What to Do When Sobriety Gets Boring

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. Often times, I’ll be at work daydreaming about wanting to go home. But, on my way home, I’ll ponder what on earth I’m gonna do at home for 6 hours all by myself. Once home, now I can’t wait to go back to work. But I didn’t know what to do with them besides feel them. And the more I felt them, the more intense and blinding they would get. You have to understand what you’re feeling and WHY you’re feeling this way in order to change it.

It’s like I wanted everything and nothing at all. I thought I was the only person who drank because I was bored. Thank you for sharing this with us, Luis! Wishing you strength and luck in the days and weeks ahead. • I’ve made a conscious effort to not “screw over Tomorrow Gil”. What I mean by that is, if “Today Gil” doesn’t drink, then “Tomorrow Gil” won’t have a hangover, get a DUI, be fat, drinking when bored etc. Many of the bar relationships I had have all but fractured. When I visit the one person I still meet up with regularly, I just simply don’t drink while he does. I stick with diet sodas, red bulls, and I’ll get some wings or something. If you have the time, sign on to a longer-term project like helping with this year’s charity bake sale or the big 5K race your city holds yearly.

Helping a teen who’s abusing alcohol

But, a screening test shouldn’t be a substitute for medical advice. Regardless of the screening results, it’s important to talk to a professional to get more information. Create a list of reasons why you want to cut back/stop. What are the reasons you want to stop drinking? List the benefits of not drinking and the reasons you’d like to stop.

When we’ve quit drinking, alcohol is no longer a choice. It cannot be part of our decision making process any more. When we get bored, drinking is not one of the options we have to relieve that boredom. If you are ready to kick this poison out of your life for good click here to get started or check out my live quit drinking seminars. Boredom doesn’t always have Sober Home to be an enemy. It’s important to fight long periods of boredom to keep yourself sane but you can also embrace the peace of boredom. Being bored means you’re not in trouble, you’re not in withdrawal, you’re not worried about what you said, and you don’t have to apologize for your actions. After weeks of years of that mindset being bored can be welcoming.

Can Mindfulness Be Bad for Teens?

Perhaps you argue with your partner when you’re drinking, or maybe you become the loud person who embarrasses their friends in a restaurant. Finding resources for ongoing drinking issues, even when simply drinking out of boredom, can make a world of difference. Catching signs of abuse early also minimizes the risks of adverse health effects and increases the probability of achieving sobriety much more quickly. Various factors lead individuals to abuse alcohol, including genetic traits, environmental reasons, and societal factors. Still, alcohol is a highly addictive substance that can lead to dependency, especially when consuming frequently and in large quantities. Drinking out of boredom may indicate a deeper issue at hand. If you can see the upside in having fun without alcohol, you are more likely to embrace them. Culture has told us for so long that we are better and brighter squiffy than sober, but the stats don’t lie. Booze might be a party starter, but it rarely provides a glossy finish. The best intentions of the morning after start to ebb away quickly when the sense that a drink will make things feel better really ramps up.

Consider staging a family meeting or an intervention if you’d rather not go it alone. Again, everyone needs to come from a place of caring, rather than see this as an opportunity to bully, accuse, or vent their anger at the person with the drinking problem. Black out or can’t remember what they said or did when using alcohol. Regularly neglect their responsibilities at home, work, or school because they’re drinking or recovering from drinking. More than a quarter reported adopting healthier choices popularized by social media influencers. While once in a while a chocolate can be a good thing, frequent snacking during long and boring workdays could causeoffice-related health problemslike obesity. The study included 102 office workers in the United Kingdom who completed questionnairesabout their working habits. The questionnaire asked the workers to rate the level of boredom on a 5-point scale from “never bored” to “bored most of the time” at their current job. Reaching out to others will give you the proper support needed to get through this lull in your recovery. Remember, individuals in these groups or chat rooms can empathize with you because they have been through the same things.

I don’t know how I could do this if I had to commute and go to work everyday. Or if I had friends who liked to drink a lot. As difficult a challenge as boredom can present to overcome for anyone of any age, the answer lies in confronting and moving through and beyond the causes of boredom. Anyone experiencing significant levels of boredom needs to ask themselves what challenging experience they are attempting to avoid. Drugs or alcohol can appear to take away the pain of emotional, mental, or physical challenges. Just like everything else with this drug, the apparent benefit of ‘reducing boredom’ and ‘making life more exciting’ is a devious illusion and nothing more. Alcohol does not have the power to change external situations and thus does not have any capacity to really make things more interesting. I was out on an ankle monitor as a result of a DUI, so I was forced to stop, and I thank God for that, but now it’s come off. I want more than anything to maintain not drinking and plan to. I guess I’m wondering how I stop thinking about that illusion of how my favorite things are amplified when adding alcohol to them.

Ask them when they are sober and very few people expect to drink-drive or get into a fight. But alcohol changes our choices and rarely for the better. Learning to have fun without alcohol will lead to new hobbies, relationships, and ultimately, a better life. Encourage other interests and social activities. Expose your teen to healthy hobbies and activities, such as team sports, Scouts, and after-school clubs to discourage alcohol use. As a parent or guardian, it’s normal to feel scared, angry, or confused if you discover your child is drinking.

Whilst things can go wrong at any time, there is a correlation between the people in A&E on a Saturday night and excessive drinking. Alcohol isn’t always enjoyable; in fact, too much of it can be detrimental. The fun has a downside that is well documented in healthcare journals. Alcohol is a factor in xxx deaths as well as contributing to major diseases, innumerable breakups and family misery. Over 50,000 each year seek help from their GP for their drinking in the UK.

Probably also because of the addition of a pack of cigarettes that compliments my drinking. And I don’t smoke that much when I’m not drinking. So I certainly pay the price the day after drinking and I don’t like the anxiety. I’m considering my self an alcoholic and admitting it, even though I try to drink less. Maybe I caught it early enough or not early enough? All I know is that I’m recognizing the problem and I am freakin bored tonight especially!

It explains why it’s easy to lie on the couch watching a movie and not move. If you are thinking about writing a schedule, one of the best ways to do it is in the evening. Write down all the things you have to do the next day, and write down the time for each activity. One of the best ways to overcome boredom drinking when bored is to have a written schedule. Alcohol does absolutely nothing to relieve boredom. But when alcohol is marketed as this fantastic product that can enhance your life, that’s another story. If you believe these advertisements, alcohol can make you come across as a more interesting, fun, and exciting person.

If you have stopped drinking, and you leave your days up to chance, it can be detrimental. “Surely if I’m bored without alcohol, then alcohol makes my life less boring” – they think to themselves. People often say they drink alcohol to “relieve boredom”. If you start your journey feeling deprived, you’re much more likely to experience boredom. In active addiction addicts spend the bulk of their time obsessing over their habit, worrying about where they’re going to find their next fix, and using. Once all those are taken away addicts are left with plenty of spare time.

• The best way to get outside of your own head and boredom is by helping someone else which is why we recommend volunteering.
• But the drinking always existed so perfectly beside it.
• Alcohol use disorder impacts millions across the nation, many of which are considered high-functioning.
• I didn’t want to do anything and didn’t want to not be doing anything either.
• Instead of smoking a joint, have a cup of green tea.

Your role doesn’t end when your loved agrees to seek help. Recovery is an ongoing process, requiring time and patience. Someone who abuses alcohol will not magically become a different person once they’re sober. In fact, they’ll face a host of new challenges. They’ll have to find new ways of living without alcohol and they’ll also have to tackle the problems that led to their alcohol abuse in the first place. But with your ongoing support and love, they can get there. You aren’t to blame for your loved one’s drinking problem, you aren’t guilty or responsible for their behavior, and you can’t make them change.