FreddyBear

I've found that after I quit drinking back in February for 30+ days, the main problem for me was boredom. I remember that I was genuinely interested in many things about 10 years ago when I didn't drink. For example, I was a big football fan and didn't miss any match or football news tv program. Played PC games for entertainment and had real fun, loved fishing and also read a lot.

Now I see that I find no joy in any of previously enjoyed activities. Last years I used to watch movies or a sports event or fish while drunk and it has all been very interesting, but I can't say it now. Some strange low-mood boredom appeared and I think it was the main reason for my recent relapse.

Just wondering if someone experience this, how do you deal with it (just wait or something else), and if this can become better over the time.

InsertNameHere

I am sure that it will. At least I hope, I know I am going to have to expand my horizons as far as hobbies. Right now I am simply leaning on work, and staying strong with AVRT (my way of quiting). Once I don't have to work as much, and actually have some free time I am going to look into repairing electronics and maybe take a couple of college classes. Those are both things that I have strong interest in but drinking always took priority. Now that I don't drink I am going to start exploring all those things that I thought would be cool to learn but never did because beer called my name and was easy. I think developing interest in anything other than alcohol is a skill that many of us alki's loose over time. Like everything else we are going to have to practice at opening up to new things.

Just my opinion.

sugarbear1

We've made ourselves artificially happy for so long, it will take time to get "normal" again. Give time time and know you are healing.

What goes up must come down.....then it evens out again.

doggonecarl

It is real easy to make boredom the fall guy for our relapses. Convenient, but I think holding such a belief hinders your recovery. You relapsed because your addiction is strong. Stronger than your recovery. When I relapsed it was because I sought the relief and instant gratification alcohol provided. I had to learn to say no.

Your interest in other things will return. Just stay interested in staying sober.

Good luck.

winslynn

You become an active sober member of AA and the boredom vanishes.Boredom is a direct result of self centeredness,the hallmark of the alcoholic.The 12 steps will remove the self centeredness and you will begin to have a concern for others.

Cheers,Steve

BackToSquareOne

FreddyBear, I doubt that what you describe is all that uncommon. After quitting I was never able to again find any joy in many of the things I loved in the distant past. Don't know if that's just part of getting older or what. I would say tho that if you lose interest in everything that's a whole different ball of wax and could be a sign of depression creeping in.

macknacat

in early recovery, i maintained a social connection thru my AA and NA groups - that kept me busy : doing step work, service stuff, talking to those with even less time than me. It was like Winslyn said- an important new muscle memory in losing the ego centeredness ,

Later on , finally, I 'recovered' stuff i had done in the past- skiing, whitewater etc. Still later i became a rabid bass/pike fisherman. ... threw a little camper on the truck, bought an old boat and spent 5 weeks in Northern Ontario.

reconciled my relationship with my son. ran a couple businesses.Learned to meditate. Played music again. Read challenging tomes. Worked the steps. Built a couple of boats. added 3500 sq ft of shop and and a "glass room" to my home, wrote a novel...

got me a big life. And i really really like who i am /what i do....

MysteriousGrl

I've been so used to doing the things I love while under the influence and had this misconceived conception that unless I was high, it wasn't as much fun. The insanity is that most of my hobbies can be pretty dangerous sober such as dirt biking, snowboarding, downhill mountain biking, etc. I put myself in some pretty risky situations and I've been in the ER more times than I care to remember. Before my drinking got out of control, I vaguely remember my sober days of snowboarding and how exhilarating the natural high made me feel. If I felt it once before, I can feel it once again. It's just going to take time and practice I guess.

Good luck in your recovery!

macknacat

yeah Mysterious- i had to get used to that "unaltered" joy at first. but now i feel that all my senses have become more aware than when i was using. Did my first skiing cliff jump clean n sober..... wow indeed.

Mark75

The enjoyment comes back. Give it time. I bet nearly everyone of us have had to deal with those exact same questions.

jimihendrix

Yes - I dealth with boredom. Especially in the first 90 days. I read and talked to people who confirmed that it's pretty standard.

Good news is that it went away - mostly.

The things that are truly fun, continue to be fun. This includes challenging activities and social activity with people I truly like. However, there are a couple of things that continue to be less fun, but it's because they were simply an excuse to drink and were done with people who were not really friends.

Hang in there.

NewBeginning010

Stay curious... it gets better

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." ~ Ellen Parr