First of all, congratulations on making it through your first semester of the school year! That’s a big accomplishment, especially for someone in recovery. Now, like most, you may be going home for the holiday break, which can come with stressors of its own. Here is some advice we wanted to share to minimize stress and possible triggers over the holidays:
- Let your friends and family know that you are in recovery and explain to them what that looks like for you.
- If you are involved in 12-step meetings or recovery group meetings locally, try to find some at home that you can attend. Or, you can keep in touch with your local recovery group over break.
- Identify your stressors and triggers and implement ways to avoid them. This may mean not visiting with certain friends who you feel may be a bad influence or unsupportive of your recovery.
- In addition to this, set boundaries with friends and family members. This might mean setting time limits for family gatherings or, again, choosing not to see people who are not supportive of your lifestyle in recovery.
- We know it can be stressful to buy gifts for everyone, and as a student, you likely don’t have a large income to spend on gifts. With this in mind, we recommend setting price limits on gifts or making peoples’ gift instead.
- Get in a good routine. Three weeks off of school, without a set schedule can seem daunting.
- Find sober gatherings to attend. For example, instead of going out to the bars with friends, you could plan a game or movie night.
- Lastly, loneliness can be a big trigger for those in recovery. Remind yourself that just because you are in recovery or abstaining from substances doesn’t mean you can’t still spend time with people.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to the CRC over break at crcs@indiana.edu or 812-856-3898 if you need support.
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