With the holidays rapidly approaching, you may be wondering if you are going to be able to stay sober. Between family gatherings, office parties, and social gatherings, the temptation to grab a cocktail and celebrate can be rather overwhelming, especially at this time of year.
All the holiday festivities can make it extremely difficult to cut back and extremely easy to overdo it. Luckily, with a little bit of advanced planning and some determination, there are things that you can do to help ensure you spend the holiday months safely and soberly.
Don’t Keep it Around
You can’t drink what you don’t have. For this reason, people usually make sure their fridge is stocked up on their favorite drinks. For some, it might be making sure there is plenty of milk. For others having iced coffee, orange juice, Gatorade, or iced tea might be an absolute necessity. No matter what beverage you choose to stock one thing is for absolute certain–you can’t drink alcohol that you don’t have.
Use that extra space in the fridge and stock it with something healthy, or something delicious. Making access to alcohol as difficult as possible can help cut down on the number of drinks you consume in a day by simply reducing your proximity to it.
Never Drink When You’re Emotional
Many people turn to alcohol after a rough day at work, or a particularly emotionally draining family gathering, or maybe even after a breakup with a significant other. On the other hand, people also have a tendency to use alcohol to celebrate. Situations such as the birth of a baby, a wedding, a promotion, or an engagement often prompt rounds of drinks as people celebrate whatever good news has come their way.
The problem with this, especially in alcoholics, is that it ties alcohol into some emotion. It teaches you that if you are sad or experiencing any kind of “down” feeling that alcohol will offer some relief and lift your spirits and sooner rather than later you are turning to drinks to alleviate any negative situation or feeling.
Drinking while in a celebratory mood is no less treacherous because you learn to associate any positive occasion with knocking back a few cocktails. Try to refrain from drinking when there is any sort of emotional attachment to a given situation so that you don’t develop an emotional association with alcohol.
Don’t Binge Drink
Binge drinking is when a person consumes a very large quantity of alcohol in a very short period of time. The Centers for Disease Control have defined a “large amount” for you and you can find that information here. Yeah, it’s not really all that much. Binge drinkers typically accomplish in a couple of hours what a non-binge drinker can spread out of the course of an entire evening and then some.
There are occasions where it is possible to binge drink and not even realize it until it’s too late. For example, an event at which you are nervous for any reason. You may be slugging back drinks waiting for that liquid courage to kick in without actually paying any attention to how much alcohol you have consumed.
A good way to stop this happening is to alternate every other drink with a full glass of water. This will not only help keep you hydrated and stave off any impending hangover, but it will also help fill you up and keep the effects of the drinks you do have at bay. Also, drinking through straws tends to make people drink faster, so don’t.
These are just some tips for reducing the amount of alcohol that you consume during the overall holiday period. They are also helpful for day to day use. If you think that you have or are on your way to having a problem with alcohol any drink that you don’t have is a victory on its own. If you find that you are unable to get your drinking under control it may be time to seek professional counseling.
Treatment at Discovery Place
Alcoholism is a difficult disease to beat, but with a skilled team assisting your recovery, like the team at Discovery Place, we can work with you to get you free from your addiction and get your physical and mental health back in order.
If you or a family member are ready to consider rehab, it is important that you be ready to move forward on that decision. Reach out to the staff here at Discovery Place in Tennessee. for information regarding our Long Term Alternative Recovery Program. You can chat with us on our website or give us a call and speak with a trained staff member at (800) 725-0922 today.
