Coping with addiction and the holidays can be a struggle at times, like at the annual Christmas party with extended family or the pressure from friends to celebrate by hitting happy hour. When you add those struggles to the ordinary daily demands that do not break during the holidays, it becomes easier to give in to temptations.
This holiday season, do something different, make it easier to survive. With the tips below, you can stay in recovery while also experiencing the joy and excitement of the holidays.
Get Organized
If you try to wing it during the holidays, you may find yourself in a situation where relapse becomes a reality. Instead, get organized. Treat the events of the holiday season as a business. What does it take to make your business successful?
Plan for every day of the holiday season. Know what you’re doing every hour so when someone calls with an invite to a party, you can quickly tell them you are already booked. Schedule everything from meals, exercise, drive to and from work to phone calls to family and friends during the holidays. Daily activities that should be happening during the holidays include self-care and recovery activities.
Lack of planning and organization can add stress to your life, making you feel overwhelmed and frustrated. Routines and structure benefit recovery. They reduce stress, keep you focused and enhance productivity. You feel rewarded when you look back on all the things you crossed off your list. You will feel even more rewarded when you recognize the things you did not do, like relapsing.
Make Yourself a Priority
The holidays are a time of giving, especially of your time, of which you have very little. If you give yourself only one gift this year, make it a commitment to take care of your mental and physical health. Self-care does not equal selfishness. It is just the opposite. It means taking care of yourself so you can take care of others.
Self-care involves participating in activities that feed your good health. Self-care ideas include
Eating healthy
Exercising
Sleeping for restoration
Giving back
Practicing meditation or being spiritually active
This holiday season, you can add activities to your schedule like meditation, yoga, massage, new hobbies, book clubs, the gym, and support groups. Create a mini-bucket list and have fun.
Know your Rights
It seems like everyone you know is having a holiday party. You feel obligated to attend. You think if you do not attend, your family, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances will be mad or stop liking you. Putting your sobriety in jeopardy out of fear of hurting someone else’s feelings is extremely risky.
To survive the holidays with addiction, you need to understand you have the right to say no to any party invitation, even to sober parties and family outings. Your physical and mental health is essential. If you feel stressed or tired, spend that time relaxing instead. Avoid any activity that puts recovery at risk.
Set Your Own Party Rules
You have the right to say yes to invitations to parties, just like you have the right to say no. However, to maintain recovery during the holidays, you need to set rules to follow when attending events. Rules can include
Attend a meeting before or after the party.
Take a sober friend as your guest.
Have an exit plan or go-to reason for leaving if you feel tempted.
Never accept an open drink from anyone to avoid being drugged without your knowledge or accidental relapse.
Be the first guest to arrive and depart.
Once you create your rules list, commit to not breaking the rules.
Increase Support
The holidays are busy. You barely have time to get everything done at home, work, school, and socially. Many people choose to put off activities that support recovery to have more time to complete holiday tasks. This is a mistake.
Because you know the holidays are chaotic and stressful, do the opposite. Increase the amount of time you spend meeting with an individual counselor, attending recovery meetings and support groups, and spending time with sober friends.
Working with an addiction counselor one or two hours a week can give you the strength and motivation you need. You can also learn stress-management techniques and how to maintain healthy boundaries. The best part about therapy is that it boosts your confidence, so you feel good about protecting your sobriety.
You may need more than a few hours a week of therapy, especially if this is your first holiday season sober. It is always a good idea to increase the amount of recovery treatment during this time. There are intensive outpatient programs that provide ten hours a week of treatment. You can also enter a residential program if you feel separating yourself from the hectic holiday life is needed. Work with your therapist to discuss higher-level treatment options.
Be Honest With Yourself
There may be times during the holidays you want to participate in an activity, but you know it could put you at risk for relapse. You may try to justify or rationalize reasons for participating. Instead, talk to yourself about what is true. Process why you want to participate. Think about the consequences. Then decide.
If deep down you are looking for opportunities that may lead to relapse, avoid the activity altogether. It takes a lot of courage to be honest with yourself and make the right decision. But doing so offers many rewards.
Get a Decision-Making Partner
If you have had a substance use disorder, you know how the brain can trick you into relapsing by getting you to make rash decisions. Ask someone you trust, who supports your recovery, to help you make decisions this holiday season. This helps you
Avoid making impulsive decisions.
Confirm your answer to be right or wrong.
Make yourself a priority.
You can survive the holidays with addiction. Start preparing now, and you may have the best holiday yet.