Life After Addiction Treatment: 4 Tips for Staying Sober During the Holidays

Although the holidays are typically a time for reconnecting with family and friends, time, distance, and circumstance can keep some of us from enjoying this benefit. And with the cold weather pushing us into isolation more so than the summer months, it’s important for those of us in this situation to remain connected to support networks.

Whether this means joining seasonal clubs or support groups, anything that maintains your contact with the outside world and prevents you from falling out of touch with your supports is crucial. Isolation, after all, plays a key role in addiction. Most residential treatment programs offer professional support to those who have received treatment through continuing care, meaning you’ll always be able to connect with psychologists, psychiatrists, or counselors for guidance if you feel the need to do so.

With so much focus on celebration, you’ll probably have a few parties or social gatherings to attend. While these can be enjoyable events, if you’re recovering from addiction, they’re not to be taken lightly. This is especially true for recovering alcoholics, as these events will be full of opportunities to drink.

Should you avoid them altogether? It depends. For most people, the best strategy is to narrow down your social gatherings to those that are comprised of people that understand and accept your struggles with addiction. If you’re attending a party with people who aren’t sensitive to the fact that you’re probably feeling a bit overwhelmed by triggers, you’ll be more likely to relapse.

Regardless of the what gatherings you choose to go to, always have an exit strategy prepared. It can be helpful to memorize ahead of time what you want to say when it’s time to leave, whether you have another social appointment lined up, need to get to bed early because of work the next morning, or you’re simply tired and ready to go home—whatever feels most comfortable and natural to you. This is especially important for events where you aren’t as close with those attending, as explaining an addiction can be a tough process given the stigma and lack of understanding still associated with substance abuse disorders.

During colder seasons, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut of inactivity. Although this is unhealthy for anybody, especially those with mental health illnesses, it’s particularly dangerous if you’re recovering from addiction. Why? Because it easily fosters boredom and reopens the many doors that lead to addiction. That’s why exercise is so important: it will keep you active and stimulated due to its ability to create a natural high through endorphins and increased levels of serotonin—you’re brain’s “feel good” chemical.

If you find yourself feeling trapped within a moment, overcome by urges to drink or use, think about the path that you have taken to get to where you are. Remember all of the struggles, relapses, and roadblocks that you have overcome, and the things that you have learned from them. Think of the unhappiness and helplessness that you felt when you were deepest in your addiction, and how much better you have felt since then.

And most importantly, ask yourself what you will feel if you do indulge in the urge. Will you feel that much better? How long will the feeling of euphoria last? Will it even come?

Heather King, who writes about her struggles with alcoholism in her book Parched: A Memoir, explains this feeling:

I once heard a sober alcoholic say that drinking never made him happy, but it made him feel like he was going to be happy in about fifteen minutes. That was exactly it, and I couldn’t understand why the happiness never came, couldn’t see the flaw in my thinking, couldn’t see that alcohol kept me trapped in a world of illusion, procrastination, paralysis. I lived always in the future, never in the present. Next time, next time! Next time I drank it would be different, next time it would make me feel good again. And all my efforts were doomed, because already drinking hadn’t made me feel good in years.

Like Heather, when you look at your situation realistically, you’ll realize that the short-term reward of a high is never as enjoyable as you’re making it out to be.