Achieving sobriety is a meaningful, life-changing accomplishment, but maintaining sobriety is an ongoing endeavor that requires dedication and perseverance — especially in the face of life’s many pitfalls, triggers, and potential setbacks.
When you’re in recovery from an alcohol use disorder, the whole holiday season can feel like a treacherous pathway to relapse. But it doesn’t have to be that way; there’s a lot you can do to keep your recovery on track when festivities fill the calendar.
As addiction treatment experts who specialize in helping people thrive in recovery, our team at EXIS Recovery Inc. understands that getting sober and staying sober are essentially two sides of the same coin, and both sides require awareness, effort, and support.
Here, we offer five helpful tips for maintaining sobriety through the holidays.
1. Take it one day at a time
You can measure sobriety in weeks, months, and years, but each of those periods unfolds day by day — or hour by hour when life is particularly stressful. Our top tip for maintaining sobriety during the holidays is also our go-to advice for staying sober all year long: Take it one day at a time.
Instead of letting yourself become overwhelmed by how you’ll maintain sobriety through an entire holiday season of family gatherings, social events, and work parties, focus on making it through today without drinking. Then, do the same thing again tomorrow.
2. Maintain your recovery routine
Early in your recovery process, you had to shed the old habits of your drinking days and create a new, healthier routine to support sustained sobriety. Sober living habits prioritize self-care and wellness, and keeping this reliable recovery routine becomes even more important when the holidays throw your calendar into chaos.
To maintain sobriety, you’ve built your day around routines that help you stay active, eat well, get enough sleep, control stress, and stay connected with supportive friends and family. Besides helping you avoid relapse triggers, this strategy gives you the tools you need to fill your time purposefully and improve your mood without alcohol.
When you’re mindful of keeping your 12-step meeting schedule, getting your workouts in, and connecting with your sponsor or recovery community, the holiday season can go from a “trigger and relapse” trap to a time of increased connection and joy.
3. Plan to protect your sobriety
Just as no one sets out to become an alcoholic, no one plans to relapse once they’re sober. Still, since relapse does happen, it’s important to make concrete plans to protect your sobriety when you head to holiday parties and other environments that might be triggering.
Sobriety protection planning may include bringing your own vehicle to a party so you can arrive early and leave early, attending events with a sober companion for support, being prepared to decline alcohol or other drugs politely, steering clear of difficult people, and paying attention to your relapse triggers (i.e., hunger, fatigue, anger, loneliness).
4. Communicate with loved ones
Tell your family and friends about your desire to maintain sobriety through the holidays so they can support your recovery. If your loved ones can’t offer the support you need, stay connected with your sponsor, recovery community, or therapist when you need extra support.
Having a supportive family — or a strong network of recovery folks — can make the difference between sustained sobriety and relapse, especially during high-stress times like the holidays. Enlisting people you trust to support your effort can help you avoid a holiday relapse.
5. Stay sober by staying helpful
You know it’s better to give than receive, especially during the holidays. As luck would have it, cultivating a “service mindset” can help you maintain sobriety when many people are stressed about overspending or finding “perfect gifts” for their friends and loved ones.
You don’t need to spend money to give back, pay it forward, or be of service; instead, it’s about focusing on and connecting with others. Look for opportunities that speak to you, like reaching out to a newcomer at a 12-step meeting, spending time with an elderly, confined neighbor, or volunteering at the local food pantry.
When you see, value, and honor someone else’s experience, you can exist outside of yourself and your struggles for a few moments — and notice all your life’s blessings. You might even realize that having a clear mind and body to help others is one of the best benefits of sobriety.
You can thrive in recovery
Recovery and sobriety may be lifelong endeavors, but with the proper support, you can create the life you want and minimize your chances of relapse.
To find out how EXIS Recovery, Inc. can help, call 424-832-0848 to reach our West Los Angeles, California, office today, or click online to schedule an appointment with one of our experts any time.
