Once you stop drinking, your world becomes more open. And you get to find out what life looks like, and feels like without drinking. I often think that the word being in recovery is misused.
Ways to Stop Drinking Out of Boredom
I certainly never did, unless there was a beer or a glass of wine in my hand. When I was in very early sobriety, maybe 30 days in, 60 days, and I joined sort of a photo of the day contest. It’s not as simple as “getting out there” and “trying something new.” It’s hard to do that when you suffer from extreme depression and anhedonia.
I was suddenly thinking, “What do I even like doing? ”It was such a strange feeling, and the thing that made it even harder was that I wasn’t expecting to feel bored when I quit drinking. Up till then, I felt like I was living an exciting and activity packed life, but it turned out that the only thing I really ever did was drink. Suddenly I found out that alcohol had been slowing my brain down a little making a regular old “boring” day seem exciting. This podcast episode is about feeling bored in sobriety.
If this is the situation for you, then it might be time to reach out for professional help and get additional support in your recovery. It can be helpful to talk to people who are also in recovery and share your experiences with them. The key is to find something that you truly enjoy so it doesn’t feel like a chore. Boredom can be scary, but incredibly essential in recovery and is an essential step in recovering from substance abuse. It’s essential to remember that this is a normal part of recovery and that it will disappear with time as your body adjusts.
Break the Boredom Drinking Loop
Sunnyside is not designed to treat alcohol use disorder (AUD). For resources related to AUD, including how to get support, please visit the NIH website. We’ve also partnered with Moderation Management, a non-profit dedicated to reducing the harm caused by the misuse of alcohol. As part of your daily “boredom prevention plan,” schedule a reward for not drinking when you otherwise would. One of the best ways to deal with bored drinking is to anticipate it — why is not always easy.
Plus, it is SO rewarding when you make a HUGE list, and at the end of the weekend you get to see all of the items crossed off. I also feel so much more prepared as I go into the following week when I’ve had a weekend full of productivity and relaxation. I couldn’t drive home, I lost my phone, I shared someone else’s secret that I shouldn’t have shared. But again, I was letting things happen to me either because of the alcohol, or because I would just surrender my time and my night, to the alcohol or to other people.
Kathleen has more than 15 years of experience treating people who have a substance use disorder. In her time here, Karlie trained as a clinical supervisor and an Acudetox therapist. She has a passion for https://www.wholesalenbajerseystore.com/2018/01/ working with clients to help them develop a more profound sense of identity to navigate depressive and anxious symptoms. She’s passionate about working with clients to work through trauma and improve mental stability. In her personal life, Karlie likes reading sci-fi and fantasy and going to Marvel movies. She enjoys playing board games and having home karaoke nights with her friends.
When I was a heavy drinker, everything involved alcohol. If I was hanging out with friends, we https://whomeopathy.org/keck-faculty-of-medicine-of-usc.html were getting drunk. Now that you know the chemical reason for your boredom, let’s explore additional factors that might be contributing to these feelings. The good news is that your brain can adjust and restore balance to your internal world.
- They bought themselves watercolor paints, or beautiful crayons.
- She continued her education at the University of Denver and earned a master’s in clinical mental health counseling.
- Before you know it, your list of things to celebrate when bored gets longer, and the number of drinks you enjoy each week goes up.
- In a 2022 survey of Sunnyside members, 5% said boredom triggered them to drink.
Boredom can be a major trigger in early recovery as well as an unpredictable range of emotions people feel when newly sober. When children or adolescents are spending too much time in front of the television (or screens of any kind) or listlessly whiling away hours, it may be time to step in. Curtail the screen-time hours and help your child look for and plan stimulating activates or hobbies.
Therapy and counseling services can provide you with the support and guidance you need, and addiction treatment programs can help you address the underlying causes of your boredom drinking. Stress, anxiety, and loneliness can all be potential triggers for boredom drinking. People may turn to alcohol as a way to cope with these negative emotions, but in doing so, they may be putting their mental health at risk. Many scientific studies have proved a positive relationship between boredom/loneliness and excessive alcohol use. I pinned up places where I wanted to take photography.
Drinking Out of Boredom
Pursue outdoor activities like kayaking or fishing. We are stressed-out, overstimulated, tech-obsessed creatures. Pile on some sobriety struggle, and it’s a recipe for madness. Get on Google, find a class, and make it happen. Plus, you might meet some cool people, and that’s always a double win.
You put off starting a new hobby or working on an existing one.
Drinking alone could be a symptom of a larger issue—especially if it leads to heavy drinking. However, not all forms of solitary drinking are harmful. This article will discuss what you need to know about drinking alone and when to see professional help.
Addiction Treatment Programs
- I started in high school and got more and more into it in college, and in my 20’s I was obsessed.
- And if you can’t think of what your interests are, right away, start following someone else’s passion.
- So this episode was about what to do if you’re feeling bored in sobriety.
- Pay attention to women you admire, ask yourself, do I want what they have?
In that quote I read in the beginning again, it says you will need other people as a living, breathing reminder of everything that’s good in life. So this episode was about what to do if you’re feeling bored in sobriety. What you can do if you feel flat, if you feel mad if you feel blocked. If you’re in the beginning, yeah, everything you’re doing is just navigating life without alcohol. And you will take a lot of bass and go on a lot of walks and drink tea and go to bed early and take naps and need time alone.
Some days are not very exciting, and some days are joy filled. Some days, I’m moving forward on projects that get me really, really excited. It is natural to feel bored when you are sober because of the way your life has previously revolved around alcohol. The reasons people start drinking alcohol are very much not the same as the reasons they continue to drink alcohol.
Alcohol Artificially Boosts Serotonin and Dopamine in Your Brain
Seen, and buckets and buckets of local flowers that are lush and gorgeous and beautiful and a total treat. But she can afford it because she’s not drinking. And she arranges the flowers, and she puts them in front of her house for neighbors to pick up as a little dope dose of joy for other people or leave them on their front stoops. She says that she enjoys arranging them and looking at them and smelling them. And when the vegetables show up, she suddenly has a ton of mushrooms. And she has to figure out what to do with them, or fruits that she had never discovered.
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