In Alcoholics Anonymous, we call Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years the Bermuda triangle of alcoholism.
Thats because so many problem drinkers start off the holiday season with good intentions, but all too often drown in a sea of family and office parties.
Somehow, alcoholics and non-problem drinkers alike give themselves permission to drink more than usual this time of year, just because its the holiday season. Some drink to celebrate and others to drown their sorrows. Either way the ramifications for getting drunk at work, at a family party, or any holiday gathering are severe. Its amazing how quickly drinking can spiral out of control.
The good news is that the suggestions Alcoholics Anonymous members share with each other at this time of year can work for anyone. Follow them and you will get through the holidays without any alcohol-fueled issues, at work, at home or on the highway.
First, if theres a holiday party ask yourself whether you really have to go. If youre not comfortable at family or work gatherings where alcohol flows freely, consider whether your presence is truly necessary. Chances are, if people are drinking that much, they wont even notice that you arent there! So the first thing to do is just simply determine whether you can skip the event entirely.
Next, if you cant afford to miss a particular gathering, have an exit strategy. This means that you have your Uber or Lyft app good to go, or you have some other means of getting yourself home when the drinking speeds up, the room gets louder and hotter, and you have had enough of the whole scene. In other words, dont rely on someone else at the party to leave when you want to go. Be able to get out when you have reached your emotional limit.
Next, once you get to the party, go directly to the bar and get yourself a club soda or some other non-alcoholic beverage. If you are holding a drink, people will be far less likely to ask, Why arent you drinking! The answer to that question, in any event, is none of their business.
If you happen to put the drink down on the table, even for a split second, its no longer your drink. Go back to the bar and get yourself a brand new club soda or soft drink. Every alcoholic can tell you stories about drinking accidentally on purpose you put down the Coke, you pick up a rum and Coke, drink it down, figure, what the heck, and keep drinking.
Finally, take the label off the day. A fine wine or unblended Scotch, with the label removed, is simply alcohol. Thanksgiving, with its label removed, is just another Thursday. This year, another word for Christmas isTuesday. And another word for New Years Eve is Monday night.
If you wouldnt drink, or drink to excess, on a Thursday, Monday, or Tuesday at any other time during the year, why do it during the holiday season? No reason!
In short, if you follow these simple suggestions, you will awaken on January 1 with no hangover, no apologies to make, no legal issues and no regrets.
Before this article, I had never heard about the Bermuda Triangle of the holiday drinking season. But it is a ROUGH TIME for many in early,sobriety. It was for me. I got sober in early October and had to go through the holidays right away.
I was pretty raw and scared during that time. I was on Antabuse and that helped me greatly, I think.
Yeah, this is the first time I've heard of it, but it makes sense ... Fortunately my journey started in February, after the holidays thru me into a non-stop drunk ... Lord, I DON'T miss that at all ... LOL ...
Antabuse??? ... Oh my, ... that stuff can kill you ... with that stuff, usually, you drink, you die ... if you live, you wish you were dead ... and my take on it, is we cannot be forced to stop, we must choose to stop, with help ...
I'd like to hear more of your story with this Anabuse stuff ... did you get very ill??? ...
Happy holidays and God Bless, Pappy
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Great article and I am going to borrow it for my newcomers.
This is how I escaped my first company lunch, in my first few months of sobriety.
If I acted like a hero, I would have been dead by now.
Pappy, I took Antabuse for about 10 or 11 months. Then stopped and never took it again. I never got sick on it--never drank. The drug's effects were explained to me by a competent doctor and it was prescribed with full knowledge on my part. I used Antabuse as a) an immediate deterrent (I felt there was no way I would drink while having the drug in my system), b) as a cooling off period in case I was ever afflicted with a compulsion to drink (I would have too wait 7 days or so if I were to decide to drink).
Through God's will and AA, I never considered drinking in that first year. I was trepidatious about ending the Antabuse use but I knew I could not take it forever. At the end of the treatment I felt connected enough to AA and the fellowship to know that my recovery was possible--if I did the work.
My main justification for taking Antabuse was to deal with situational risk--being in a potential drinking opportunity without the intellectual or spiritual capacity to make the right choice.
I look back on my first 11 months and don't really know if I would have relapsed without the Antabuse.
But I probably would have, knowing my mind and thinking. And the fact that most newcomers do indeed relapse.
Thanks for your share here ... I've known those who tried it and failed ... the antabuse was not the problem, it was when they drank while it was in their system ... That caused a severe reaction that was worse than any detox they'd ever had ...
I was put on Naltrexone? for a while to curb my urge to drink ... only I found out it heightened the 'high' and continued to drink ... that was nearly 12 years ago ... I was too scared to try Antabuse ... that or I just didn't want to quit ... most of us have 'been there' ... done that ...
Love ya man and Happy Sober Holidays, God Bless, Pappy
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
LMAO ... ... ... yeah, I know that feel'n ... forget about the final score, I couldn't even remember who played ... sorry to laugh, that's really sick, not funny at all ... although I guess we can laugh about it now, huh? ... ..
Pappy
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
And some sad humor helps us accept some of our old behaviors. We used to do some really absurd things. We can laughingly remember some of those...and be grateful they're in our past...
