BOCA RATON, Fla. -- For Mathew Williams, the holiday season is one of his busiest times of year.
“Holidays became more challenging,” he said.
Williams is not occupied with shopping or baking. For his last 10 Christmases, Williams has kept busy maintaining his sobriety.
“The holidays you know from where you grew up or if you’re still kind of there everyone kind of comes home and you see people you don’t see and you catch up and a lot of that revolved around drinking,” he recalled.
According to the CDC, an estimated 18 percent of American adults drink excessively. Here in Florida that percentage is estimated at nearly 21 percent.
“Generally speaking drinking is associated with social events but during the holidays that’s really ramped up,” said licensed clinical therapist Nicole Davis.
Davis practices at Therapeutic Oasis in Boca Raton. She is taking a unique approach to help her clients through the holidays.
“Rather than moving away from what might call a trigger or the stressful situations,” Davis said. “It’s more about leaning into those situations and accepting that they are going to be hard and challenging and finding alternative ways to ride that wave.”
Davis says yoga, meditation and mindfulness can help some recovering addicts cope. For Williams he’s using those techniques and support from his family to have a happy holiday season.
“It truly is, it’s that cliche. It is one day at a time, it is day by day and it’s just a day,” he said.
