Stress-reduction techniques provide a simple, yet essential strategy for helping to prevent relapse in addiction recovery, especially during a busy or stressful holiday season. If you’re sober, this can feel isolating and may bring up feelings of stress, frustration, and sadness. Most of us think of holidays as breaks from our ‘normal’ life that might see us travelling away from home or abroad. Depending on our life circumstances, we book them around school holidays and/or our work calendar. We might have something specific in mind that we would like to do or a place we would like to visit. Generally, holidays are viewed as time away from the routine of everyday life, having fun with those closest to us, and returning home rejuvenated.
- To get started on your recovery journey, contact a treatment provider to learn more about your options.
- A few hours on a plane and it will feel like you are a lifetime away.
- There are many sober ‘firsts’ in recovery – first sober Christmas, first sober wedding, first sober date – which we cautiously consider to ensure we have enough support.
- Sri Lanka is known for its endless culture and exciting outdoor activities.
- The holiday season is upon us, and this time of year can be incredibly challenging for many people on their recovery journeys.
- “It can even help to have them written down on your phone so that if things get too tense, you can escape to the bathroom and do anything that might help you de-escalate,” Lamanna said.
Which Holidays Are Tough For People In Recovery?
Travelling with those who you trust, have a strong connection with and understand your sobriety can mean the difference between having a great first sober holiday and feeling triggered into relapse. For many of us, the holidays are a season of peace and joy, where we decorate our memories with calm and happy moments. But the reality often looks quite different, and the holiday stressors quickly pile up for the person in recovery from alcohol or drug addiction, making it a difficult time of year to stay sober. The holidays aren’t just filled with parties, Santa, and Aunt Betty’s famous fudge.
Best Sober Holiday Destinations – The best vacations in sobriety
- The better you feel physically, the stronger you will be emotionally.
- Whether it’s frying up latkes for Hanukkah, or crafting Christmas ornaments around the fireplace, there are many holiday traditions that don’t require a buzz.
- “Don’t hesitate to let the host or close friends know about your commitment to sobriety,” Sultan said.
- Caring for yourself will give you the reserves to manage both holiday stress and drinking urges and help you to feel your best throughout the season.
- The planning of a sober holiday involves structuring your time so you can continue the actions that help keep you sober such as attending meetings and staying connected to your recovery community to prevent isolation.
- Finding support after a relapse, or during times of struggle during the holidays, can be crucial.
The stress of finding the perfect gift, or budgeting for gifts, can be a trigger for people in recovery, as stress in general is a common relapse trigger. Maintaining sobriety during the holidays, and sticking to your treatment plan, is possible. Planning a holiday in advance ensures you travel to safe places with safe people and are supported around anything that might trigger a relapse or emotional disturbance. Triggers whilst on holiday might be airports and flying, new environments with unfamiliar smells, sights and sounds, language barriers, jet lag, and/or the unknown more generally. New alcohol-free options have also popped up at conventional hotels and resorts. Wynn Las Vegas launched a nonalcoholic beverage program in early 2023, incorporating health-promoting ingredients like reishi mushrooms and ashwagandha.
Ideas to Help You Stay Sober During The Holidays
However, the organising of a holiday and the period leading up to going away can be stressful. 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. There are a million different ways to give back, pay it forward and be of service, and each opportunity guides you further away from resentment, self-pity and fear. On top of that, you can’t attend your home group meeting, and you haven’t heard from your sponsor in two days.
Stay Connected To Your Recovery Community
“Ask for a nonalcoholic drink like a sober holidays mocktail or something that might look more alcoholic so no one knows that you’re not drinking,” Rollins said. Having another person who’s committed to keeping you sober can be helpful during the holidays, said Dr. Ryan Sultan, a psychiatrist and director of the Sultan Lab for Mental Health Informatics at Columbia University. The helpline at AddictionResource.net is available 24/7 to discuss the treatment needs of yourself or a loved one.
It’s about tuning into the sights and sounds around you allowing anxious thoughts to drift away. No matter how hectic things get, be sure to carve out time for self-care between social engagements. Taking time to meditate, get some exercise, practice a favorite hobby, or even just catch your breath can go a long way. Lamanna suggested having some relaxation techniques ready to go if you feel tempted to drink during an event. “It can even help to have them written down on your phone so that if things get too tense, you can escape to the bathroom and do anything that might help you de-escalate,” Lamanna said.
Graduate School of Addiction Studies
As such, taking a holiday can seem like a frightening prospect. The choosing of a place to stay, the packing, the travelling from A to B, the pressure to have a good time, and, most significantly, the prevention of relapse. There are many sober ‘firsts’ in recovery – first sober Christmas, first sober wedding, first sober date – which we cautiously consider to ensure we have enough support. Holidays need to be treated with the same care as a break from everyday life isn’t a break from https://ecosoberhouse.com/ recovery. Speak with a sober friend or sponsor about the emotions and expectations you have wrapped up in the holidays—especially if you feel resentful, or if you replay in your mind old childhood experiences and memories.