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How to Deal With the Holidays When You’re Sober
Winter is brutal, for a lot of people. But for a lot of us, it can be worse. About 5% of Americans are affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder and it can be debilitating. Add in the holidays and you have the perfect conditions for stress as well. I think that’s why there are so many jokes about drinking during the holidays. How else would you get through the stress of family plus it getting cold and dark at 5pm?
Maybe you’ll disagree but I find the hardest time for my sobriety to be in two places — the summertime, but especially during the holidays. Dealing with family during the holidays can be immensely stressful and doing it all sober is even harder.
So, how do we do it?
Get a game plan
It might seem obvious to you but to get through this, you’ll need a game plan. The worst thing you can do in sobriety is to knowingly go into a stressful situation that you normally would resolve with alcohol.
This especially applies to you if you’re early in your sobriety. If your family gatherings had you drinking to make it through them, then it’s going to be tough when you’re newly sober, and next to impossible if you don’t have a plan in mind for when you get stressed and when you get the craving.
