NoFireWater

Found this online, great list!
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. Clean 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 budget
19. Make a web site
20. Take up archery
21. Exercise
22. Go to an online recovery 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 hike
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. Groom 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 a poetry book
75. Repot your houseplants
76. Go to a movie
77. Mow your lawn
78. Put up (or take down) your Christmas lights
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. Do some laundry.
111. Take a nature walk
112. Play with your kids
113. Volunteer at a homeless shelter
114. Volunteer at a school
115. Pick up garbage in a park
116. Tickle your kids
117. Play basketball
118. Volunteer at an animal shelter
119. Read to a child or pet
120. Sign up for obedience training with your dog
121. Take a walk and pick up litter you see on the way
122. Spend time at the library
123. Sort all your digital photos and make an album to print for holiday gifts to family.
124. Help your kid organize his closet.
125. Figure out the melody and chords to your current favorite tune on the piano.
126. Practice your holiday cookie recipes
127. Make crackers from scratch (that one didn't go so well).
128. Make tortillas from scratch (better).
129. Reread a book you haven't read for years.
130. Tango
131. Learn about someone else’s religion.
132. Reread one of your college textbooks.
133. Key out a wildflower.
134. Do your nails.
135. Do word puzzles.
136. Play a board game.
137. Burn CD’s of some of your favorite music for a friend.
138. Plant a bonsai.
139. Play Mad Libs.
140. Speak only in heroic couplets for an hour.
141. Read poetry online.
142. Ride a stationary bicycle.
143. Set up a domino topple.
144. Play backgammon.
145. Build a house of cards
146. Make an entry in Wikipedia.
147. Read a world almanac.
148. Publish a family newsletter.
149. Throw cards at a hat.
150. Go to bed.

soberjim

151. Spend time with you dog.

Jim

soberjim

Sorry I meant... spend some time with your dog

iWillBSobr

Thank you !!!

I am going to print this out and I am going to do every single one of them! Except for the kids and pets as I don't have any.

new experiences, here I come !

2granddaughters

152. Go to AA meetings
153. Get a Home Group
154. Get a sponsor.
155. Get a Higher Power
156. Get involved in AA service work
157. Work a Step
158. Do an Inventory
159. Help a newcomer ........


All the best.

Bob R

bbthumper

Thanks for that. Although I would label those 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7 and 8!

Kza

Let's be honest, they are mostly Tongue in cheek. I want to drink tonight and 'throwing cards at a hat' is no substitute.

hypochondriac

I don't know, I found lists like these really useful early on. I wrote a list of things I could do that would make me happy and would only take half an hour or so. It really helped to distract me from cravings. Plus so many of us claim that we drank because we were bored and couldn't think of anything else to do! This sort of list can be an appropriate kick up the arse in that respect. I like how the book Living Sober puts it... that many of us when getting sober find that we have a temporary failure of the imagination I like 140 That's gonna be my new OCD 'don't drink' mantra.

Thanks NoFireWater x

england

Number 78 - it would look crazy if I put up my Christmas lights in August

hypochondriac

Crazy is better than drunk though right x

DoinThis

There are 149 other things to choose from!

I did a list in my early days, distractions like these helped so much as the cravings where so strong they almost floored me and I couldn't think beyond the drink so actually had to read a list of things to do to keep me busy and my mind occupied

Kza

Like, write a sonnet or speak in heroic couplets.

hypochondriac

It's not daft Kza. Many of us devoted a hell of a lot of time to drinking and found that we had a lot of it on our hands getting sober. There is nothing wrong with making plans of what to do with our time x

Kza

I know, I am one of them but teaching a parakeet to whistle is daft.

hypochondriac

Yeah but daft things are also fun x

Kza

But no substitute for drinking

hypochondriac

I don't know, I used to have a parrot and teaching him stuff was pretty addictive

Fact is you don't need a substitute for addictive behaviour. All those annoyingly chipper quotes like 'sobriety is it's own reward' are actually true. Drinking alcohol made me want to not do stuff, just to sit there and drink. Now that is daft.

Kza

But I want to just sit there and drink

hypochondriac

Which is why you need to stop drinking Kza. You can't do that forever. Mainly cos you won't live that long. If you don't like the list above, write your own. There has got to be something you'd rather be doing than drinking. Even if it's something fantastical. It'd be something to aim for x

Kza

To be honest there is nothing I would rather don than drink except perhaps to get to sleep.