Thanksgiving.
If this is your first major sober holiday, or if you have been sober for quite some time and you still cringe at the thought of a major holiday, keep reading this blog post.
If you find at the end of this blog post that you do not feel sufficiently prepared for Thanksgiving tomorrow, it is probably because you didn’t read our post: 4 Tips for a Sober Thanksgiving or 4 Tips to Make It Through Thanksgiving With Your Sobriety Intact.
Of course, we saved the best for last when it comes to holiday sobriety.
The most important tip to have a fantastic Thanksgiving this year is to keep your usual, day-to-day routine.
Why keeping your day-to-day routine is important.
What is the point of a day-to-day routine?
Some may say it’s a good idea to establish good habits. Others may say that it is simply what has been suggested to them by their mentor, sponsor, friends, etc.
Really, routines create stability.
As practicing alcoholics and addicts, we seriously lack stability. Our whole world is reliant upon the next drink or drug. You’ll find that both substances are rather unreliable.
Stability builds trust and trust is the cornerstone to cultivating love.
When we maintain a routine, we are developing self-love and trust.
The effects of stability are long-lasting and eventually contribute to a higher level of happiness.
So, why keep your routine on Thanksgiving?
Chances are, you will have a few pit stops on your Thanksgiving agenda; or, you may have just a solitary family outing. Regardless, these ‘outings’ are highly anticipated, often dreaded occasions.
Amidst all of the chaos, you may find yourself craving a ‘normal’ day, one where you don’t have to worry about putting up a ‘stable’ front despite your bedeviling thoughts.
What you need is a taste of serenity prior to your expectation and anxiety ridden evening.
Start your Thanksgiving off like any other day of the year (excluding major holidays).
What does that entail?
If you’re sitting there, reading this article and thinking: “I don’t have a routine; what am I supposed to do now?”
I guarantee you have a routine, whether it’s conscious or subconscious.
Do you set your alarm every morning at 7, press snooze until 7:30, roll out of bed and start brewing coffee?
That’s a routine.
Do you wake up whenever you feel like it in the morning, roll out of bed and turn on the TV to watch Sports Center before you have to go to work at 12?
That’s also a routine.
Routines can be elaborate or thoughtless. They’re still routines.
My routine fluctuates: on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, I wake up at 4:45, turn on some country music, get ready for the day, head over to Starbucks for a tea and an hour of reading, then go to the Harbor for a meeting.
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I wake up at 5:30, get ready while watching Charmed on TNT, and head to the Harbor for a meeting.
The simple stability of my mornings provides me with a self-made safe haven.
This Thanksgiving, give yourself a break before you head into the storm and participate in your normal morning routine. If that means you have to wake up an hour earlier to ensure enough ‘you’ time before you head over to your family’s house for a Thanksgiving feast, then wake up an hour earlier.
Share your routine in the comments below…
We want to know what your morning routine is.
We also want to provide a safe place for people to browse through different routines and pick what they like, and what they don’t like so they can establish a routine and build self-love, too.
