The best way to get through a sober holiday season, or any other holiday, is to take time to look after your own needs. Our programs provide compassionate, evidenced-based therapies, medical detox services, residential treatment, outpatient treatment and virtual treatment programs. For sober alcoholics who come from active alcoholic families, this time of year is generally rampant with heavy drinking that they may have been able to avoid the rest of the year.

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Lastly, it’s important to be firm but compassionate about your boundaries. Put your foot down regarding things you don’t want to do but be nice about. Letting your family know how much you appreciate their support can be fulfilling and encouraging.

Tips to Maintain Your Recovery During the Holidays

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Here are some tips and resources for preventing or responding to addiction relapse during the holiday season. For some people in recovery, the holidays can be tough. But you can make it to January with your sobriety intact.

• Other tried and true stress busters are taking a walk in nature, journaling, or sharing your feelings with a loved one.
• If you’ve been misusing alcohol or drugs for a while, your brain may need several months or even longer to set itself right.
• If you do accidentally take a sip of an alcoholic beverage, don’t panic.
• 12-step programs create an environment that promotes emotional safety, where people have the experience of feeling understood and accepted.
• Relapse among people with substance use disorder is not uncommon.

Hatch a holiday escape plan, and plan to protect your sobriety

When done properly, anxiety diminishes, the focus of our thinking changes, and best of all, we can look at the life we’ve been given in a https://ecosoberhouse.com/ way that recognizes its worth. It’s important to know that the holidays don’t have to feel like a celebration. You can give yourself permission to simply be where you are emotionally. Give yourself a break by letting go of the need to meet the expectations of others. Be conscious of your evolving needs for emotional and physical space, and give yourself the gift of that space as necessary.

• Our sleep habits are foundational to most of our other habits.
• Thanksgiving is known for being a holiday that features a lot of food, as well as drinking for those who don’t abstain from alcohol.
• And, bring the address of the nearest AA meeting, just in case.
• You can give yourself permission to simply be where you are emotionally.
• And when you take initiative over the planning, it’s easier to ensure the evening is both fun and alcohol-free.

What’s most important in the event of a relapse is how you respond to it. One of the best strategies for preventing a relapse is to identify your triggers and come up with strategies for either managing or avoiding those personal triggers when possible. Isolation and loneliness can be major triggers for relapse, especially during the holidays. There are plenty of sober holiday traditions that you and your loved ones can create together to strengthen sober holidays your recovery.

Coming to grips with the idea that sobriety is not instant heaven is an important step in recovery. Most people with addiction expect their upside-down world to immediately turn right side up. If you’ve been misusing alcohol or drugs for a while, your brain may need several months or even longer to set itself right. Seeing family, visiting old friends, having unfulfilled expectations, maybe missing a loved one you lost this year — it can all lead to tension and sadness, as well as thoughts of using.

It is also a fun night for many adults, who may celebrate by throwing a party that involves drinking alcohol or using drugs. For many people, including those in recovery, the holidays stir up difficult memories. With a few creative strategies, we can still participate in holiday fun without going broke. For example, if you want to entertain, consider a potluck meal. You can ask others to bring everything from appetizers to non-alcoholic drinks to paper goods.