Integral Recovery Survival Tips for the Holidays

• Put your practice first and your sobriety first. 
• Hanging out with family can often be very challenging, so make sure you have a plan of how you’re going to take care of yourself.
• I have found that if I ratchet up my meditation practice from 1 hour to 1.5 hours a day while visiting family, this really helped.
• Have a getaway plan — bring your own car (or rent one). There’s nothing worse than getting stuck in a dysfunctional situation with no place to go and no way to get there.
• Consider getting your own motel room, rather than staying with your family. This gives you a place of refuge, where you can go when you’ve had enough.
• Also, plan for your physical practice: find out where the local gyms are, what their hours are, or where you can go running – nature trails, etc.
• Realize that holidays are very challenging and are often the most difficult times for those of us in early recovery.
• If you do 12-step meetings, find out where the local meetings are.
• Make sure you have your support people, whom you can text, call, or Skype, if things get rough.
• Remember, families are a great place to practice, and help us to understand, forgive ourselves, forgive others, and become mindful of our conditionings and patterns.
• And remember most of all, the greatest gift you have to give is your own beautiful, sober, in-recovery self.

God bless, and happy holy holidays.