Tips for Staying Sober During the Holidays

The holidays can be a fun and exciting time of year, but also a stressful and emotional time as well. Here are 10 quick tips for maintaining your sobriety, and sanity, during the winter holidays and into the new year. There is also the fact that many holiday celebrations revolve around alcohol.

If you need treatment for addiction to alcohol or other drugs, consider going to rehab over the holidays

Early signs of a relapse or slip may be identified by family members, friends, or other loved ones, such as a spouse. Ignoring triggers leaves you more susceptible to their influence in recovery, and allows them to maintain power over you. Some triggers can be more general, like being at a bar, while others can be very personal to your own experience, such as being with someone you used to drink heavily with. Spend time with people who you feel comfortable around, people who lift you up instead of bringing you down.

Manage expectations and carve out meaningful time

One of the best ways is to keep a water bottle nearby at holiday parties. By having water readily available, you can easily replace alcohol with a refreshing alternative. Continue to strengthen your relapse prevention strategies by identifying triggers, developing healthy coping mechanisms, and maintaining open communication with your support network. Regularly reassess and modify your strategies as needed to support your ongoing sobriety.

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

We are happy to offer advice or assistance when you are purchasing your flights. When you take the opportunity to connect with others—to see, value and honor their experience—you exercise empathy. You exist outside of yourself, and you begin to notice all the blessings your life already sober holidays contains. And it doesn’t get more human, or more recovery, than that. Take our short alcohol quiz to learn where you fall on the drinking spectrum and if you might benefit from quitting or cutting back on alcohol. The demands of the season can put a strain on your wallet.

Trying to scrape a living together by working several jobs, keeping up with friends and attempting to find a little time for ourselves can lead us to live functionally alcoholic lives. Thursday, as we all know, is the real start to the weekend and getting trashed with your squad on Friday is the norm. We are over-worked and underpaid millennials and we need to let off steam. It’s also important to have non-alcoholic beverage options available, Koob says.

• Sometimes we get caught up in how we have always celebrated the holidays.
• Remind yourself that you are deserving of this connection — deserving of kindness, love, and happiness.
• As such, taking a holiday can seem like a frightening prospect.
• If you come prepared to protect your sobriety, you should be able to outmaneuver addiction and avoid any potential relapses.
• Plus get our latest news and special offers for members to choose better drinks, change your drinking and connect with others.

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