Posts on how the recovering alcoholic/addict can stay safe during the New Year festivities are a dime a dozen right now. Have an escape plan, always keep a glass in your hand, have support on call; all these things are not bad ideas, but the sure way to stay safe on this holiday eve is just to avoid alcohol and drugs. If you are so worried about drinking that you need a sponsor on speed dial, let me make the decision for you, don’t go. The very fact that an alcoholic/addict feels it’s necessary or worth the risk to join others in a farewell toast to the year while still struggling with sobriety is indicative of addictive thinking.
But staying safe doesn’t mean staying locked away.
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There is no law against celebrating the holiday sober. No written rule that prohibits spending the night with a loved one watching a movie marathon. Go bowling with strangers. Do a midnight clink of the cheap mugs at Waffle House and usher in a scattered, smothered, and covered New Year.
If deciding what to do on the holiday becomes too stressful- skip it. That’s right, just don’t participate at all. Strip some furniture or clean the house, getting a head start on the new year is better than barricading up in a depressive funk. It may not be a memorable night, but it’s better than not have any memory of the night as millions will experience the next morning along with a pounding headache.
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Happy New Year JAD
Most areas have a sober New Year’s party. We’ve got one. I’ll show my face, at least for a little while. It’s a good substitution.
Going where there is alcohol is something that I don’t take lightly. Don’t mind if it’s a dinner party where people will have a glass or two with dinner. Attending a New Year’s party watching someone (mostly amateurs) get drunk is not my idea of a good time. I stay well away from the practicing alcoholics.
My big thing is to watch the leap second.
HNY, TDA!!!