There is so much time to fill up..........
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 352
There is so much time to fill up..........
I woke up at 0130pm today, from my midnight, called about an AA meeting, and was distraught to hear that one didn't start until 8pm tonight.....uh oh.....now what? well, cleaned up my house for a few hours, in preparation for the children over tomorrow...now, its 4pm...and i have 4 hours til that darned meeting starts.....and the lure of alcohol is just calling to me...
I am surprised at how much time is left over in the day, when you quit drinking....
as for my physical well being......I will make it, but i feel like i am going through round three of a championship kickboxing match, and there are still 5 rounds to go....my head hurts, my stomach hurts.....my emotions are all over the chart, the cat now thinks she is cursed with a very grumpy owner.....and i am afraid to fart in case it comes out wet, but otherwise, i am making it......
I will go for a long walk now, just to get some air, and maybe forget about that empty glass on my counter, begging for some ice and whiskey.....
I am surprised at how much time is left over in the day, when you quit drinking....
as for my physical well being......I will make it, but i feel like i am going through round three of a championship kickboxing match, and there are still 5 rounds to go....my head hurts, my stomach hurts.....my emotions are all over the chart, the cat now thinks she is cursed with a very grumpy owner.....and i am afraid to fart in case it comes out wet, but otherwise, i am making it......
I will go for a long walk now, just to get some air, and maybe forget about that empty glass on my counter, begging for some ice and whiskey.....
not a greeter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: padmasana
Posts: 13,927
Hi lost 
. The cat will be fine... she will be happier with you as a sober owner I'm sure. As for that glass... fill it with ice... and water. You can drink that and feel good about yourself.
. The cat will be fine... she will be happier with you as a sober owner I'm sure. As for that glass... fill it with ice... and water. You can drink that and feel good about yourself.
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,471
What worked for me was volunteer work. I started doing volunteer work at the same time I stopped drinking, and it was really, really helpful. Getting outside of myself and doing something to help other people, was exactly what I needed. Take a look around your community and see what you can do.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 352
thanks.....
on my walk, as i felt sorry for myself......i just had to keep reminding myself....i dont have to quit forever......just today, i wont have that drink.....just today........
another thing that was a bit of solace for me was that this wasn't really of my choosing....i devastated alot of lives, mine included, but i was as much a victim as everyone else...i never grew up thinking how excellent an idea it would be to become an alcoholic and an addict....sure, it was me picking up that first drink, but after that first drink, i was merely along for the ride, and unfortunately, that ride is always down hill, and way out of control....and it picks up speed as i go along.........
what is different today from last week is that i now have almost 4 days sobriety behind me, and that feels as good as i do feel bad right now. I will not miss that meeting tonight, and even if it only puts off drinking for that one hour, it will have still been something. I realize any change is painful, i just wish it weren't so painful. I guess thats why old alcoholics like us new alcoholics coming to meetings, so that they aren't tempted to regress back to where we are now...I am pretty thick, but i think i am slowly coming to understand it all....I have been reading alot of the Big Book online...and although alot of it passes right over my head, seems some of it is actually permeating my foggy brain.....
another thing that was a bit of solace for me was that this wasn't really of my choosing....i devastated alot of lives, mine included, but i was as much a victim as everyone else...i never grew up thinking how excellent an idea it would be to become an alcoholic and an addict....sure, it was me picking up that first drink, but after that first drink, i was merely along for the ride, and unfortunately, that ride is always down hill, and way out of control....and it picks up speed as i go along.........
what is different today from last week is that i now have almost 4 days sobriety behind me, and that feels as good as i do feel bad right now. I will not miss that meeting tonight, and even if it only puts off drinking for that one hour, it will have still been something. I realize any change is painful, i just wish it weren't so painful. I guess thats why old alcoholics like us new alcoholics coming to meetings, so that they aren't tempted to regress back to where we are now...I am pretty thick, but i think i am slowly coming to understand it all....I have been reading alot of the Big Book online...and although alot of it passes right over my head, seems some of it is actually permeating my foggy brain.....
not a greeter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: padmasana
Posts: 13,927
Keep posting, talking, reading, and get to that meeting. Anything that puts off drinking will get you through and help make you stronger. Change won't happen overnight, but it will if you want it to.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Highlands, TX
Posts: 1,192
Hey lost, hang in there. Try to fill up as much of your time as possible. Anna has a great suggestion in volunteering. Helps you, helps someone else, win win situation! Get on the net and find every meeting in your area (surely there is more than one a day?) and make it a point to hit different ones. Look up online meetings. Take yourself out to dinner or to a movie. If you need reminders of why you're doing this try writing out your drinking history, ALL of it. What happened, who was affected etc. I had 9 pages of hard evidence that I could look at whenever that darn little voice started trying to say "oh, it wasn't THAT bad". Yeah right.
For your physical symptoms, try eating some chocolate ice cream. That is supposed to help with cravings and shakes. I have heard older members swear by it. I can't eat ice cream so I'll let you tell me how it works, ok?
You're doing great even though it may not feel like it. The first days are the hardest. Once you get past the physical stuff it gets easier to get out and stay busy. Meanwhile, keep posting here and know that we are all pulling for you and want to see you succeed.
Hugs,
Kellye
P.S. You're right about the newcomers and the important role they play in keeping the rest of us grounded. Just wait til the day someone walks in shaking and sick and reminding YOU of why you're sober and darn glad of it!
For your physical symptoms, try eating some chocolate ice cream. That is supposed to help with cravings and shakes. I have heard older members swear by it. I can't eat ice cream so I'll let you tell me how it works, ok?
You're doing great even though it may not feel like it. The first days are the hardest. Once you get past the physical stuff it gets easier to get out and stay busy. Meanwhile, keep posting here and know that we are all pulling for you and want to see you succeed.
Hugs,
Kellye
P.S. You're right about the newcomers and the important role they play in keeping the rest of us grounded. Just wait til the day someone walks in shaking and sick and reminding YOU of why you're sober and darn glad of it!
Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 1,415
Give time time Lost
In the early days of my recovery, I think I just clung on to the most important thing that I had to do each day - just don't pick up that first drink. Everything else was secondary. I had no expectations that I would feel better, that my life would improve, that I would become mentally and emotionally stable, that all the bad **** would go away. Nothing. My end of the deal was - just don't drink. Anything else I managed to achieve or to get through was a bonus.
It says on my Just for Today card, "Just for today I will try and live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problems at once. I can do something for twleve hours that would appal me if I felt I had to keep it up for a lifetime".
Looking back, I realise that I began that practice of keeping it in the day back then. Honestly its served me really well. It's the backbone of living sober.
In the early days of my recovery, I think I just clung on to the most important thing that I had to do each day - just don't pick up that first drink. Everything else was secondary. I had no expectations that I would feel better, that my life would improve, that I would become mentally and emotionally stable, that all the bad **** would go away. Nothing. My end of the deal was - just don't drink. Anything else I managed to achieve or to get through was a bonus.
It says on my Just for Today card, "Just for today I will try and live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problems at once. I can do something for twleve hours that would appal me if I felt I had to keep it up for a lifetime".
Looking back, I realise that I began that practice of keeping it in the day back then. Honestly its served me really well. It's the backbone of living sober.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 18,299
You are doing great lost, I remember reading your older posts and you had lost hope and were pretty angry. There is a big difference now, for the better.
Keep it in today, just do the job that's in front of you. And take deep breaths if things get a bit too much.
Good luck mate!
Keep it in today, just do the job that's in front of you. And take deep breaths if things get a bit too much.
Good luck mate!
Follow Directions!
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Fredericksburg, Va.
Posts: 9,730
lost I only have 5 months, those first few days I keep thinking are fresh in my mind and then I read post like yours or see someone walking in the rooms for thier first time and it really hits home for me just how great it is to be sober and past that first week.
It does get better, a whole lot better. What continues to amaze me is every day seems better and I can not imagine it getting even better, but it does! A couple of old timers have told me that the mental and physical portions of recovery continue to improve sometimes for over a year.
I hope the meeting went well, in regards to reading the Big Book the longer you are sober the more you understand it. My sponsor has been sober and in the program for 18 years and says he is still finding stuff in the Big Book.
It does get better, a whole lot better. What continues to amaze me is every day seems better and I can not imagine it getting even better, but it does! A couple of old timers have told me that the mental and physical portions of recovery continue to improve sometimes for over a year.
I hope the meeting went well, in regards to reading the Big Book the longer you are sober the more you understand it. My sponsor has been sober and in the program for 18 years and says he is still finding stuff in the Big Book.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Texas
Posts: 10
Too much free time.
Let me start by saying that I haven't posted here in awhile and I am happy I came across it this morning. I have been sober since June 10, 2004 and I owe a lot of my success to this website. Now, I would like to discuss this whole issue of too much free time when you are sober. I totally agree! You do have much more time when you aren't drinking. First of all you feel great and wake up ready for the world. You don't have to worry about who you insulted the night before or how you got home alive. So yes you do have a lot of time on your hands. I was so distraught about having so much free time that I decided I had to do something. I decided to work a lot harder in my job and it has totally paid off. I also became extremely involved in my community. I sit on boards of various organizations around time and have devoted a great deal of my time to helping others. That has helped my self-confidence a lot and I have met some great people along the way. I still socialize a great deal but I leave parties early if I get bored and go home and read or watch a movie. YOU SIMPLY MUST DO SOMETHING WITH ALL OF YOUR FREE TIME OR ELSE YOU WILL BE VERY TEMPTED TO DRINK. Drinking took up a lot of your time. Now you have to fill that void by doing something you like. I wish you the best.
Still Faking It!
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Concord, CA
Posts: 55
Dear Lost:
It's not that you have more free time, but that you now realize that you have time! I agree with the other postings in this thread -- boredom is a significant issue for all aged alcoholics in recovery ... so what to do at 4 days? Go to a meeting as early as the doors are open, stay as late as you can, talk to others about your issue, ask about other meetings, get phone numbers, call those people, meet for coffee (switch your addiction!).
Focus on the people in those rooms, they will show you how to get through the next 24 hours and the next 24 years. They will be your life vest. Just ask for help, they will give it.
The physical symptoms will get better, your head will get better ... YOU WILL GET BETTER! Just keep doing the next right thing -- if you don't know what that is, ask another recovering alcoholic.
Be good to you,
Di
It's not that you have more free time, but that you now realize that you have time! I agree with the other postings in this thread -- boredom is a significant issue for all aged alcoholics in recovery ... so what to do at 4 days? Go to a meeting as early as the doors are open, stay as late as you can, talk to others about your issue, ask about other meetings, get phone numbers, call those people, meet for coffee (switch your addiction!).
Focus on the people in those rooms, they will show you how to get through the next 24 hours and the next 24 years. They will be your life vest. Just ask for help, they will give it.
The physical symptoms will get better, your head will get better ... YOU WILL GET BETTER! Just keep doing the next right thing -- if you don't know what that is, ask another recovering alcoholic.
Be good to you,
Di
Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: British Columbia
Posts: 98
Originally Posted by o2bserene 
It's not that you have more free time, but that you now realize that you have time!
When I first arrived here 40 days ago I experienced the same anxiety about how I was going to fill all those drinking hours. After boring myself to death with too much TV and self-sympathy, I started to DO things. Simple things, like go out for a cup of coffee with a book or newspaper, or go for a walk, or start cleaning my apartment after SOOO many years of alcoholic neglect (I'm still cleaning!)
I now smile at myself over those anxieties. If I could make a day into, say 36 hours instead of 24, I would! There isn't enough time in a day!
Keep some faith, losteverything...faith in the YOU that found so much joy the things you did before you embarked on your drinking career.
Congrats on your sober-time! We're all pulling for the same team.
Earl
Coffee Drinker
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Lobstah Land
Posts: 1,122
Ditto on previous posts, all great advice.
One thought for you.
What did you really enjoy doing when you were young? I mean before you started drinking.
Model airplanes, trains, kite flying, fishing, wood-carving, chair caining, basket weaving?
Maybe something you always wanted to do like build a really fine wooden sailing ship model.
Preferably something that occupied your mind so much that you would lose track of time.
A hobby might be helpful to fill the time between meetings.
Heck, I am teaching myself to play the bagpipes! Yes, I am serious. My cats don't like it very much though...
Anyhow, Hang in there my friend, I am pulling for you.
Ted
One thought for you.
What did you really enjoy doing when you were young? I mean before you started drinking.
Model airplanes, trains, kite flying, fishing, wood-carving, chair caining, basket weaving?
Maybe something you always wanted to do like build a really fine wooden sailing ship model.
Preferably something that occupied your mind so much that you would lose track of time.
A hobby might be helpful to fill the time between meetings.
Heck, I am teaching myself to play the bagpipes! Yes, I am serious. My cats don't like it very much though...
Anyhow, Hang in there my friend, I am pulling for you.
Ted
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
100 things to do instead of drinking
1. Read a book
2. Take a walk
3. Play a musical instrument
4. Knit
5. Clean your closets
6. Research your genealogy
7. Cook a gourmet dinner
8. Write an article for your local newspaper
9. Go take some pictures
10. Cl ean the mildew in your bathroom
11. Start writing that book you've been planning
12. Plan a garden
13. Plant a garden
14. Play with a pet
15. Read to a child
16. Visit someone in an old folks' home
17. Watch a news special on TV
18. Set up a family budge
19. Make a web site
20. Take up archery
21. Exercise
22. Go to an online AA meeting
23. Surf the internet
24. Call your mom
25. Learn a foreign language
26. Write a poem
27. Play golf
28. Take a bubble bath
29. Draw
30. Teach a parakeet to whistle
31. Take a nap
32. Listen to music
33. Paint
34. Clean your desk
35. Start a stamp collection
36. Go window shopping
37. Browse in a book store
38. Go to an art gallery
39. Go for a drive
40. Paint a room
41. Watch the clouds go by
42. Play darts
43. Do target shooting
44. Do home repairs
45. Clean your garage
46. Sort your photographs
47. Make a scrapbook
48. Climb a tree
49. Plant a tree
50. Make marmalade
51. Make a list of things to do
52. Write a letter to the editor
53. Volunteer somewhere
54. Take a h ike
55. Take a college class
56. Try yoga
57. Meditate
58. Get a massage
59. Make fruit smoothies
60. Bake cookies
61. Do a crossword puzzle
62. Go to the gym
63. Plant a color bowl
64. Sharpen your pruning tools
65. Change your engine oil
66. Sew
67. Gro om your dog
68. Go see a play
69. Write a sonnet
70. Sort your recipes
71. Play solitaire
72. Go bird watching
73. Write a letter to a friend
74. Read poetry
75. Repot your house plants
76. Go to a movie
77. Mow your lawn
78. Take down your Christmas tree
79. Make pickles
80. Go jogging
81. Watch sitcoms
82. Plan menus for a diet
83. Do a jigsaw puzzle
84. Play chess
85. Write a country-western song
86. Watch a video
87. Go for a bike ride
88. Plant an herb garden
89. Start an online journal
90. Dye your hair
91. Go to a restaurant
92. Lift weights
93. Bake some bread
94. Learn a martial art
95. Polish the furniture
96. Make a flower arrangement
97. Read the newspaper
98. Start some seeds
99. Sort your magazines
100. Go to bed.
1. Read a book
2. Take a walk
3. Play a musical instrument
4. Knit
5. Clean your closets
6. Research your genealogy
7. Cook a gourmet dinner
8. Write an article for your local newspaper
9. Go take some pictures
10. Cl ean the mildew in your bathroom
11. Start writing that book you've been planning
12. Plan a garden
13. Plant a garden
14. Play with a pet
15. Read to a child
16. Visit someone in an old folks' home
17. Watch a news special on TV
18. Set up a family budge
19. Make a web site
20. Take up archery
21. Exercise
22. Go to an online AA meeting
23. Surf the internet
24. Call your mom
25. Learn a foreign language
26. Write a poem
27. Play golf
28. Take a bubble bath
29. Draw
30. Teach a parakeet to whistle
31. Take a nap
32. Listen to music
33. Paint
34. Clean your desk
35. Start a stamp collection
36. Go window shopping
37. Browse in a book store
38. Go to an art gallery
39. Go for a drive
40. Paint a room
41. Watch the clouds go by
42. Play darts
43. Do target shooting
44. Do home repairs
45. Clean your garage
46. Sort your photographs
47. Make a scrapbook
48. Climb a tree
49. Plant a tree
50. Make marmalade
51. Make a list of things to do
52. Write a letter to the editor
53. Volunteer somewhere
54. Take a h ike
55. Take a college class
56. Try yoga
57. Meditate
58. Get a massage
59. Make fruit smoothies
60. Bake cookies
61. Do a crossword puzzle
62. Go to the gym
63. Plant a color bowl
64. Sharpen your pruning tools
65. Change your engine oil
66. Sew
67. Gro om your dog
68. Go see a play
69. Write a sonnet
70. Sort your recipes
71. Play solitaire
72. Go bird watching
73. Write a letter to a friend
74. Read poetry
75. Repot your house plants
76. Go to a movie
77. Mow your lawn
78. Take down your Christmas tree
79. Make pickles
80. Go jogging
81. Watch sitcoms
82. Plan menus for a diet
83. Do a jigsaw puzzle
84. Play chess
85. Write a country-western song
86. Watch a video
87. Go for a bike ride
88. Plant an herb garden
89. Start an online journal
90. Dye your hair
91. Go to a restaurant
92. Lift weights
93. Bake some bread
94. Learn a martial art
95. Polish the furniture
96. Make a flower arrangement
97. Read the newspaper
98. Start some seeds
99. Sort your magazines
100. Go to bed.
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