Making your friends a part of your holiday plans will help you avoid being alone or lonely at this time of the year. Your friends may not replace your family, but in many ways, they may exceed your family in quality time reframing holidays in early recovery together. You will want to find a healthy balance between things you do for self-care and things you do for others. There is no need to have money to give to be able to do things for other people during the holidays.
How Do The Holidays Affect Substance Abuse?
A substance abuse relapse prevention plan works as homework for your recovery. You can list some techniques and practices to express those cravings into something positive. Shame and guilt can fester from within, especially if you find yourself in a scenario where you’re most vulnerable.
Addiction Treatment Services
The holiday season revolves around unrelenting themes of gratitude, abundance, and celebration. After individuals spend some time identifying potential relapse triggers, they must also identify effective ways to manage those triggers. Successful coping mechanisms are different for everyone as well as different for each trigger. For example, some individuals may not feel equipped to be in environments with substance use. In this case, an effective solution would be to avoid such environments during the holidays. If another trigger is family conflict, then if and when conflict arises, an individual can rely on mindfulness techniques to work through it.
Preparing for Holiday Challenges in Early Addiction Recovery
Some may confuse healthy goal-setting, however, with creating resolutions that are unrealistic or impossible to attain, which can lead to feelings of failure or guilt that can potentially trigger a relapse. As mentioned above, the best suggestion is to seek guidance from others who have been in a similar situation before. The priority is for the person in early recovery to have the best opportunity to stay sober through the holidays and for the entire family to enjoy this special time together. Every emotionally challenging situation a sober young person is able to face, the stronger his or her recovery will be. Even if you’re not in the mood to attend a holiday party, surround yourself with people who are healthy and sober.
Come with activities in mind you’d like to do with your family.
- These treatment sessions can be scheduled around the patient’s work, school, or home responsibilities.
- If you previously viewed the holidays as a time of parties and indulgence, it can be helpful to amend your point of view so that you look at the holidays as a time of connection and re-connection.
- These varied and pronounced emotional experiences, coupled with the change in daily routines and plethora of holiday parties, may pose challenges to those in recovery from addiction.
- Learning to survive the holidays without family is a way to learn how to stand on your own.
- Support groups are a great way to connect with others on a similar path.
- Recovery is often seen as a daunting process, primarily because it demands confronting the past and making significant life changes.
The information contained on this website is not intended to be a substitute for, or to be relied upon as, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Here are tips for those in early recovery on how to navigate the holidays. Sign up now for a weekly digest of the top drug and alcohol news that impacts your work, life and community. Typically a counselor will work with you to identify your triggers and scenarios where you might use them.
What Can You Do if You Have a Loved One in Treatment or Recovery?
Be prepared to address questions about your sobriety (remember, you can share as much or as little as you’d like). If you’re going out of town, is there an https://ecosoberhouse.com/ Alcathon in your area going on that you can slip away to? Is there a spot somewhere that you can quietly slip away to and get a call with your safety net?
In the middle of a party where it seems like everyone is having fun and that alcohol and drugs are part of that fun, your reasons for staying sober can sometimes seem to just fade away. Spending time with family members and friends can make you feel uncomfortable, stressed, and almost on-the-edge. Your friends and family at Lighthouse Recovery Institute will be here to help you navigate these stressful days. If you feel that you don’t have the strength to navigate the holidays by yourself, you don’t have to.
- Housing providers also assist in vocational training and employment counseling to help individuals in recovery lead self sufficient lives.
- A 90-day inpatient residential rehab program may benefit individuals who have a severe addiction, co-occurring mental or physical health issues, or who do not have a stable home environment.
- If eligible, we will create a treatment plan tailored to your specific needs.
- The information on this page is not intended to replace assistance, diagnosis, or treatment from a clinical or medical professional.
- Roughly 91,000 deaths have been reported for December since 1999, with roughly 29% of users reporting an increase in alcohol use.
When people notice your sobriety, they will probably comment on it or ask questions, so it is important to decide what you will say ahead of time. Sometimes during the holiday parties we walk into a situation that ends up being more than we bargained for. When cousin Jimmy walks in smelling like weed, it might be more overwhelming than you anticipated.