Nowsthetime

Hello all:

Hope you guys are great in your respective corners of the world.

As you all know, the holidays are coming. On top of that I am going on vacation next week with my family, in-laws and my mom too. Then I am also going on vacation the first week of January this time with my mom, uncle and aunt, their children and grandchildren... My mother will be staying with us for a week after the first vacation and then she and her boyfriend will stay with us for one week before the second one (she lives in another country). This will cause stress...

My deal is: I plan on not drinking but my AV is being REALLY active and this annoys me. The rational me knows what I want but then that ******* keeps popping up and I can't control it. I know these are just thoughts but it is giving me some anxiety. Like I can't wait for these months to have passed so that I can have proven to myself that I didn't drink, but: I want to enjoy them! I want to be present and I don't want to wish it was over... Too much in my head!

I'm trying to relax, take a step back and be in the moment. This vacation is going to be great so I'm not as worried for this one. I am more worried about the next one because that one is more adult oriented. I will have access to SR on the first one. I don't know if I will in the second one.

I am posting because I'm leaving on Monday and I like to post here to be accountable to myself. I always enjoy re-reading all my posts and responses to see my journey. I have been on sober vacations before so I know I need to amp working my plan.

I can do this right? Any tips?

Thanks in advance.

Ruby2

Yes, you can do this! It's great that you're thinking about it and planning in advance. I went on a vacation over the summer with my family. I made sure to scout out sober activities in advance. In the evening it was pretty quiet but that was OK. I brought books and magazines, games and puzzles. I would spend part of the evening planning the next day.

I also had access to SR on my phone. Don't know where you're going but maybe that's a possibility. Don't forget to enjoy yourself. Laugh a little. If the adults you are with are drinkers, maybe plan some quiet time for yourself, away from the group.

saoutchik

Ruby makes a lot of sense when she says spend some of the evening planning the following day. As long as you don't go on events that are booze focused you should be ok

stevieg46

Hi .

My experience in dealing with festivities holidays etc looking back has been a learning experience , I used to love holiday periods especially Xmas ,New Year and so on because on these days I never ever needed to make an excuse for having a drink ? simply because in my book ''everybody drank on these occasions '' it was open season .

After getting sober at first I was way way ahead in my thoughts thinking about these periods and not living a day at a time , this was only natural at the beginning and I learned that my action towards these times was to ''stay away from 1 st drink '' same with weddings funerals births parties etc .

My advice to others at these times is to be very very careful after these events reason being that we can be apprehensive approaching the times of events ie being very aware and on our guard .

One needs to be careful after the events as we can get praise from others and start patting ourselves on the back and thinking that was quite easy , and maybe at the back of our head the ''little voice '' can say ''hmm maybe I am not as bad after all '' I know this through experience .

Anyhow I thought I would share this as your post brought it back to me , today through the AA programme I fit in to many many situations comfortably even when alcohol is present and feel ok ,mainly because the obsession has been removed which is a great defence against the 1 st drink . Enjoy your forthcoming events ,take care .

Regards .

Stevie .

Soberwolf

Try this Nows

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...val-guide.html

Nowsthetime

Hi guys and thanks so much for responding. These will be my second sober holidays and I'm excited about them. It's more the added stress of visitors and the vacations and my sneaky AV being so loud that is bothering me. It's talking about moderation and how it could be possible. On the other hand, my mom knows I quit, hasn't been really supportive, so maybe this will give me more resolve to not drink.

I'm amping my plan and getting mentally prepared. I can do it!!!

No hangovers and no regrets! That's what I am after.

Soberwolf

Good stuff Nows youl always have SR in your corner