If you or someone you love is just starting addiction recovery, spending the holiday season in rehab is an excellent choice. With vacation days and paid time off, this is the perfect opportunity to get professional treatment, and without dropping the ball on your daily responsibilities. Far better than attempting to go “cold turkey” at home, rehab provides a safe, secure, and supportive environment to help get past an addiction to drinking or substance abuse. Best of all, you’ll have around-the-clock access to medical and mental health support. Rehab will surround you with knowledgeable and compassionate professionals, and with like-minded peers who share the same challenges and goals. Read on for five tips on how you can enjoy the holidays at Fairwinds Treatment Center.

1. Avoid High-Risk Relationships and Environments, and Common Emotional Triggers

It’s important to spend the holiday season around people who understand your recovery, and who are okay with you making it your top priority. Addiction isn’t a matter of failed willpower or bad personal choices. Instead, it’s an incredibly complex disease. Unfortunately, many of your friends and family members won’t recognize addiction as the chronic mental health issue that it is. During the holidays, this can mean having loved ones encouraging you to have “just one” to “celebrate” with them. In the formative stages of recovery, it’s best to avoid high-risk environments, relationships, and overwhelming emotional triggers. Even if spending time with your relatives always leaves you in good spirits, if doing so exposes you to temptation, going to rehab is a far safer alternative.

2. Work on Balancing Your Moods

If you’ve already successfully detoxed from drugs or alcohol, you may be experiencing new and surprising withdrawal symptoms. Most people develop post-acute withdrawal symptoms (PAWS) within one to two weeks of abstaining. Unlike the initial, physical symptoms that you experienced as your brain and body adapted to being substance-free, PAWS  are largely psychological. They often include:

• Loss of motivation
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Malaise
• Difficulty focusing
• Mood swings

When you choose to spend the holiday season at Fairwinds Treatment Center, you’ll have constant support. You won’t have to battle problems like insomnia or feelings of hopelessness on your own. Additionally, you won’t have to worry about PAWS leading to relapse. Regular interventions can be made to help you stay comfortable and on course.

3. Learn How to Celebrate the Holidays While in Recovery

With prolonged substance abuse, many people come to associate drug or alcohol use with having a good time. For these individuals, the party doesn’t actually start until they’re drunk or high. Spending the holiday season at a rehab facility will allow you to experience healthy, sober celebrations firsthand. You’ll be surrounded by peers, and you’ll have ample, festive activities to engage in. This is great practice for learning how to enjoy yourself in social settings while remaining completely drug and alcohol-free. Best of all, you won’t have to worry about aggressive friends or family members trying to put a drink in your hand.

4. Give Your Family the Best Possible Gift This Year

There’s no better gift that you can give your loved ones this holiday season than your commitment to getting clean. Addiction is a family disease. There’s no one in your household who isn’t impacted by your substance abuse. Getting help now will allow your loved ones to begin healing from the trauma of addiction. More importantly, when you start recovery in a professional treatment center, you’ll have a far higher likelihood of staying on track. Your loved ones won’t have to deal with the stress and disappointment of false starts. They won’t have to watch you handle the dangers and hardships of trying to go “cold turkey” on your own.

5. Give Yourself a Truly Fresh Start for the New Year

As the year winds down to an end, you have the opportunity to give yourself a truly fresh start. Completing rehab at Fairwinds Treatment Center can be the first step towards reclaiming your freedom and autonomy. You can avoid the continued consequences of heavy drug or alcohol use, and you can start proactively moving your life in the direction you want to go.  If you’re ready to get your best chance at lasting sobriety, we can help. Get in touch with us now to speak with one of our admissions counselors.