What to Do When Sobriety Gets Boring

You can take part in the same hobbies you enjoyed before addiction or learn something new. Fishing, quilting, gardening, and even video games are much more productive than using drugs or drinking. Fill your idle time with hobbies and activities to keep your brain from drifting to dark places. Why would I want to stop doing something that’s not even a problem? Take away the pleasures of drinking for the boredom of sobriety? Imagine; being fully present all the time?

After all, much of the entertainment and socializing you did was centered around alcohol and drugs. Now that this is gone it can feel like you are living a quite boring life. It may seem silly to think of something as trivial as boredom to be threatening. However, this seemingly tiny issue can cause significant destruction in your healing process. This is because boredom allows the mind to wander, which can be triggering for some in recovery. This is why it is crucial to keeping yourself occupied with healthy, sober activities. When contemplating getting sober (or when you’re newly sober) you may wonder what you will do for fun. It’s common to believe that there is no possible way that life can be fun without alcohol or drugs, but this is dysfunctional thinking that is actually part of the process of denial.

Is Alcohol Making You a Bore?

Vanessa Kennedy, director of clinical psychology at Driftwood Recovery in Texas, says she’s been seeing a “significant uptick” in stress-related drinking during the pandemic. People everywhere know they’re choosing between death and cigarettes/drinks/pharmaceuticals/heroin/whatever but they still take the drug. It’s insane but, again, it’s not a rational choice. If I’m honest, it takes three beers for me to really give a fuck about anything. drinking because of boredom And I know this sounds like I’m depressed, but I’m not. It’s just that a three-beer buzz lends my weeknights a significance and a special glow. Some people say mindfulness or yoga can do this for them, but I assume those people haven’t tried drinking. I cannot thank you enough for this article. I would have celebrated 2 years this coming November, but picked up last weekend because I was feeling bored, lonely, and really sorry for myself.

The problem is that drinking never took over my life in that way. Most weekends I got out and about sober for at least one day. I always exercised in the morning before my first drink. And even when I was drinking, it wasn’t like I just sat there and stared at the wall. I still managed to read, watch movies, write, play music and participate in my other hobbies. But I PROMISE you, if you keep moving forward, things in your brain will start to click. And one day it will occur to you that you’re actually happy and enjoying your life. Aside from journaling, talk therapy is an important, oftentimes critical tool for unpacking your feelings. It also opens up space to approach your internal world differently. One of the biggest impediments to my sobriety during my relapse days was my inability to avoid getting consumed by emotions.

Can Mindfulness Be Bad for Teens?

Suggest social activities that don’t involve drinking. While you can’t shelter your loved one from situations where alcohol is present, you can avoid drinking with or around the person. When you spend time together, try to suggest activities that don’t involve alcohol. It’s not easy to talk to someone about their drinking. You may be worried that if you bring up your concerns the person will get angry, defensive, lash out, or simply deny that they have a problem. But that’s not a reason to avoid saying anything. Your loved one’s drinking isn’t likely to get better on its own; it’s more likely to get worse until you speak up. If you recognize the warning signs that your loved one has a problem with alcohol, the first step to helping them is to learn all you can about addiction and alcohol abuse. Dealing with a loved one’s alcohol abuse or alcoholism can be painful and challenging for the whole family, but there is help available.

This consistent dedication to making staying sober their number one priority has led to significant life improvements and accomplishments. In addition to these types of activities, engaging in creative activities is helpful to relieve being sober and bored. From painting to coloring and DIY home decorating and gardens, being creative can do a lot to relieve boredom. It may take some time and effort to find out what you really enjoy doing, but it’s worth it. If you are attending support groups, meeting people, and getting involved in whatever sober community you’ve connected with for support. There can be meetings, events, opportunities for service, and much more to keep engaged and busy. However, as days become weeks, and weeks become months, boredom may set in–this is very common. When an individual has an issue with alcohol or drugs and decides to get help, much attention is focused on this phase of recovery.

Reasons Exercise Is So Critical In Sobriety And Recovery

Boredom can unexpectedly become a cue for sensation-seeking behavior. The current pandemic has highlighted how boredom can trigger the misuse of substances, particularly alcohol. In fact, alcohol sales outside of bars and restaurants surged 24% shortly after stay-at-home orders began. Dealing with a loved one’s alcohol problem can feel like an emotional rollercoaster and take a heavy toll on your health, outlook, and wellbeing.

Lie about or try to cover up how much they’re drinking. Often binge drink or drink more than they intended to. You stay active in your support groups–and–branch out to find new ones. Step outside of your comfort zone and go to meetings in an area you haven’t explored before, even if it means driving further or going alone. You can practice mindfulness through meditation, breathwork, Sober House or simply by journaling. The more you practice it, the better you will become, and your recovery will progress even more. If you find yourself getting bored in your recovery journey, especially after years in the process, these tips are for you. The study also found that students at smaller schools and those attending religious schools are less likely to abuse narcotics and alcohol.

Nonverbal Mirroring and the Challenge of Eating Disorder Therapy

Remember, individuals in these groups or chat rooms can empathize with you because they have been through the same things. If anyone can give you practical advice, it’s the recovery community at large. At MedMark, we take a patient-centered approach to opioid addiction treatment. MedMark Clinical Team & Marketing DirectorsThe Clinical Team at MedMark Treatment Centers is our team of medical directors, physicians, and marketing staff within the organization.

• Instead I’m drinking coffee, listening to the birdsong and planning my day.
• Relationships can include marriages or romantic relationships, friendships or relationships with family members.
• AA meetings and similar groups allow your loved one to spend time with others facing the same problems.
• Some may reach for drugs and alcohol due to peer pressure, but what about when they feel isolated or “stuck” in their home or family environment and are looking for ways to escape?
• Swapping our routines and habits that are damaging you for ones that can strengthen your body and soul will give you a really clear reason why you want to change your drinking.
• That means you’ll need plenty of patience when supporting your loved one’s recovery.

This continued through the holiday itself, as the government dashed the public’s plans around like pinballs. After the first lockdown, I got sick of mornings spent with foggy headaches, and as the days got longer and restrictions eased a little, it became easier to cut down. I began to drink on days when normally I wouldn’t, finishing half a bottle or more in the evenings, when usually I’d just have a glass. She couldn’t imagine drinking because of boredom her life without wine at that time, but now she acknowledges that drinking made her tired and impatient. And ironically, she’s the same age her father was when he stopped drinking. During the height of the pandemic, parents needed to create a sense of escape from a difficult reality, she says. But upon looking into the sobriety movement and reading “This Naked Mind,” Youngren realized her method of self-care was carcinogenic.

In a nutshell, mindfulness involves being fully aware of your moment-to-moment experience. You notice sensations, thoughts and feelings without judging or resisting them, and then you let them go as your focus moves on to the next moment. With this mindset, you’ll feel more engaged in whatever you’re doing — even a mundane chore such as folding laundry — and less preoccupied with wishing you were doing something else. Of course, stressful situations are also relapse triggers, but during treatment, alcoholics can learn how they can deal with these problems before it becomes a relapse. Many people find themselves eating too much, gambling, shopping to excess or indulging in other vices out of boredom. If they get bored of being bored, drugs or alcohol are an easy place to go for relief.

Those with $25 or more a week in spending money are nearly twice as likely as those with less to smoke, drink and use illegal drugs, and more than twice as likely to get drunk, the study said. Located in Central Ohio, our comprehensive addiction treatment facility offers several levels of care to fit the needs of each individual. Or brunch time, or lunch time or early morning game drive time or holidays, birthdays, daily celebrations. We lift up the voices of individuals living with mental illness. Busting stigma one essay and short film at a time. Carole Bennett, M.A., is a family substance abuse counselor, lecturer, columnist and author based at her Family Recovery Solutions Counseling Center in Santa Barbara, CA. Strong, positive energy coupled with the right attitude is important to infuse into your child a new productive program. If executed early and properly, boredom will have no opportunity to lead to dangerous experimentation with potentially addictive behaviors.

I’m not sure if doctors realise, but that line about how “there’s no way to say for sure” undermines a lot of health warnings. Giving up drinking hasn’t left me with a void of time to fill. It’s just made everything grey and lifeless. Even the things I only ever did sober are unbearable now.

Are they stressed, bored, lonely, or anxious, for example? Many different factors could be contributing to their drinking, but to stay sober your loved one will need to address any underlying causes. With some perspective — which you usually obtain after certain periods of sobriety — you start to understand that life is, on occasion, mundane. That’s not the same as boring, but the routine of work, of bills, of family obligations, of doing it all over again every day can seem quite tedious. Boredom usually stems from one’s own lack of motivation, endeavor, or creativity. Everyone gets bored now and then, but there’s a difference between changing that mood through healthy alternatives and turning to drugs or alcohol, either alone or with friends. This response to boredom can lead, in some cases, to a destructive path toward addiction. For many of us who began drinking as a social lubricant, the thought of enjoying ourselves at a party without alcohol can seem impossible. We may believe that people like us more when we drink—that we are funnier, wittier, and more charming after a few cocktails. In almost all cases, this story we tell ourselves is far from reality.

Once you become sober, you may begin to observe this phenomenon in those around you that continue to drink. Alcohol may give you a false sense of confidence, but it also slows down thinking, slurs speech, and lowers inhibitions, often leading to socially unacceptable behavior. And yes, even your dancing becomes worse under the influence of alcohol, although it may feel like you are working some of your best moves. Lockdowns and stay-at-home orders are instrumental in quelling the devastation of the virus, and there is nothing more important than preventing more deaths. Almost a year into the UK’s pandemic, however, the government still can’t say for certain whether people will be able to mix with their loved ones outdoors by Easter.