7 Proven Secrets to Stay Sober During the Holidays By Hammer, SMART Recovery Online Volunteer Last year I had made a sincere commitment to sobriety when suddenly the holidays and I faced each other. I was participating in SMART Recovery online meetings and message boards and discovered some great secrets for making it through the holidays in one pieceand even enjoying them sober! I found these seven secrets particularly helpful and wanted to share them with you. - A short-term commitment to get through the holidays clean and sober is a great place to begin. Telling yourself you can never drink again can feel overwhelming. Making a short-term commitment for the six weeks from Thanksgiving through New Years can make it seem much more manageable. As the six weeks end, begin to reassess your commitment and decide if you would like to continue into the New Year. Set a new goal of three monthsor even a yearif that feels comfortable to you.
- Find a recovery meeting near you or attend online meetings that fit with your schedule, and commit to participating for the duration of the holidays. This will provide a support system of like-minded individuals.
- The first tool I used is called the CBA or Cost-Benefit Analysis. It is a simple piece of paper folded into four sections with these titles: Cost of drinking/using, Benefits of drinking/using, Costs of not drinking/using, Benefits of not drinking/using. Once you fill in the blanks, this document can become a powerful tool. When urges begin to surface, it can help you choose to abstain, because it reminds you why you have made that choice.
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