Holidays a time of excess, loss of control

The holiday season is upon us with all of the excitement, family gatherings, time away from work, and year end celebrations. There is no other six-week to two-month period during the calendar year containing as much variety of activity, interruption in routine, and opportunity for relaxation and enjoyment.

Unfortunately, this same period of time may upset a delicate balance that individuals have maintained during the rest of the year due to excesses in such areas as spending, eating, drinking, or irregular hours and loss of sleep.

One of the greatest risks for many people during this time is relapse into behaviors that are unhealthy and a threat to their well-being.

Let's look at the lives of a few individuals who go out of balance and lose control during the holidays.

• There are individuals who have struggled to achieve a healthy body weight through dieting and exercise by controlling their eating behavior, sticking to routines, avoiding too much stress, focusing on a healthy lifestyle and avoiding excesses. Now the holiday season comes along and all of these areas that helped them maintain balance are threatened by the demands of the season. People start bringing food to work to snack on during breaks, invitations arrive for open houses, programs at school, parties at friends' homes, and church related holiday activities. Every place these individuals look they are being offered food and encouraged to eat. Have you ever heard of a holiday exercise celebration for a get-together to walk the mall? Perhaps a new tradition should commence.

• One tragic area of relapse that occurs during this time of year is in the area of chemical addiction and substance abuse. Stress, fatigue, and overload of activity all increase the risk of falling back into a pattern of alcohol or drug use. Commercials, ads, and encouragement to get into "the spirit of things" by those around us all bombard the individual in recovery with messages to slip back into the abuse cycle. More than at any other time of the year, alcohol is more readily available, expected to be consumed and accepted as part of the host's responsibility. Use of it is tolerated in abuse situations.

• Lack of control is maintaining a budget often emerges as a prominent difficulty during the holidays. Again, the messages in our society encourage us to depart from balance and discipline--if only for a few weeks--and make ourselves and other happy by purchasing things. Remembering others with a symbol of the season often adds up to a blown budget. And in the early months of the next year, it takes weeks and even months to recover and balance the budget. Anger, resentment, and depression often result from this let-up in normal patterns of good judgment where one normally stays within healthy limits.

Several things can be done to diminish the likelihood that the holiday season will lead to the resumption of old, unwanted, and unhealthy patterns of behavior.

• If you have effectively dealt with healthy patterns during other times of the year, don't let the upcoming season dictate and sway you. Make good health a present to yourself and your family by saying no at the appropriate time in order to maintain the gains that you have made.

• Lean on support groups and friends who are aware of your needs and past struggles to maintain balance.

• Consider professional resources if needed.

Don't let the holidays become a liability. Plan ahead and set goals to emerge on January 2nd with a good feeling about yourself. Maintain the healthy gains you made.

Copyright c 1995 Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D.