It can be challenging to stay sober during the holidays. Many activities include alcoholic beverages in celebration of the coming year. At Red Oak Recovery®, we offer holistic therapy that helps you develop new interests outside of drinking or using drugs. When you attend our addiction treatment programs, you learn to develop new skills and healthy ways to express your frustrations. Consequently, you emerge ready to face the challenges of everyday living. However, observing sober holidays can present a special challenge.
Sober holidays may bring anxiety and feelings of depression. Concentrate on the present moment and remember how hard you worked to maintain your sobriety and clean living. Red Oak Recovery® also has outpatient treatment programs with classes that can help you stay on the right path during this difficult time of year. Contact our team today at 866.457.7590 for more information about your treatment options.
Explore New Options for Sober Holidays
Try new activities that you always wanted to do. Stick to sober venues such as restaurants that do not serve alcohol. You might find yourself getting carried away with players that have nothing to do with drugs and alcohol.
Here are some ideas to get you started planning sober holidays:
- Go to the ballet to see “The Nutcracker.”
- Hand out food to the homeless on Thanksgiving.
- Pick up hot chocolate at Starbucks and drive through the neighborhood to see who has the best lights this year.
- Join a Facebook drive to help underprivileged kids receive gifts.
- Go to a movie during Hanukkah or on Christmas Day.
- Make homemade hot chocolate to toast with on New Year’s Eve.
- Start a 90-day yoga challenge and make daily meditation part of your New Year’s resolution.
- Attend Al-Anon events with your family.
At Red Oak Recovery®, we offer an adventure therapy program that can help you develop interests outside drugs and alcohol and help you connect with nature.
Learning to Say No Is the Key to Sober Holidays
If someone invites you to an event and you know they will serve alcohol, politely decline the invitation. As long as you’re at peace with your decision to abstain, you can get through mild temptations. However, if you don’t feel strong enough on a particular day, stay at home. Alternatively, you can try another activity that you know will not present temptations that you don’t want to face.
It’s really nobody else’s business, but you might want to have an answer ready if someone happens to offer you alcohol. Politely decline by saying, “I don’t like alcohol.” If someone presses you and you feel uncomfortable, make a hasty exit. Furthermore, it can help to have a friend act as a wing person to fend off persistent hosts or other guests.
Giving Back on Sober Holidays
There are many people you can help during the holiday season and throughout the year. By touching other lives, you can serve those in need and feel better about yourself.
To celebrate the sober holidays, consider volunteering at one of the following organizations:
- Soup kitchens
- Church
- School
- Homeless shelters
- Children’s hospital
- Charities
Consider giving yourself or your child the gift of sobriety by signing up for a young adult rehab program at Red Oaks Recovery.
Exercise or Take a Healthy Cooking Class
Work your way up to hosting meals for sober holidays. Here’s how it can help. Drinking alcohol floods the brain with a feel-good substance called dopamine. When you do things for others, you get that same sensation. However, if you have never hosted a holiday meal before, you might want to practice beforehand or take a healthy cooking class.
If you like to run or exercise, consider investing in a gym membership or going for a run when you feel down. You can get a runner’s high by exerting yourself and triggering your brain to release endorphins. In fact, the word endorphin stands for endogenous morphine. Your brain releases a substance much like morphine that promotes physical wellness and heady emotion.
Contact Red Oak Recovery®
Red Oak Recovery® has many programs, such as our men’s addiction rehab program, designed to show you ways to cope with your addiction. Our caring, experienced therapists are ready to listen to your needs and help you master coping skills for triggers and temptations. To find out more about strategies for sober holidays or enroll in a program, call us at 866.457.7590 today.
