ozm8ey

Just wondering how long does it take for the anhedonia to go away/pleasure to come back by doing normal activities? I head alcohol is actually part the cause that caused us to find it hard to get pleasure and we drink in order to feel normal and its like this vicious cycle. See I think thats the cause of my boredom. We think its boring not drinking but in fact it was the drinking that caused the boredom

HTown

I struggled with boredom the first couple of months. I read a great deal and I started building models like when I was a kid. Puzzles, walks, cleaning and organizing my closets, you name it.

I have been trying to re-build friendships, joined a book club etc. When I still find myself bored, I write out my bucket list. Where do I want to travel? Anything I want to do before I die? I think long term and try to envision the life I want. I then think of ways to get there.

After my wife died, my world became very small, the alcohol had not helped, so now I am re-building. A little every day. I am not nearly as bored as I was, I try to be thankful for every day sober, like a gift. I try to be in the present moment.

It gets better the longer you go, and I hope you feel as I do after 1.5 years sober.

Doug39

I have been sober over a year and their are not enough hours in the day for all the stuff I want to do.

For 27 longs years every single day for me was: get up, go to work, buy alcohol, get drunk, pass out, repeat. How boring is that?

I am very active in AA and at church and I have a million other things going. During those drinking years I was either to drunk to do anything or to hungover to want to do anything.

ScottFromWI

It's different for everyone ozm8ey, how long has it been since you quit? I think you were still drinking last time you were here a week or so ago if I'm not mistaken? There are a myriad of other possible factors too - just stopping the consumption of alcohol is not in itself a "fix". I personally dealt with anxiety after i quit and it has taken several years to start getting my life back on track. But I would say I definitely noticed some marked improvement a few months into getting sober.

NYCDoglvr

I also struggled with boredom. It was jumping into AA and working the program that helped until I could figure out who I really am. Then life got very busy with work activities that meant a great deal.

Bunny211

It took a while for me. I am still trying to figure out what I like to do and who I am as a person at over 2 years in. Slow but steady.

corriec

The pleasure comes back once we manage to tell our AV to F... O..,OZM. And really mean it.

ForestFrenzy

What corriec said.

What really helped me is designing an evening to look forward to. For me: ice cream, scented candles, Sex and the City and learning new music. What would that look like for you?

Experimenting can be half the fun!

Stayingsassy

Also...it’s just life. Life is sometimes disappointing: boring, sad or frustrating, for all people whether they drink or not. Some people just don’t medicate over bad feelings, they feel them, accept them, and wait for better feelings to come along. We drank away every bad feeling we had, and suddenly we have to feel them...I’m not even sure the feelings are that much worse than they were before, it’s just now we can’t numb them out. Sure we have to spend some time getting our brains restabilized which can take up to a year, but it’s also just feeling things for once.

One good thing is you’ll feel the good stuff too. And even in early sobriety you will get those simple earthly rewards here and there. Physical and emotional rewards....you get to feel those for once, if your problem was bad enough you had to quit chances are you drank through all the good times too and numbed through everything you actually wanted to experience.

The dark and the light. The good and the bad, the night and the day...it’s all just life.

ForestFrenzy

"if your problem was bad enough you had to quit chances are you drank through all the good times too and numbed through everything you actually wanted to experience" <- that says it right there for me. That was what got me to say "nope...this is no way better than going through the occasional ho-hums and even crummy times in life."
I read on here somewhere that alcoholics fall victim to wanting to feel good all the time, and in the process we end up feeling miserable all the time!

zjw

almost a year sober I took my kids roller skating i didnt want to in times past i would have just sat home and drank instead or ifi went been angry sat in the corner and mad i couldnt be home drinking. I went tho i even put on skates and skated and my kids where amazed that the old man could skate. And then it hit me is this what happiness feels like? becuase thats how long it had been.

Its happened a number of times too. where i'm like wow whats this i'm feeling... am i happy? is it ok to feel like this?

I hope you find pleasure sooner then i did.