Upcoming Holidays

[dominosarah]

Holiday time is fast approaching and can be full of stress and triggers.  We sometimes see relapses happen during this time.  The first year i was clean i was told by a very wise person to hit the meetings real heavy and that is what i did.  There are office parties and family gatherings.....our minds can play some real games with us during this time.  For some of us money is tight and that causes stress or the family gatherings have alcohol and people will make comments to you about not drinking.  Pick and chose where you go and surround yourself with others who share and support you in your recovery.  Your sobriety/clean time is always the number 1 priority.  Protect it with your life........sara

[stilltrying1965]

Sarah you are right. As well as alchohol during the hlidays there are drugs like cocaine,pot pills and most others. Iv been offered most around christmas and this year me and Kim will be protecting or clean time with our lives and alcohol as well ,although that has never been a problem except when i do drink during the holdays i do tend to binge drink , so yes it must be a proplem as well and when drinking thats when i tend to have the odd line of cocaine. So you are right Sarah, holidays can be a big problem for most so ill be looking to stay EXTRA CLEAN this christmas James and Kim !!!!!

[avisg]

I too hit stress overload at the holidays .I am trying to learn to take a step back when I have too .I try to do shopping alittle at a time now from septmber on so I dont have that all on me on the start .I cant belive how fast it is coming again.Good thing is we are all here to support each other.

[worried878]

do know the holiday ritual..last year I did make it thru with no major craving..but i knew it was a time of weakness/and to get my armour ready

I have already thought about this domino...I will be 50 in January..the 8th//ELVIS (:..
i WAS ENGAGED AND WE WERE MARRYING ON MY B-DAY/sorry for the caps...anyway..i am anticipating it may hit me hard...and it will only hit me as hard as i let it hit me....50 is just a number...and things have a way of falling into place..even if it doesnt seem like it at the moment

good post

[salsinator]

I am going home to visit my family in AZ tomorrow for Thanksgiving.  This will be my first time home since becoming sober and will also be my first time home in over 2 years.  I had a good chat with my mom last night, she mentioned going to a new watering hole that she likes - a micro brewery.  I said that would be fine, but she can enjoy her beer by herself - we will have wine and drinks around for the holiday, but I have my own special non-alcoholic drinks.  I travel a lot for business and will entertain clients/surgeons - drinking is always a factor.  So far, my team really supports me, so it has not been a problem, but I was tempted to have just one beer on my Birthday in July - early in my recovery.  All of the above messages are right on - I will be working hard this holiday season and will be thinking of all of you as well.  Thanks for the post Sara.

[SophieShine]

Jill I'm the same as you, I don't do holidays. My family is my biggest trigger! This year is gonna be the 1st for a very long time that I'll do a lil X-Mas shopping coz I wanna send packages to friends over the big pond. I have no kids so that "helps" in not being forced to be involved into the whole X-Mas thing.... 2 is company, 3 is a crowd!

[ZJILLIAN]

If this is early in your sobriety it is a very very very good idea to build in more protection somehow. When I first got sober it was extremely difficult to be around alcohol. I needed to really stay away from parties etc. I was lucky about family affairs since my husband's family are recovering alcoholics and my own never drinks. So I just needed to not go to anything else. Now, 26 years later, it is not a temptation. I know that one drink would start it all over again. But in the early days the smell of alcohol made my mouth water, literally. And every so often someone would put a drink in my hand, or say, "just hold my drink a second." So please be careful and expect it to be a challenge.  

[narla]

This is going to be hard for me because it's the time when a lot of people drink alcohol,I,m going to my daughters  and spending time with my grandson this will remind me why I quit,Hope it works,I'll have a lot of support with my husband,daughter and son there.

[ZJILLIAN]

I hate the holidays. Always have. They just feel bad. A deep bad feeling of depression and blankness. I have no good memories associated with them and most often feel like a weirdo or Grinch just waiting for them to be over. I cannot inhabit the Norman Rockwell version of holiday. And over the years have failed at making my own traditions etc. Or pretending I am Martha Stewart and baking countless Christmas cookies.

We now have no family left really to go to awful family dinners with (good news). And I have stopped drinking so long ago that that is no longer an issue. Except it IS hard to socialize at the same frequency or pitch as those who are drinking.

I am not tempted to use because of temptations but out of ill-humor and boredom.  

[kim715]

Great post Sara!!!!   and so true,holidays are always stressful in some way.I know we stay home and invite the family here...That way we are in our comfort zone and there is no alcohol being served...We know who is coming into our home so we know theres no drugs being passed around....and we don't attend the office parties..

[JG525]

My husband and I are skipping family Thanksgiving this year and taking some time just for us.  We're going to the cabins where we got married.  I can't wait! Sitting in front of the fire and relaxing.  Also, we're spending Christmas mostly with my parents this year, which will be a change.  I expect this will be hard for his mom, but we offered to spend it with them this year and they made other plans.  We've been wanting to get on a rotation anyway.

My parents are sober too.  And I wouldn't have access to anything but alcohol at the cabin with him and at this point I have no interest in going there! I know it would only fuel my desire for other things.

[dominosarah]

This is also a time of remembering family members that are no longer with us and many times we are overwhelmed with emotions.  Make a journal as writing down your feelings can really help........