Holidays and Triggers

Major holidays like Christmas and New Year’s are supposed to be joyous times. These are times when most of us gather with friends and family to celebrate our traditions.  But holidays can be a stressful time and for someone in recovery, it can be especially difficult.  Furthermore COVID-19 has put additional stresses on all of us.  In fact, it is reported 64% of people report the holiday season makes their mental health conditions worse.  Holidays bring out our emotions – not just anticipation but sadness, frustration, isolation, loneliness and anxiety tend to be heightened during the holidays.   As a result of the stress for someone in recovery, it can serve as a trigger to revert back to old addictive behaviors.  So it becomes especially important to follow good self-care practices, like:

• Adequate sleep
• Good diet
• Getting some regular physical exercise
• Properly vent your emotions – be honest and genuine about how you feel and share those thought and feelings with someone.  Don’t bottle up your feelings
• Do good things for others
• Learn to accept imperfections
• Give yourself a spending limit

And if you should lapse back into addictive behaviors, don’t remain there.  Get to a meeting, reach out for help.  If your emotions begin to overwhelm you, it becomes imperative to share those emotions with someone who can help guide you back to recovery.  The very best gift you can give yourself is recovery.  It is important to spend as little time “in your head” as possible.  Be good and be kind to yourself – you are worth the effort.

Happy holidays!

Dan Criswell, MD
Duncan Behavioral Health