You probably don’t want to think about spending one minute of the holidays in a rehab or treatment center (Awakenings is an outpatient rehab located in Agoura Hills, California). Believe it or not, the holiday season can be the perfect opportunity to start on a path to sobriety and just get healthy!
The holidays are meant to be filled with joy and celebration, but for a person with a substance use disorder, it can push them over the edge. To protect your mental and physical health, it’s best to avoid holiday temptations and commit to a treatment program.
Let’s look at five reasons why the holidays – the time between Thanksgiving and the first week of the New Year – are the perfect time to enter a rehab facility.
1. Start the New Year Off Right
It’s tempting to push off self-improvement until January, but this also means that you’re giving yourself another six weeks to continue drinking or using drugs. Within this time, you could go further down a dark path, leaving you with more work to do next year.
By starting addiction treatment sooner than later, you can remove yourself from temptation and get through some of the hardest parts of recovery, such as withdrawal and detox. By the New Year, you’ll be ready to start rebuilding your life.
2. Schedules are More Flexible
Another motivation for starting treatment during the holidays is a flexible schedule. This time of year is busy, but people tend to have more time off work. With fewer or shorter days, you’ll have more time to work on your recovery.
Plus, if you need to take a few weeks off during the holidays, it won’t be as noticeable. You can tell your boss and coworkers that you’re spending time with family.
3. Stop Your Addiction in its Tracks
There’s a lot more temptation during the holidays, so if you let things continue in the same direction, you’ll worsen your addiction. Even if you try to bargain with yourself by saying things like, “I’ll go and have one drink only,” addiction doesn’t give you this freedom.
To stop your substance abuse, you must commit to drug rehab, whether here in Agoura Hills or in another place of your choice. Addiction causes changes in the brain that make it nearly impossible to stop on your own. Every time you delay treatment, you give power to your addiction.
4. Avoid Triggering Situations
While family and friends usually mean well, they can trigger certain emotions. Perhaps you feel stressed when seeing your aunts and uncles. Or maybe your siblings make you feel jealous or insecure.
By committing to a treatment program, you can escape triggering people and events. This will help you relax around the holidays, plus prevent you from using drugs or alcohol to cope.
5. Focus Energy on Yourself
If the holidays bring you stress, you end up wasting energy that could go toward your recovery. Instead of worrying about buying presents, seeing certain family members, etc., redirect this energy toward yourself.
Remember, you won’t be alone when you start treatment. You’ll have support staff and peers around you, helping you feel less lonely. You will also have zero distractions, which means you can focus entirely on your recovery and getting healthy.
Effective Treatment During the Holidays
These are just five reasons why the holidays are the perfect time to enter rehab. Rather than trying to get through the holiday season, why not get yourself better so that you can enjoy next year’s celebrations? It’s relieving to think that you will already be steps ahead by the start of January, which means you can enjoy your sober life even sooner. To discuss your treatment needs, contact Awakenings Treatment Center today.
