10 Ways to Have Sober Fun this Festive Season — in Pictures!

Happiness comes from growth — it comes from finding something meaningful to do with your life and then working towards it. The “process” of working towards it will bring you joy…

1. Create a mind shift — Life is full of ups and downs. Happiness and sadness are partners.

2. ‘Day fun’ — Normal people stuff is fun. Movies, hiking, playing with dogs or children in nature, scuba diving, cycling, coffee, good food …

3. Do nothing — still the mind as you address false beliefs in silence.

4. Make a list– set goals for today, tomorrow, and next week/month/year — get a dopamine high.

5. Meditation and yoga — move that body and challenge that mind to sort out the dopamine and the false beliefs.

6. Exercise! — energy begets energy so move! Feed your mental, physical and spiritual health.

7. Listen to music — powerful mood uplifter — try new genres, musicians and sounds.

8. Get creative — believe in your creative ability and see a new you emerge. Liberation.

9. Eat dopamine-increasing foods — find out which foods boost your brain and get your essential amino acids and Tyrosine from eggs, green tea, watermelon, coffee, almonds, bananas, dark chocolate and yoghurt.

10. Be yourself — when did you last do this? Many ex-drinkers go back to being their real introverted selves and find new ways of being. Find meaning as you emerge from your cocoon.

Christmas is coming and the geese are getting fat… how are you going to avoid the geese and be the gander?

“If things go wrong, don’t go with them.” [Roger Babson]

Coping with the Party Season SOBER

1. Party like a celebrity — pick and choose the events you really want to go to. Then turn up late and leave early!
2. Don’t get over-tired — pace yourself and only attend one party a week. Don’t let yourself get so tired you feel like a drink!
3. Have your go-to drinks — phone the venue to make sure they do alcohol-free drinks. If not, ask for tonic water in a wine glass to stop people staring.
4. Remember, alcohol is not a magic potion — you are a great friend and social animal without needing alcohol. When it all gets too much, just leave. They will have the hangovers in the morning…
5. Be an anthropologist — mingle and observe. Meet new people before they get tipsy then entertain yourself with their progress into drunken hilarity.
6. Always have an escape plan — make sure you have freedom to leave when you are ready. Take your own car and be independent. Leave the drinkers to find their own way home.
7. Turn the event into a challenge — learn the art of small talk and mingling. Dance sober and join in in your own way. Soon it will be easy.
8. Make a firm decision that you are not going to drink — make sobriety your priority and say “no thanks” when people keep offering you a drink.
9. Play the movie forward — remember what happens when you drink and how you feel.
10. Fake it till you make it — slap a smile on your face and stay an hour minimum. Then leave — get something to eat at your local café and watch a movie at home!

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” [Carl Bard]