What to Do When Sobriety Gets Boring

You can also try one of HelpGuide’s guided audio meditations to help you stay calm and focused as you make this challenging journey. 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. But it’s important to remember that you still have a major impact on the choices that your child makes, especially during their preteen and early teen years.

They’re more likely to binge drink and more vulnerable to developing an alcohol use disorder than adults. This may be because the pleasure center of a teen’s brain matures before their capacity to make sound decisions. Help the person address the problems that led to them drinking. If your loved one drank because of boredom, anxiety, or loneliness, for example, those problems will still be present once they’re sober. Encourage the person to find healthier ways of coping with life’s problems and rebounding from setbacks without leaning on alcohol. Residential treatment or “rehab” facilities provide intensive treatment for alcohol abuse or addiction. Your loved one resides at a special facility for 30 to 90 days and receives treatments such as detox, therapy, and medication. Behavioral treatments include individual, group, and family therapy sessions.

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I just tell them why I quit , and I think their insecurities get triggered. This is when they start joking that I must have gotten a DUI… to make themselves feel better, I suppose. Volunteering is a great way to reconnect to your community. Helping others actually boosts our own mental health and feelings of self-worth. AND, it helps us to become less self-absorbed which, quite frankly, a lot of us are. On the one hand, you have no idea what you’re supposed to do with yourself. A lot of people don’t feel good when they first get sober so it’s totally understandable if your feelings are all over the place. Getting sober is like learning to walk again after a terrible accident. You should be able to go about living your life without drinking alcohol, but you feel utterly useless and have no idea what to do with yourself.

So my goal is to put the bottle down to become a more productive person. One of the best things you can do for yourself when you’re feeling bored in sobriety is to find a way to serve others. Your friends are out getting drunk, same as they always do. Meanwhile, you’re at home wondering how many days it would take someone to find your body after you’ve choked on those peanut M&M’s you’ve been knocking back during your latest Netflix binge. It’s pretty normal to reduce the entire experience of boredom in sobriety to missing alcohol and believing that getting drunk is the primary way you have fun.

Being sober is so boring because your life revolves around alcohol.

I didn’t give up all my old hobbies to drink while staring at the wall all night. I started drinking because I literally never have free time – maybe five minutes at a stretch, certainly not long enough to play my guitar drinking because of boredom or go for a hike. I used to love reading and now, at best, I only get to read five pages in one day. And that started months and months before I started drinking, so it’s not the alcohol that made it that way.

Now that you know the chemical reason for your boredom, let’s explore ways you can proactively work against it. This is important to remember when thinking about boredom. In fact, when you first quit, it feels like everyone in the world is out getting drunk but you. Mental health needs as much attention as physical health, so if you are suffering, go and talk to your doctor. Your drinking may be related to one or more health problems. A therapist can assess your habits and make recommendations that could help you manage your alcohol intake. You might start by talking to your physician. Discuss your drinking patterns and any concerns you have. There are many places where you can support from other people.

Once home, now I can’t wait to go back to work. 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. Whether your sobriety has you wallowing in boredom or self-pity, please know that it will get better.

• Self-care looks different for everyone, but the important thing is to find something that makes you feel better.
• AND, it helps us to become less self-absorbed which, quite frankly, a lot of us are.
• A lot of people don’t feel good when they first get sober so it’s totally understandable if your feelings are all over the place.

It’s important to remember that you’re not alone in your struggle. Alcoholism and alcohol abuse affects millions of people, from every social class, race, background, and culture. While you can’t do the hard work of overcoming addiction for your loved one, your patience, love, and support can play a crucial part in their long-term recovery. With these guidelines, you can help ease your loved one’s suffering, preserve your own mental health and well-being, and restore calm and stability to your relationship and family life. Boredom is often cited as a reason for drinking to begin in a person’s life. You wanted to be entertained, feel social, or dance like no one was watching.

In these conditions, drinking has become a respite that offers a sense of fun, and a way to relax. There was a moment where I got pretty excited about this. I saw a golden, relatively healthy, and consistently buzzed future. Whatever the reason for your boredom, drinking can create a negative cycle around it. So whether you are an absent-minded drinker or a lonely or anxious one, what can you do to reduce your drinking out of boredom? Here are 5 tips to help you make changes to your drinking habits that could help you feel better, for good. While boredom is to be expected and is nothing unusual, some individuals equate boredom with lack of productivity and negative connotations. In response, some people seek outlets that are detrimental to their well-being.

Boredom and stress are two emotions that can feel as if they are never going to leave. However, as the saying goes, this too shall pass. Valuing and prioritizing yourself in recovery can be a powerful way to remove the hold alcohol has on you. How to Help Someone Who Drinks Too Much – Confronting and assisting a friend Sober House or family member who’s abusing alcohol. Remain calm when confronting your teen, and only do so when everyone is sober. Explain your concerns and make it clear that your worry comes from a place of love. It’s important that your teen feels you are supportive. Don’t attempt to threaten, punish, bribe, or preach.

Severe hangovers can leave you nearly useless for up to two days at a time, and create anxiety and depression that lingers long after the alcohol has left your system. For those with alcohol use disorder, a common response to the misery that accompanies hangovers is to drink again. This cycle leaves you paralyzed in life, unable to work towards a goal or discover new people and experiences. Sobriety will not only grant you the gift of time but also renew your energy and motivation to do more things that bring you joy and fulfillment. Just about one year ago, Dr. Robert L. Doyle, a professor of behavioral health at Harvard University and psychologist Dr. Joseph Nowinski, wrote a book entitled Almost Alcoholic. Their work provided a compelling look into the fine line that may pinpoint where a person can cross over from casual drinking to being well on their way to full-fledged alcoholism. In other words, how do you know if you might be an “almost alcoholic? Many people struggle with drinking out of boredom, and even if they don’t particularly like alcohol or its effects. Studies have shown that easily bored people are at higher risk of anxiety, depression, drug addiction, alcohol misuse, anger, and a number of other issues.

Addiction leaves a big hole to fill and if you don’t keep yourself occupied that hole will fill with negative thoughts and actions. The more you’re bored, the better your chances your mind has to drift to dark places so take care of that boredom with healthy activities including meetings, hobbies, volunteering, and more. Before long you’ll happily accept the newfound peace that boredom can bring. Free time leads to boredom and boredom can lead you back to drinking or drug use. Boredom is an enemy in sobriety but there are several ways you can fill your time with healthy, productive activities.