Feeling bored, sad, lonely, or anxious about something are all very human things to feel. By focusing on eating healthy, nourishing foods, you are actively working on reversing those symptoms. If nothing else, it starts to chip away at any notion you might have that you’re unworthy. 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.
More Articles to Help You Stop Drinking
Chemical addiction isn’t contingent on a specific personality type, or whether you’re strong- or weak-willed. In other words, you don’t get addicted to alcohol because you have character flaws. It literally is not personal; one of the effects of drinking is simply to want to drink more. As kids, we spend most of our time creating fun.
How To Overcome The “I’m No Fun Without Alcohol” Myth
Getting outside and communing with nature is scientifically proven to reduce stress and improve mental health and cognitive function in both kids and adults. Before I started drinking too much, I loved to write. I kept a notebook and pen beside my bed in case I woke up in the middle of the night with a brilliant song lyric or poem. What did you enjoy doing before drinking came around and took over your social life? If you must dig WAY back into childhood for this answer, then do that. Staying busy is a great way to stave off boredom and create space for healing the parts of your brain that took a walloping from drinking.
- It is my experience and belief that we do not receive this internal desire idly.
- Boredom and binge drinking often go hand-in-hand, as drinking alcohol to pass the time and relieve boredom is a common occurrence.
- Video chat with someone in a different time zone than you.
- Courtney’s professional experience in substance use treatment began in a holistic residential treatment center.
- When I don’t, there are HOURS of boredom to fill and I can’t take it!
- Everyone gets bored sometimes, it’s just the way life is.
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If you’re drinking out of boredom, read on to learn more about what this means. The Calm app puts Halfway house the tools to feel better in your back pocket, with personalized content to manage stress and anxiety, get better sleep, and feel more present in your life. By taking the time to explore new activities, you can open yourself up to the possibility of finding a meaningful and fulfilling sober life.
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Book Club – Book clubs are a great way to meet other people who are interested in reading and want to discuss a particular book. Find one that doesn’t revolve around alcohol and that reads the kind of books you are interested in. Play a Sport – Instead of drinking empty calories pick a sport you can practice regularly and get involved. There is everything from team sports if you want camaraderie to sports you can do yourself such as running. Sport is a great way of helping you to be alcohol-free as it requires you to be healthy to do well with it. When negative thought patterns are resolved it becomes much easier to have fun without drinking constantly.
I often think that the word being in recovery is misused. And the reason is that when I was drinking out of boredom drinking, I was literally recovering. Every single day of my life, I was recovering from a headache, hangover and watery eyes, and just trying to get through the day. Did you know you can actually measure boredom?
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- You need to want to drink less or even go completely sober.
- Most of us are in the habit of using alcohol as a quick way to switch focus and get into a frame of mind that’s more conducive to having fun.
- Yes, that thing was harming you, but it also played a starring role in some of your biggest life moments.
The quote is something I had on my vision board when I was quitting drinking, and I still have it on now. It was something I looked at every day, and it inspired me to keep going. And it says, “You’ll need coffee shops and sunsets and road trips, you’ll need airplanes and passports and new songs and old songs.
- She tailors interventions to individual needs, drawing from modalities like mindfulness, DBT, CBT, and EMDR.
- There may be pressure from colleagues, clients, and peers to have a drink to establish yourself as a part of the team or to help further client relationships.
- In the process, you will also learn to balance positive and negative emotions, leading to a more stable emotional state.
- This can be another way to inspire you, for a healthy and exciting life without alcohol, but also to not focus on everything that’s going on in your life that you’re not partaking in.
- Not knowing what it will take to make you happy leads to boredom with yourself and the world around you.
Things to Occupy Your Mind
If some urges seem to pop up “for no reason,” it might be because there was nothing else in those moments to occupy your mind. Like my previous challenges, I used my tally clicking system to record urges for any alcohol across 90 days. This time, I tested the hypothesis that artificially exacerbating cravings would change the graph. This isn’t about having a big, dramatic friendship “cull.” It’s just that over time things evolve. That’s a healthy thing, and it doesn’t mean you don’t remain fond of people or care about them. I read several books about quitting alcohol, and one of them said that “inhibitions are there for a reason.” When you stop drinking, you start to notice the truth in that.
Modern Tools for Staying Ahead of Your Health
The truth of the matter is that you have a good time over drinks with your friends despite the effects of alcohol. You may stay sharper and more focused by not drinking. You’ll be more prepared to navigate business settings and questions without alcohol interfering with your mental function. I’m so scared to just spend a night alone (or with people) without being drunk. I want to go one night without drinking in literally years. In drug rehab centers in South Carolina, a wide range of substance addictions are addressed.
One of the reasons I was bored without alcohol was the nature of some of my friendships. Yet once the wine was gone – so was our friendship. Luckily – my new activities also led to new friendships that shared an interest beyond booze. No one wants to lose friends but deeper reflection shed light on that. Acquaintances might have dropped away but not true friends. Originally from Nashville, TN, Jordan moved to Colorado with her family at age five.