How To Enjoy The Holidays After Addiction

The holidays are a time for joy and happiness. But, if you have recently suffered from addiction, this can be hard to achieve. For many who have experienced addiction in their lives, the holidays can be a mixed bag of emotions. How do you go about enjoying this holiday season after having to battle addiction? How do you get back into the holiday spirit?

It is not an easy task but it is possible! This blog post will provide some tips to help anyone suffering or who has suffered from addiction enjoy the holidays once again.

1) Identify Triggers So You Can Avoid Them

If you're constantly bombarded with triggers that tempt you to relapse, it will be very hard for you to enjoy the holidays. Instead of celebrating and having fun, you will be more consumed by the desire to drink or how to avoid these urges.

Identifying your triggers early on can help you avoid them. This way you are removing yourself from such stressful situations. For example, if you know that a certain holiday party is notorious for heavy drinking, choose not to attend the gathering. Or if a certain family member is stressing you out, limit your interaction with them until you are ready to deal with being around them.

Knowing your triggers and making the choice to avoid them will ease you into enjoying this festive time of year, without any added pressure or stress that could lead to relapse.

2) Pause Before Reacting to Holiday Stress

There will be situations that will put you in awkward and uncomfortable positions. How you choose to react in these situations can either stress you out or allow you to enjoy the holiday atmosphere. The best thing that you can do is take a moment before reacting, take a few deep breaths and pause for a few minutes when you feel upset about something that just happened. This allows you time to collect your thoughts so you don't negatively react immediately which may just worsen the situation.

For example, let's say you were upset that one family member made a snide remark about you. Instead of lashing out in anger and making a scene, pause and remove yourself from the situation for a few minutes. This will allow you time to calm down and also prevent you from saying something that may be regretted later on.

The pause before reacting technique allows you to avoid needless stress during the holiday season. While it's perfectly fine to acknowledge that you felt bad about something, you can choose not to let that further ruin your entire day. Don't stress yourself on things you cannot change or control, instead, focus on things you can do to make yourself feel better.

3) Participate In Fun Activities Where Alcohol Is Not Involved

Not being able to drink or use drugs does not mean that you cannot enjoy yourself. There are many fun activities that you can do during this time of year without any added stress or pressure to drink alcohol.

Take part in activities that do not involve alcohol or where it is impossible to drink. Examples include skiing, ice skating, movie marathons, sports events, etc. Being involved in fun activities during the holidays allows you to feel included instead of left out because you are not drinking alcohol. This alleviates any added stress or discomfort that may lead to relapse this holiday season.

4) Host Sober Holiday Parties or Make Alternative Holiday Plans

During the holidays, many people in recovery feel left out because their invitations to holiday parties and family gatherings have stopped coming. Perhaps, your strained relationships with family members and friends in the previous years made them decide to stop inviting you over. It's okay if people choose not to invite you because of your addiction, it does not mean that they do not like or care about you anymore. If you have the resources, you can make the first move by inviting them to a sober holiday party in your home.

Another option is to make alternative holiday plans like attending events, concerts, or traveling. This is a great way to not only enjoy yourself but also avoid being around people who will pressure you into drinking alcohol, which may lead to relapse.

5) Remind Yourself That You Also Deserve to Be Happy

After battling an addiction, you may be feeling that you do not deserve to be happy. A lot of people in recovery feel this way - that because of their past actions, they have no right to enjoy or have fun anymore. It's like self-punishment for the mistakes they've made in the past.

But remember that this idea that you do not deserve to be happy is false, as we all deserve happiness in our lives no matter what. Remind yourself that everyone deserves a second chance at life and it's okay to pursue happiness in sobriety.