During this holiday season, it’s important to not just survive, but to thrive during the holidays with a SMART plan that invites accountability and minimizes relapses. Depending on where you’re at in your recovery journey, your ability to resist triggers and temptations at social events is determined by your mastery of healthier coping mechanisms that you learned in your treatment program. Is it right to ask others not to drink in front of you? Many people are afraid to ask their friends and acquaintances to not drink in front of them because they don’t want their sobriety to be an imposition on others. There really is no black-and-white answer to this question, but it’s a great way to test the waters and see if the company you keep will respect you for wanting to abstain from alcohol. Would your friends be understanding if you choose a sober lifestyle or are you afraid that they will stop inviting you to parties because “so-and-so” can’t drink?
Before you leave out of town or attend another party, reach out to someone for help with your goal-setting as you anticipate various scenarios in the coming days. “SMART” is an acronym that makes planning easy, and it describes what goals should be like:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound
Listed below are some suggested ideas of how people can keep their sobriety intact
Specific – keep it simple.
Find a party where alcohol will not be served. You can do this by researching and reaching out to alumni programs that host parties for members of their recovery community.
Measurable – count the days of your success.
Tracking your recovery success is a great motivator to abstain from drinking. How long have you been sober? When was the last time you relapsed? The longer you have abstained from using alcohol or drugs, the better your chances are of managing your boundaries. If you have made it this far in your journey, why would you want to undo all the hard work you’ve put into your recovery?
Achievable – is your goal attainable?
Let’s say you decide to bring a friend or significant other along to support you in your recovery as you attend a potentially compromising event. You got that E-vite and wonder, “Should I come to this party? Who can I bring?” If your friends or loved ones are unavailable for the day of the event, would you still be able to achieve sobriety by yourself? If that goal is unattainable, it would probably be best not to attend at all.
Relevant -are you being realistic?
If you go to a party right now where someone will most likely offer you a drink, can you honestly decline and still feel good about it? Do you feel that even the mere sight of a glass of wine could be overwhelming and impossible to resist? Stay brutally honest with yourself and with others; this will help you decide whether or not you should go to that party.
Time-bound – set a time limit.
If you are obliged to attend a party where alcohol is served, give yourself a time limit. You can wait until the party is packed and then make your appearance for about 30 minutes or less. You can also plan to attend multiple parties and make your rounds so you don’t have to stay at any particular place, especially if that place is not conducive to the new life you are creating for yourself. If someone asks why you’re leaving early, you can honestly tell them that someone else is expecting you.
Help during the Holidays
Are you ready to enter the New Year addiction-free? Start with New Method Wellness, a premier dual diagnosis treatment center located in South Orange County. Whether this is your first time seeking help for substance abuse or you have tried numerous other programs to quit your addiction, you can rest assured that New Method Wellness has everything you need to permanently overcome alcohol and drug abuse. Accredited by CARF International and JACHO, New Method Wellness subscribes to these voluntary accreditations to uphold high ethical standards in substance abuse treatment. We integrate evidence-based clinical practices with holistic methods to give you the best comprehensive care possible. The effectiveness of our programs has gained nationwide recognition on notable platforms such as the Dr. Phil Show and A & E’s Emmy Award-winning docu-series, “Intervention.”
The holidays are over, now what? Continuing your smart plan goals should be one of your priorities and Kelli at Groom+Style has the perfect resource for that.
For more information about our Wellness Methods, contact us today!
