Recovery itself is a celebration and part of that celebration is experiencing the true essence of the holidays without the foggy head and post-party headaches. The following are 10 tips for successfully celebrating a sober and clean holiday season.
Tips for Staying Sober During the Holidays
- Stay active and connected to your recovery support system.
- Look into recovery related holiday events and activities. Plan and attend some of these. Most 12-Step Fellowships, Recovery Organizations, and Churches hosts these – check them out!
- Host a friend in the recovery community that may not have anywhere to go. Invite them to your own event or plan one together.
- Keep a phone list nearby of recovery resources – sober friends, help hotlines, treatment centers, sponsors etc. If a drinking urge or panic comes, stop everything and make a call, it could save your life.
- If attending an event where there is drinking, have a plan in place; your own transportation, a reason why you must leave, take a sober friend with you, inform the host, etc.
- Skip any drinking occasion you are nervous about. Remember how clever you were at excuses when drinking? Now put that talent to good use. No office party is as important as staying sober.
- Worship in your own way. The holidays are a time of spirituality. Expand your spirituality, however that looks to you.
- Don’t start getting worked up about all those holiday temptations. Remember, “one day at a time.” Enjoy every day for what it has to offer.
- Enjoy the true beauty of holiday love and joy. Maybe you cannot give material gifts, but you can always give love. Find ways to contribute to those less fortunate. Service is one of the best ways to stay on one’s recovery path.
- If you have a healthy relationship with your family, try and spend some quality time together. If you are not on good terms with family, the holidays are a great time for forgiveness and repairing relationships. Attend family gatherings with the thought, “What can I bring to this occasion?”
For more advice for a clean holiday season or anytime throughout the year, contact us today!