The holiday season can be stressful for everyone, even for those who don’t struggle with addiction. But for people with a history of alcohol and drug addiction, the stress of long to-do lists, dysfunctional family dynamics, travel exhaustion, and other holiday challenges can pose a threat to their addiction recovery. In order to decrease your risk of relapse during the holidays, it’s important to know the potential triggers so you can create a plan for navigating them safely.
Take a look below at some common holiday challenges to addiction recovery, as well as a few
helpful strategies for staying clean and sober through the holiday season.
Disrupted routines
People in recovery from addiction often rely heavily on routines to help them maintain a sober lifestyle. Regular support meetings, healthy eating habits, rest, and exercise all serve to create a solid foundation for recovery. Holiday parties, travel, and house guests can be extremely disruptive to these healthy routines. It’s important to stay as connected as possible to your recovery routine during the holidays. Get sufficient rest each night and try to fit in 30 minutes of exercise each day. If you’re traveling, schedule regular phone calls with people in your support network. You may not be able to completely avoid the chaos of the holidays, but maintaining your commitment to a few healthy habits will minimize your risk of relapse.
Alcohol is everywhere
There’s no denying that alcohol use and other indulgences increase during the holiday season. For people who struggle with alcohol addiction, it can be difficult to maintain sobriety while navigating all the work parties and family get-togethers where everyone is drinking. At the same time, avoiding these festivities altogether can cause feelings of loneliness and isolation. This holiday season, call a sober friend to come to a family dinner with you. Invite friends out on a hike or other activity that does not involve drinking. Do an internet search for sober bars and alcohol-free meetups in your area. While alcohol is ubiquitous during the holidays, sober living is becoming increasingly popular as well.
Family dynamics
Family get-togethers can rekindle old wounds, trigger dysfunctional dynamics, and threaten a person’s sobriety. One of the most important things you can do to protect your sobriety as the holidays approach is to create a self-care plan. For a person with toxic family relationships, this may mean spending the holidays with friends instead. For another, it may mean hosting an alcohol-free family dinner. Take some time to get clear about your boundaries around your family, and then honor them. Be sure your self-care plan involves some pleasurable activities just for you, such as a massage, lunch with a friend, or a walk in the park. Stick closely to your support network during the holiday season.
Financial stress
During the holidays, many of us overspend on gifts, travel, and extravagant meals and parties, straining our wallets and increasing our anxiety. Financial stress can be a relapse trigger, even when not combined with the general stress of the holidays. Creating a realistic spending plan for the season can help keep compulsive spending in check. Allow a little extra for festivities and gift-giving, but look for ways to curb overspending as well. Baking holiday treats to give to friends, neighbors, and coworkers is a great way to spread cheer without breaking the bank.
Unrealistic expectations
Television specials, holiday commercials, and festive music piping through the speakers in every mall and department store all tend to trigger nostalgia and fantasies about the perfect holiday season. Often, these thoughts and emotions become expectations that everyone will be happy all the time. Keep in mind that most people experience high levels of stress during this time of year, and all happiness all the time is an unrealistic expectation. Trying to do too much is another way of setting unrealistic expectations for yourself. Be sure your holiday schedule includes some downtime in order to minimize the stress that can threaten your recovery.
Struggling to get sober or stay sober this holiday season? We’re here for you.
The holiday season can be a very difficult time to stop drinking or using drugs, but it is possible, especially if you reach out and get help from qualified mental health professionals. At Alvarado Parkway, we offer a full range of addiction treatment programs in San Diego, all designed to help patients learn to cope with stress while maintaining a healthy sober lifestyle. Whether you’re seeking residential treatment, partial hospitalization, or intensive outpatient addiction treatment, we’ll customize your treatment plan to meet your individual needs. Our team of mental health professionals is committed to helping every patient get sober, stay sober, and live their best life. For more information on our addiction treatment programs and services, please give us a call at 619-333-7050 today.
