Tips for preventing the holiday blues-

Tips for preventing the holiday blues, staying sober-


Most people know the holidays can be a period of emotional highs and lows. Loneliness, anxiety, happiness and sadness are common feelings, sometimes experienced in startling succession. The bad news is the holiday blues can trigger relapse for people recovering from alcoholism and other drug addiction. The good news is the blues can be remedied by planning ahead.
Why do the blues hit during this otherwise festive season? Doing too much or too little and being separated from loved ones at this special time can lead to sadness during the holiday season. Many recovering people associate the holidays with memories of overindulgence, perhaps of big benders that resulted in relationship problems or great personal losses.

People experience feelings of melancholy, sadness and grief tied to holiday recollections. Unlike clinical depression, which is more severe and can last for months or years, those feelings are temporary, says Sue Hoisington, a licensed psychologist and executive director of Hazelden's Mental Health Centers. Anyone experiencing major symptoms of depression, such as persistent sadness, anxiety, guilt or helplessness; changes in sleep patterns; and a reduction in energy and libido, should seek help from a trusted mental health professional, she adds.

Whether you're in recovery or not, Hoisington suggests developing a holiday plan to help prevent the blues, one that will confront unpleasant memories before they threaten your holiday experience. Your plan should include improved self-care, enhanced support from others, and healthy ways to celebrate. Hoisington offers a few suggestions to achieve a happy, sober holiday season:

Good self-care is vital. Remember to slow down. Take some quiet time each day and work on an attitude of gratitude. Plan relaxation and meditation into your day, even for a few minutes, no matter how busy you are. Relax your standards and reduce overwhelming demands and responsibilities.

Don't overindulge. Go easy on the holiday sweets and follow a balanced diet. Monitor your intake of caffeine, nicotine and sugar. Exercise regularly to help maintain your energy level amid a busier schedule. Don't try to do too much. Get plenty of sleep. Fatigue is a stressor. Maintain some kind of schedule and plan ahead; don't wait until the last minute to purchase gifts or prepare to entertain.

Enhance your support system. Holidays are a good time to reach out more frequently to your therapist, sponsor, spiritual advisor, or support group. If you're in recovery, spend time with fellow recovering people. Let others help you realize your personal limits. Learn to say "no" in a way that is comfortable for you.

Find new ways to celebrate. Create some new symbols and rituals that will help redefine a joyful holiday season. You might host a holiday gathering for special recovering friends and/or attend celebrations of your Twelve Step group. Avoid isolation and spend time with people you like who are not substance users. Don't expose yourself to unnecessary temptations, such as gatherings where alcohol is the center of entertainment. If there are people who have a negative influence on you, avoid them.

Focus on your recovery program. Holidays are also an important time to focus on your recovery program. For example, ask, "What am I working on in my program now?" Discuss this with your sponsor.

Release your resentments. Resentment has been described as allowing a person you dislike to live in your head, rent-free. Resentments that gain steam during the holidays can be disastrous for anyone, especially recovering people. The Big Book of "Alcoholics Anonymous" refers to resentment as the No. 1 offender, or the most common factor in failed sobriety.

Holidays may also be a time to evaluate your spirituality and find a personal way to draw support from the spirit of the season. Return the holidays to a spiritual base, and stress the power of unselfish giving.

Recovery is serious work, but it is also important to have fun. Laugh a little and a little more. Start seeing the humor in those things that annoy you. Take from the holiday season what is important for you and leave the rest.

Un-stuck.

[Ann]

Great thread Doug.

Holidays may also be a time to evaluate your spirituality and find a personal way to draw support from the spirit of the season. Return the holidays to a spiritual base, and stress the power of unselfish giving.

Hoping this may help me this year.

Hugs
Ann

[higherself]

Holiday blues are real and I have experienced them, thank you for some great ideas on what to do and what I could focus on rather than what the holidays used to mean, which was PARTY TIME.

To get even more in depth, I had similar experiences of holiday blues when I used to party ALL the time with the BIG intense partying being Friday & Saturday. When I first tried to stop drugs during this time, I found it to be a very depressing time to sit at home or do other activities that didn’t involve me partying on a Friday or Saturday night. I then found for myself that I had associated Fridays & Saturdays with the party scene.

I did self talk and reprogrammed myself so Fridays & Saturdays would no longer = party time. I had to first acknowledge what those days meant to me. I then looked back to my past to see what the weekend had represented before I got big into the party scene and even looked at what sober people associated weekends with to show myself that I was indeed the one who made the association and there for was able to change it to something that would empower me to do something other than want to party. Simple...yet I had to reprogram my automatic thinking pattern from years of association for my emotions to not overwhelm me and give me the blues.
I decided Friday was just another day that ended in “y” and it was only going to mean what I made it mean each and every Friday from then on forward. This opened me up to being creative and doing anything I wanted on the weekend that kept me in good health and wellbeing, without feeling the urge to go out and party because that’s what the weekend was there for!

Even though I have relapsed time and time again....I have kept this way of thinking about the weekends so they haven’t been a motivation for me to go out and party nor an invitation for the blues to keep me company for the night.