The Story Arc of Holiday Drinking

My Trick for Pushing Past Triggers

It is not even 6 AM, and as I scroll through social media on Thanksgiving morning, I already see a post showing a tray full of Mimosas, a TikTok of a flowing mimosa fountain, and a meme about using alcohol to survive a day with extended family.

Sometimes, I get stuck here, in this visceral pang somewhere between nostalgia and defeat. That fickle feeling of deprivation tickles my chest with visions of what could have been, mulling the possibilities.

But I don’t stay here. And every day, my time in that mental purgatory gets markedly shorter. There’s a trick I use, the same trick I’ve been using since I quit.