How to Plan the Perfect Sober Summer Picnic | All Points North

Start the Admissions Process Online

Fill out your information to receive a free, confidential call from the team at All Points North.

OR CALL US at
855-510-4585


How to Plan the Perfect Sober Summer Picnic

A sober summer picnic can be a great way to get outdoors, experience the beautiful weather, and have an enjoyable day without feeling the cravings associated with substance use. It can also bring your friends and family together to foster positive connections, a crucial ingredient in any strategy for staying sober through the summer.

No matter where you are in your sobriety journey, these types of activities can seem foreign and daunting. But by following a few simple steps, you can plan and host the perfect sober summer picnic — without worrying about compromising your recovery journey.

The Challenge of Maintaining Sobriety in the Summer

Early recovery is filled with challenges that people need to learn to overcome. One such challenge is the experience of drug or alcohol cravings at the times, places, and events where you used to drink or use drugs.

Collectively, these types of scenarios are typically referred to as “triggers,” and summertime can be a prominent trigger for many people. Since summer is typically associated with heightened social activity, backyard barbecues and parties, and vacations from workplaces, drug and alcohol use can become strongly associated with this season.

Some people believe that they cannot engage in these types of activities at all because they are triggering, but as a result, they find themselves bored or experiencing the fear of missing out. Paradoxically, this can be a trigger in itself and contribute to feeling cravings or potentially even encountering relapse.

Learning to overcome these cravings and challenges, cope with your mental health stressors when you experience a triggering event, and find new and healthy activities are of paramount importance to making sure that you live a long and healthy life in sobriety.

The Importance of Healthy Sober Activities

Healthy sober activities are one of the best ways to help you deal with triggers, cravings, and other substance use disorder symptoms. While a sober summer picnic is a great choice, you could also try engaging in summer activities such as:

  • Hiking
  • Mountain biking
  • Trail running
  • Kayaking
  • Making music or art
  • Camping
  • Cooking

It’s important that you learn to try activities that you used to do while drinking or using drugs, but in a fun and sober way. If you used to bring wine to your picnics, for example, having a sober picnic can help show you that you don’t need alcohol to have fun.

A sober picnic might not seem like a big deal, or you may think it won’t help you when you face a stronger triggering event, such as a party or summer concert. But by starting small and swapping small activities that used to involve substance use with sober alternatives, you slowly build a stronger resistance to triggers and cravings — and more confidence in your ability to stay sober.

For example, a sober picnic can give you the confidence to go to a summer barbecue without drinking. Your sobriety at the summer barbecue can help you feel confident attending a music festival.

As your confidence in your sobriety grows, you’ll be able to resist any challenge to your sobriety — and have a great deal of fun along the way.

Steps to Planning the Ideal Sober Summer Picnic

With a little planning, you can map out a day that everyone is sure to enjoy. There are a few simple steps to planning the perfect sober summer picnic.

Find the Ideal Picnic Spot

Location might be the most important aspect of your picnic. What location you choose depends on what you’re looking for in a picnic, so before hunting down locations, ask yourself:

  • Do I want my picnic to be secluded?
  • Do I want to be around other people enjoying the summer weather?
  • How far am I willing to travel for the right picnic spot?
  • Am I willing to hike into my picnic, or do I need it to be close to the road?
  • Do I need a specific environment for a desired activity, such as playing frisbee or going for a swim?

The right location is different for everyone. Some people prefer to picnic near a lake or river, while others enjoy a mountain view or in a field of flowers. Some people simply find that traveling too far for a picnic is not worth the effort and will most enjoy a picnic in a local park.

Also consider what other impacts your choice of location may have on your picnic. If you picnic at a busy campground, for instance, you might find yourself running into campers or other picnickers who could be drinking or using drugs. If this is too much of a temptation or trigger for you, choosing a more isolated location might be best.

Make a Delicious Menu

Food and beverages are a critical component of any summer picnic. Typically, picnic fare is centered around simple, snackable items, such as:

  • Bread
  • Cheeses
  • Crackers
  • Olives
  • Tapenade
  • Fresh fruit
  • Nuts
  • Hummus
  • Tortilla chips
  • Guacamole

If you prefer to bring a larger meal, opt to bring items that are either prepared ahead of time and can be stored in a cooler, or food that’s easily prepared on location.

This could include:

  • A fresh quinoa salad
  • Deli meat for sandwiches
  • Wraps
  • Potato salad

Make sure to bring several hydrating beverages as well. Summer temperatures can get quite high, and it’s important to bring enough water or other beverages for everyone coming to the picnic with you. These beverages could include teas, lemonade, sparkling water, or non-alcoholic kombucha.

Invite the Right People

While you can certainly enjoy a sober summer picnic by yourself, many people prefer to bring friends, family, and loved ones along as well. Since you’re planning the picnic, it’s up to you to bring the right people to cultivate the experience you have in mind.

This might mean making sure that no one you invite is going to bring drugs and alcohol to your picnic. You can either make this clear when you invite your friends to join you on the picnic, or simply choose to invite people that are sober themselves and support you on your journey to recovery.

But most importantly, you want to bring the people you care about and who are just as excited about a sober summer picnic as you are.

Bring the Right Picnic Equipment

As with any outdoor activity, it’s important to bring the right equipment to your picnic to ensure that everyone has a good time. Some of the key essentials for a summer picnic outing include:

  • A blanket to sit on
  • A cooler to keep your refrigerated items in
  • Chairs or cushions
  • Sunscreen and protective clothing
  • Plates and utensils
  • Bug spray
  • Umbrella

Of course, you might need to bring different types of items for your particular picnic. For example, you may want to bring a wireless speaker, a set of towels, or a hammock as well, depending on what helps create the picnicking environment you’re looking for.

Choose Fun Sober Activities

Setting up for a summer picnic can be the perfect time to engage in some enjoyable summer fun. Bringing an activity will help keep your picnic fun and engaging, and it lets you spend more time enjoying your beautiful picnic space and the warm summer weather.

For those who enjoy staying active, you might consider bringing a frisbee, football, or volleyball net. This provides a light form of activity and exercise that can make your picnic more exciting. If you prefer a more relaxing experience, you might bring a book or magazine to read.

Finding Support for a Sober Summer

If you’re finding it difficult to find enjoyment in the summertime in your sobriety, it might be beneficial to seek out professional support for your recovery. Working with a therapist or seeking out other forms of mental health treatment will not only help you maintain your recovery, but also help guide you in finding more enjoyable and fulfilling activities.

There are several different options to help support you in your path to living a rich and full life in recovery, including:

Individual Therapy

Working with an individual therapist can provide you with the most in-depth, custom-tailored treatment option to help support you on your path to sobriety. Whether you’re struggling with mental health symptoms, cravings, or simply not being able to find enjoyable activities that are sobriety-friendly, a therapist can help.

Therapists use a variety of different methods to support people with these goals. Some of the more common modalities for helping people with substance use disorders include:

Each of these therapeutic styles can help you learn new and effective coping mechanisms for dealing with stress, support you in finding fulfilling activities in recovery, and help you achieve your greatest sense of personal well-being and overall mental health.

Group Therapy

Although group therapy is guided by a professional therapist, it primarily focuses on the connection between group members who all struggle with the same thing.

In substance use disorder groups, for instance, all of the group members typically have a lived experience with addiction, along with different lengths of time in sobriety and a unique story of how they’ve gotten there.

This creates a powerful environment for healing, as people can meet others who have truly experienced similar challenges and can empathize with their struggles. Groups can then collaborate on how to work through these challenges, share what’s worked for them, and support one another on the path to sustained recovery.

Medication Management

For people with co-occurring mental health conditions, medication management can be the ideal complement to talk therapy approaches. Medication management pairs you with a specially trained psychiatrist who can prescribe medications to help you with common mental health challenges and will work with you for an extended period to ensure you get good results.

This could include trying several different medications, adjusting your medications as necessary, or finding solutions to uncomfortable side effects that you may experience. With medication management, your psychiatrist is supporting you throughout the entire process, so you’re never left struggling to navigate your path alone.

Call All Points North Lodge to Support Your Well-Being Today

When you’re ready to begin treatment, the experts at APN Lodge can help you find the treatment options that work best for you and explain the wide variety of methods that our program has available. We can also recommend targeted strategies to help you achieve holistic mental health and sustain your substance use recovery for years to come.

If you’re interested in learning more about All Points North and our mental health recovery programs, submit our confidential contact form or call us at 855.934.1178 today.

References

  • Asensio, Samuel et al. “What Is the “Trigger” of Addiction?.” Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience vol. 14 54. 21 Apr. 2020, doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00054