The holiday season is in full swing, which can mean a tough few weeks for people struggling with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). It’s the time of year when dinners, parties, and other festivities take precedence over the typical day-to-day. It’s also a time where friends and family seem to take up permanent residence in your home.
The holidays are known for being stress-filled and alcohol-driven. Attending a company holiday party or a new partner’s dinner party may be nerve-wracking. Eliminate the option of having a drink to calm your nerves, and you may feel entirely overwhelmed by the thought of RSVPing. This is often the reality for those in recovery from AUD. Not only are they experiencing the general holiday ebbs and flows, but they also have the added pressure of staying sober through them.
It isn’t easy feeling like you’re the only person at the gathering who can’t have a drink. With growing visibility for the disease, there are fortunately many options available today for those trying to stay sober. Rest assured, the following will explore how you don’t have to get through the season alone this year.
Alcohol monitoring tools are a convenient way to stay sober and connected to loved ones this holiday season. For those utilizing them, they often mean the difference between an overwhelming or manageable month. Continue reading to learn how modern alcohol technology can help you on your recovery journey.
Alcohol Monitoring During the Holidays
Those struggling with early alcohol recovery sometimes find it easier to skip holiday gatherings altogether due to heightened triggers and increased temptations associated with the season. For this reason, the stress of the season, coupled with the solitude, can be tough to manage, even leading to relapse in some cases.
Many would agree, alcohol and winter festivities go hand-in-hand. It might be beer at a gathering with friends, a glass of wine at a family dinner, or a champagne toast to ring in the New Year. It’s almost a guarantee that any get together you attend will have at least some assortment of alcohol. This is where alcohol monitoring tools can provide considerable support.
How Does Alcohol Monitoring During the Holidays Help?
If your past struggles with AUD have kept you isolated during the holidays, alcohol monitoring technology can help reintegrate you into your social circle. Alcohol monitoring tools support sobriety by promoting accountability and providing a safety net to keep you from feeling like your heading into holiday territory on shaky ground.
Alcohol monitoring tools help keep you connected with your support system or recovery circle through the use of automated test results. Through life’s temptations, celebrations, and everything in between, your support system is updated with test results and can intercept if deemed necessary. The below breaks down how alcohol monitoring during the holidays can help keep you connected to those closest to you, whether it’s by promoting accountability, providing structure, or aiding in rebuilding trust.
Accountability
For those in early recovery, the thought of having just a drink or two at a party may cross your mind. Or perhaps you’re visiting with family or a group of friends who aren’t aware of your sobriety, and the desire to drink grows stronger with nothing in place to help hold you accountable. While these concerns are a reality for many, there are tools available to minimize temptation.
Those who want to stay sober during the holidays can do it, even if it seems daunting.
Technology like Soberlink, for example, provides clients with the accountability they need to remain sober through the holiday season. The device, which operates using wireless connectivity, allows you to stay connected with your recovery circle by submitting daily breathalyzer tests. The results from these tests then get sent directly to the individual’s recovery circle, becoming a key factor in preventing relapse.
Structure
Those who go through an addiction treatment program quickly learn the importance of a consistent daily routine. It might seem excessive or unnecessary to plan the majority of your day, but following a general schedule keeps life manageable and helps build structure. Both consistency and manageability are considered essential factors in early recovery.
Whether you struggle with AUD or not, daily routines are often disrupted during the holidays. Last-minute scheduling, rushing to the next place, extensive to-do lists, and quick trips to the store for forgotten items become commonplace. It’s easy to abandon your daily routine with all the commotion going on around you.
Establishing a daily test routine with an alcohol monitoring tool offers a sliver of consistency during the busy holiday season. Simple actions such as this can also lessen concerns from those closest to you, as scheduled test results tend to bolster peace of mind.
Ultimately, any efforts to maintain a routine will help keep your sobriety on track during the holiday season. Implementing alcohol monitoring into that routine only aims to strengthen recovery and rebuild trust with loved ones.
Rebuilding Trust
Prolonged excessive alcohol use can take a toll on relationships. Often, those who have a hard time getting sober also have a difficult time rebuilding trust with their loved ones. Understandably, family members and close friends are wary during a loved one’s early recovery, especially given relapse statistics. Adding holiday stress on top of this can further complicate efforts to rebuild trust.
Most friends and family seek to support their loved ones when they choose to get sober. That doesn’t mean it’s not a complicated process for all involved. Rebuilding trust takes time, and can often only be achieved when an individual is committed to their recovery.
Remote alcohol monitoring helps to eliminate the mistrust and uncertainty that can be present when someone is in the early stages of recovery. There is no need for questioning or interrogation because of the proof Soberlink provides. Everyone can breathe easier during the holiday season, knowing that their loved one is sober.
Can Soberlink Help You?
Whether you’re in the early stages of recovery or you’ve been sober for some time, Soberlink remote alcohol monitoring can help.
For those interested, it’s a simple process to get set up with Soberlink. The Soberlink Share Program offers clients full control of their remote recovery journey from determining testing times to choosing who receives results. It’s a useful option for those looking to keep their recovery support system close while maintaining sobriety during the holidays and beyond.
About the Author
Elliott Redwine is a freelance writer based in Southern California with a passion for all things related to recovery. He hopes to help those seeking a solution for substance and alcohol abuse find a new way of life.