suzyzipper

Of course I'm looking at how I can do this as painfully as possible. I am already a running addict and I'm probably more of an addicted runner than drinker even though I'm pretty good at both. But everything I ready says exercise is a good alternative for drinking. For me drinking was my reward for exercising. I suppose I could exercise even more. Obviously I don't want to replace one bad addiction with another but it seems like exercise is the only really healthy option out there. What have others done?

least

When I got sober for good, I threw myself into the care of my dogs and cats. I was determined to make it up to them for the neglect I subjected them to when I was drinking. Now, you could say, I'm addicted to caring for my dogs and cats.

I don't see where more exercise would be bad for you, unless it was at the expense of being with your family.

August252015

What about another kind of exercise to add to your program? Yoga, barre classes, just something different...might "jog" your routine and help with addictive exercise inclinations?

entropy1964

Hmmmm. In recovery I try to seek balance. I am trying to get myself to a place of peace and acceptance that my life is as it should be. I am ok just the way I am. I'm trying to work with my feelings and understand them so that I don't have to alter my state of mind with an outside substance or stimulus. That's a work in progress.

Certainly exercise is a huge part of my hollistic approach to recovery. Mostly running, hot yoga and hiking. But exercising addictively is unhealthy and can cause injury. Not to mention, how many hours a day that would consume. For me the idea is to recover from the need to abuse myself and cause injury.

Why would you consciously want to trade addictions, rather than deal with the source of the problem?
Or did I just completely misunderstand this post?

ZenLifter

I work at a gym, so I have seen quite a few who become as compulsive about exercising as they were about drinking or drugging. I think balance is the key, nourishing not only the body, but the mind, spirit, soul...whatever you want to call it, as well. All of it is interrelated, it seems to me. Plus, I know personally that when I train too much, my mood suffers and I have trouble sleeping, in addition to developing aches and pains from lack of recovery, etc. "Easy does it" I guess would sum it up

madgirl

"Balance" appears to be the holy grail - so if you are looking for something to do during the evenings besides drinking (harmful) or running (healthy but you already do this and are good at it) then why not balance the physicality of running with something a little more cerebral? (Reading, gourmet cooking classes, learning to play an instrument, etc) - or even social (meetups, volunteer work, etc)

I am working these things out too!

madgirl

So far in early recovery, in the evenings I watch lots of movies, play words with friends, drink a lot of La Croix and read. Baby steps! 🙂

bluedog97

Ive tried to use running as a replacement for booze. It would work for a while but I always drank again. I agree with balance. Also using some sort of recovery program. Exercise is a great tool for recovery but in my experience you need other things too.

Berrybean

The healthiest option is working on our recovery so that we're not obsessively trying to use excesses of ANYTHING to make us feel better. We can learn, through recovery, to be content without reaching out for things outside ourselves.

I can say, from personal experience, that running addictively is NOT healthy. You end up running when sick, and make yourself sicker, you end up running on injuries and risk permanent damage to your joints. To do anything addictively means that we are doing it to the point where we place being able to do it over the rest of everything else. And if, like others have before, you were to get injured so badly that you couldn't force yourself out there, then you'd just be looking for something else to fill the gap.
I remember (years ago, probably when I first decided to take up running) reading in a Runners World magazine article that some prisons don't let inmates with addiction issues take up running, because it is a highly addictive activity, with all the chemicals that it releases for us. I don't doubt that a part of me read that and thought 'ohhhh yes! I'm up for a bit of that!' Rather than taking it as a warning. But back then I still thought that I did all this stuff BECAUSE my life was ****. I hadn't figures out that it was the other way round.

I'm in AA and the 12-step program worked with my sponsor, meetings, and the fellowship that I get through going (the new sober support and social network that has come from it) has helped me immensely in my journey of recovery. The promises have come true for me as they have for thousands a upon thousands of others. These are the promises - they are all the things that drinking / running / sex / compulsive shopping never touched, no matter how much of any of then i packed into my busy schedule...

[I]We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.
No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
That feeling of uselessness and selfpity will disappear.
We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
Self-seeking will slip away.
Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
[I]

Why accept sobriety when you could have recovery? I reckon if I'd just transferred addiction then I wouldn't still be sober. My AV would have stayed strong and worn me down by now.

aNewEternity

oh, I wouldn't get down on yourself for putting the booze down in favor of running. even if we could label it a 'compulsive behavior', you've made a major improvement, see where you want to go from there.