The holidays are thought of as a time of family fun, celebration, and rejoice.  Unfortunately with the holiday season comes an abundant amount of stress.  For the suffering alcoholic or drug addict stress is one of the most dangerous “triggers” that if not handled properly can result in relapse.  I am an alcoholic that succumbed to the triggers that the holiday season exposed to me.  I started to remember what the past holidays were like and I didn’t remember all of the pain and heartbreak that came along with my alcoholism.  The first drink I took started me on a downward spiral quicker then I could blink my eyes.  It took me two years to get back into the rooms.  Now I make sure that I have a relapse prevention plan during the holidays.

Learning from my past mistake with the holiday season I feel the best thing I can do for my recovery during the holidays is to hold the program of alcoholics anonymous closer to me then normal.  I go to more meetings and make more phone calls to other people in the fellowship then normal.  Knowing that the holiday season brings more stress then I am accustomed to and that I am going to be around alcohol it is absolutely necessary to be as spiritually fit as possible.  Most importantly I need to remember not to let my pride get in the way and remove myself from any situations that I do not feel comfortable in.

The disease of alcoholism and drug addiction does not take a day off so why should ones recovery during the holidays.  My advice of how to get through the holiday season is to take them one day at a time.  Sound familiar?