It’s also helpful to change your environment—for instance, avoid going to bars. There are also resources such as 12-step groups and recovery groups. What’s important to realize is that boredom is one of the biggest triggers for relapse. And, according to research, about one third of those in their first year of recovery will relapse. What’s more the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism reports that about 90% of those individuals who were in treatment for alcoholism relapse within four years.
- Although, I used to go out and party during the earlier years of my alcoholism, that was definitely no longer the case in the final few years before I quit.
- Over time, as you become more comfortable with yourself, you’ll find this stuff that you genuinely love doing.
- To unpack some of the underlying reasons you feel bored right now, it helps to understand what alcohol does to your brain.
- Forming healthy connections with other people is an important of this process.
- Once I realized that I had to rediscover what fun meant to me.
It’s particularly therapeutic to find something to do with your hands. Acute anxiety and depression from the withdrawal process can ease within a few days to a week. But for many people, lingering feelings of anxiety, depression, and general malaise can last weeks, months, or even longer. The good news is that your brain can adjust and restore balance to your internal world. The longer you stay away from alcohol and give your brain some much-needed TLC, the less you’ll feel like life is dull and uninteresting.
Accept that you are in a transitional phase, which will take time.
These may take up only a few minutes but will cut down on boredom and help you keep focused on why you’ve quit. 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. As mentioned early spare time is usually bad for recovery but you can re-devote yourself to your hobbies to fill the void. Sobriety is a process and setbacks are common. The best way forward for your recovery from alcohol or substance use is to incorporate a wide variety of strategies that will help foster success.
‘I Miss it So Much’: Self-Described Former Borderline Alcoholic Adele Laments ‘Boring’ Sobriety, Says She’s Jealous of Fan’s Whiskey Sour – Whiskey Raiders
‘I Miss it So Much’: Self-Described Former Borderline Alcoholic Adele Laments ‘Boring’ Sobriety, Says She’s Jealous of Fan’s Whiskey Sour.
Posted: Wed, 18 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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. This subreddit is a place to motivate each other to control or stop drinking. We welcome anyone who wishes to join in by asking for support, sharing our experiences and stories, or just encouraging someone who is trying to quit.
Why I Thought Sobriety Was Boring
Alcohol robs you of the ability to feel naturally motivated and inspired. Those feelings don’t come back immediately when you quit. So it’s not that sobriety is inherently boring; it’s that your serotonin and dopamine levels are now very low.
- 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.
- If you find it difficult to make new, sober friends, try joining a support group.
- When you remove alcohol from your life, you free up all the time you spent drinking and recovering from drinking.
- You can take part in the same hobbies you enjoyed before addiction or learn something new.
- Start by thinking of others before yourself, listening to their stories and offering support or help where you can.
- After weeks of years of that mindset being bored can be welcoming.
By being kind to yourself, the tug of cravings and triggers may be easier to resist. Once you do return to work, it’s important to create a budget and take steps to safeguard yourself as work stress can be a relapse trigger. Financial troubles and problems finding and keeping employment how to stop drinking out of boredom are major triggers for relapse, but it is possible to take baby steps and get your finances in order. Just keep in mind that your improvements won’t happen overnight. Depending on the type of dependency, PAWS can last from six months to two years after you stop using drugs or alcohol.
Practice doing something else when you feel bored and compelled to use
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. Right now, you’re doing a very hard thing, and sometimes hard things feel lonely. Fortunately, there are more ways than ever to connect with like-minded people who are fellow travelers on this path.
