Healthy Coping: Mindful Alcohol Awareness During the Holiday Season

The holiday season comes with its own blend of excitement, stress, and emotional intensity. For many, it is a time of connection and celebration. But for others, the season can also bring heightened pressure, loneliness, or a sense of being overwhelmed. During this time, alcohol is often woven into social gatherings, traditions, and routines - making it easy for consumption to increase without noticing.

Over the past few years, data has shown that drinking patterns have shifted significantly. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many adults reported drinking more frequently to manage stress, isolation, and uncertainty. For some, these habits never fully reset once life returned to a more familiar rhythm. (Pollard et al., 2020; Grossman et al., 2022). 

As we approach the holidays, this can be a meaningful opportunity to check in with your relationship with alcohol, not from a place of shame or fear, but from curiosity and intention. 

Awareness Is the First Step

If you’ve noticed patterns of drinking more often, relying on alcohol to “take the edge off,” or feeling uneasy about how much you’re consuming, you’re not alone. Awareness is not about judgment - it’s about choice.

When we pause long enough to notice:

• Why am I reaching for this drink?

• What am I hoping it will help me feel - or not feel?

• Is this a habit, a coping strategy, or something else?

- then we can create the space needed to make more grounded decisions. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s intentionality.

How Mindfulness Supports Alcohol Awareness

Mindfulness offers us tools to slow down and observe what’s happening internally before acting on autopilot. This can be especially powerful around alcohol use, where routine or social pressure can override self-connection.

Here are mindful strategies to help you navigate the season with clarity and self-compassion:

1. Set Intentions Before Events

Rather than avoiding gatherings or forcing rigid rules, try choosing an intention:

• I want to feel connected.

• I want to stay clear-headed.

• I want to be present with my family.

• I want to wake up tomorrow feeling well.

Intentions guide behavior without harshness. They anchor you in your values, not pressure.

2. Pause Before Pouring

Before pouring a drink or accepting one - take a slow breath.

Check in with your body.

Ask yourself: Do I actually want this right now? What am I needing?

This moment of awareness often shifts the entire decision-making process.

3. Notice Emotional + Physical Cues

The holidays can stir up grief, family tension, financial stress, or overstimulation. Some early cues that alcohol is becoming a coping tool rather than a choice might include:

• feeling overwhelmed or drained

• seeking escape or avoidance

• drinking faster than usual

• feeling pressure to match others

Naming these cues helps you navigate them with compassion instead of reaction.

4. Practice Self-Compassion, Not Perfection

If you’re trying to reduce drinking or even just become more mindful - there will be moments of struggle. This is normal.

What matters is how you respond afterward.

Instead of:

“I messed up."

Try:

“I’m noticing what happened, and I can choose differently next time.”

Compassion supports growth; criticism shuts it down.

5. Build Supportive Connections

Whether through a trusted friend, a partner, a recovery community, or your therapist, connection remains one of the strongest protective factors against unhealthy coping patterns. You don’t have to explore this alone and you don’t need to be at “rock bottom” to seek support. Curiosity about your drinking is enough.

If You’re Ready to Explore Your Alcohol Relationship More Deeply

You don’t need a crisis to reflect on your habits.

You don’t need to label yourself.

You don’t need to commit to never drinking again.

You only need a willingness to look inward. This holiday season, consider what you truly want to feel and whether your relationship with alcohol helps you feel that way. Mindfulness, intention setting, and gentle curiosity can open the door to change, well-being, and a more grounded start to the new year.

Elia