One of my excuses for drinking nearly a bottle of wine a night was that I was bored becauseI my husband either would be absobed by the internet and his headphones or in some way would amuse himself in what I call isolationist activities - I felt lonely in my marriage so I drank and watched TV. I could have done other things, but once that first glass of wine goes down, the motivation to do something like painting, exercise, writing, etc., goes away.
I like the idea of doing the things that appealed to you as a child/teenager/non-drinkier.
Also wondering whether the "this is fun" receptors in our brains don't get overstimulated or addicted to alcohol too so that our expectation of "fun" is skewed and it takes a while before we can simply enjoy life as life.
When I do use my time to do something that in my consuming days I complained about not having enough time to myself to do - Photoshop, writing, exercising - it's very rewarding. Also questioning whether I used alcohol as a procrastination device in some odd way.