Fall is here and before you know it, the holidays will be too. The holidays are an exciting time of joyful celebrations with family and friends. In today’s busy world balancing time for holiday celebrations can often bring along a lot of stress with them, especially if it is expected that you will spend time with your family during the holiday season. Many of the relationships that you have with other people may be strained if you were an addict or are a recovering addict. Or there may be things at these holiday events that can trigger you to reach for the bottle again. If you are thinking about spending time with your family during the holiday season, here are a few tips that you will want to follow when you are in recovery.
Ask Yourself If You Are Ready to Celebrate with Family
First and foremost, ask yourself if you are really ready to celebrate the holidays with your family. If it stresses you out, makes you nervous or you are worried about what people will say or think, you may want to simply decline the offer. If you have a far distance to travel, make sure you can handle the time and expense needed, the Stress can trigger a relapse, so you want to make sure you can handle it before you agree to it.
Set Boundaries
If you are ready to celebrate the holidays with your family and friends, be sure to set boundaries. For example, you may want to ask people not to talk about past mistakes you have made, make comments about your addiction, or you may not want your recovery brought up at all. Be sure to set boundaries with the person hosting the event and ask them to pass along these requests to others. At the same time have no expectations of how others should respond or act. You can’t control how others show up only how you show up.
Request No Alcohol Be Served
Lastly, when you are in recovery, you should not be around alcohol temptations or your drug of choice. Have or bring a beverage you can drink and enjoy. If you really feel uncomfortable ask that the person hosting the event not serve alcohol. If they are planning on it, ask that it be served after you leave, such as with dessert, rather than the meal. This helps you avoid the temptation that goes along with seeing and smelling the alcohol. If your loved ones are committed to your recovery, they should have no problem foregoing alcohol.
Celebrating the holidays with your family can be challenging under normal circumstances for some. But if you are in recovery, you may feel more pressure. Here at My 12 Step Store, we know how difficult recovery is. We sell products that can make the process a bit easier on you, such as books you can read to further help your recovery. Visit our website today to see a full selection of our inventory.