Celebrate Hope On New Year's Eve

On the eve of the New Year, Celebrate Hope would like to wish everyone in recovery a safe and sober holiday. Today is synonymous with excessive alcohol consumption, which can be difficult to avoid being around, especially if you are obligated to attend a New Year’s party. If you are planning on attending an event where alcohol will be present, it is important that you discuss it first with your sponsor and/or addiction therapist. It’s crucial that people working a program of recovery remain accountable on days like today.

While you may feel strong enough to be around heavy drinking at this point in your recovery, it is easy for dangerous thoughts to enter one’s mind that can lead to a decision that may compromise your program. Most people in recovery probably have some fond memories of New Year’s eves, having drinks with friends and family as midnight approaches. Such reminiscences can cause you to forget where alcohol brought you to, and you may begin to romance having a drink. Such occurrences have brought countless people in recovery to relapse on the final day of the year.

If you do not feel comfortable being around drinking, it should not be an excuse to just stay in for the night. It’s highly probable that you have heard of some recovery events taking place in your area tonight, especially if you attend meetings on a regular basis. Such events can be a lot of fun and help you create new rituals and traditions that do not involve drugs or alcohol. There is a good chance that your recovery peers will be attending as well.

It is never wise to isolate yourself - even if that is what you feel like doing. Being alone is a sure way for addictive thinking to creep into one’s mind, which could potentially result in a relapse. The mind can be a very dangerous place, a perfect environment for cravings to fester. Get out of the house, go to some meetings and have fun with your friends in recovery as you await the New Year.

Take a moment to reflect upon the strides you have made since first getting sober, every day that goes by that does not involve using drugs and alcohol is a remarkable accomplishment - definitely worthy of being proud.