nine tips for getting through the holidays with family who are, well, less than sober. If you’re not part of our community, you can look to the many organizations to findonline https://ecosoberhouse.com/ gatherings of sober folkson the holidays. If you’re going to a restaurant, don’t be afraid to take up space and ask the server what nonalcoholic beverages they can make.

If you walked away sober, that alone is something to be proud of. It’s also a good idea to provide yourself with distractions. First, find a non-alcoholic drink you enjoy that you can sip on throughout the night.

Know Where The Meetings Are

She attends Al-Anon while her husband is in and out of Alcoholics Anonymous. If you’re having a party, be mindful of your guests’ needs. Instead of boozing, I swam lengths and ran up hills. I eschewed my usual holiday diet of mindless thrillers to read books that required concentration. I was able to drive everyone back from long lunches at the beach. In the mornings, I became unrecognisably perky, advocating tennis “before the sun hits the court”.