What to do in your spare time now?
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 17
What to do in your spare time now?
So now that I'm not drinking in my spare time (nights and weekends) ... what do I do? In the last 6 months all I've done is go to work, come home, get drunk, pass out, wake up, go to work & so on and so forth. Even the weekends were spent drinking. Sometimes all day, other times only at night. Any at home hobbies/ activites people find help ease the boredom (and urges)?
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
I'm a huge reader so I read, a lot. Earlier in my sobriety (I am 339 days today) I gobbled up memoirs and other personal stories and collections of alcoholism/addiction books. Lately, I have been on improvement and thought-provoking kind of stuff like Brene Brown's awesome book Daring Greatly.
Exercise. I have an active job so that's one thing, and I started running. My boyfriend and I did our first 5K in Dec for his bday and we are doing one a month for 2017. Last wkd's was awesome.
I'm in AA so I go to meetings. I work them around work, have a home group, and several other days/times/locations I go so that I do my best to hit my sweet spot of 4-6 (sometimes 7) meetings a week. Don't go more than a week with less than 4.
Volunteer- quarterly we deliver food for Open Hand, a charity in Atlanta close to my heart.
Spend time I schedule on the calendar with important friends I have reconnected with in sobriety.
Spend time with my boyfriend- at least one date night a week (which sometimes just means dinner and a movie at his house since his 14 yr old is getting to know having me around) and we do one lunch date and AA meeting a week. We work in other things around these priorities.
Try new things- over Christmas, we went out and DID stuff in Atlanta- the Ferris Wheel at Centennial Park, for example. Whatever interests you- and figuring that out is part of the fun of being sober.
I also have an adult coloring book that I pull out when I am bored. I don't watch a lot of TV but having all tv/movie options with the fire stick or whatever he set up for me makes it where I can put something in, an hour or two goes by and it's bedtime - that's the kind of thing I do when it's just been kind of a crummy day and I'm packing it in for the next one.
There is so much more to do than sit at home or at a bar drinking; I won't ever settle for that again.
Oh, and I get my sleep - huge priority for my health. If I am not working a dinner shift at the restaurant, I am probably in bed by 9 and up between 6-7.
Exercise. I have an active job so that's one thing, and I started running. My boyfriend and I did our first 5K in Dec for his bday and we are doing one a month for 2017. Last wkd's was awesome.
I'm in AA so I go to meetings. I work them around work, have a home group, and several other days/times/locations I go so that I do my best to hit my sweet spot of 4-6 (sometimes 7) meetings a week. Don't go more than a week with less than 4.
Volunteer- quarterly we deliver food for Open Hand, a charity in Atlanta close to my heart.
Spend time I schedule on the calendar with important friends I have reconnected with in sobriety.
Spend time with my boyfriend- at least one date night a week (which sometimes just means dinner and a movie at his house since his 14 yr old is getting to know having me around) and we do one lunch date and AA meeting a week. We work in other things around these priorities.
Try new things- over Christmas, we went out and DID stuff in Atlanta- the Ferris Wheel at Centennial Park, for example. Whatever interests you- and figuring that out is part of the fun of being sober.
I also have an adult coloring book that I pull out when I am bored. I don't watch a lot of TV but having all tv/movie options with the fire stick or whatever he set up for me makes it where I can put something in, an hour or two goes by and it's bedtime - that's the kind of thing I do when it's just been kind of a crummy day and I'm packing it in for the next one.
There is so much more to do than sit at home or at a bar drinking; I won't ever settle for that again.
Oh, and I get my sleep - huge priority for my health. If I am not working a dinner shift at the restaurant, I am probably in bed by 9 and up between 6-7.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: London
Posts: 2,040
Happy weekend all,
I now do 2 gym classes in the week (a Spinning class and a HIIT class) and I run 5K every weekend in a near by park.
I have rediscovered cooking homemade healthy nutritious meals...at weekends I cook big batches of a few meals and then portion them and stick them in the freezer for easy midweek meals.
I have a weekly psychotherapy session I attend.
I listen to audiobooks and watch Netflix.
I now do 2 gym classes in the week (a Spinning class and a HIIT class) and I run 5K every weekend in a near by park.
I have rediscovered cooking homemade healthy nutritious meals...at weekends I cook big batches of a few meals and then portion them and stick them in the freezer for easy midweek meals.
I have a weekly psychotherapy session I attend.
I listen to audiobooks and watch Netflix.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Somewhere
Posts: 130
I do stuff that was hard for me to when drinking: reading (couldn't concentrate or remember when pissed), competitive gaming, doing things with and for my kids. When you are not on the drunk treadmill it's easy to have time. I found try to fill it though because too much time alone or being introspective sends me off to unhappy places.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Colorado
Posts: 390
I've been going skiing, and going harder with my sobriety.
Unfortunately, I tore my acl and lcl/pcl in my knee yesterday. It was tough not to drink yesterday.
I'll be playing guitar, finding a desk job, and selling my business because I can't do ladder work anymore.
Unfortunately, I tore my acl and lcl/pcl in my knee yesterday. It was tough not to drink yesterday.
I'll be playing guitar, finding a desk job, and selling my business because I can't do ladder work anymore.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: North of England
Posts: 1,442
I have a bit of an issue with concentration. I'm getting on in years now but if I was at school in this day and age I am sure I would be diagnosed with ADHD. One of the (apparent) 'benefits' of drinking for me was that I sometimes had a window after a glass or two of wine when I could concentrate and really focus on things like boring work documents. My later career consisted in part of reading government policy and turning into local policy that would be implemented on the ground (in the field of Education). I could sometimes only do this, especially if the legislation was really wordy, which it often was, by bringing it home and wading through it, slightly drunk.
I suspect in the longer term my concentration was made even worse by alcohol and now that I am sober I am finding that reading novels and other activities requiring concentration are beyond me - for now anyway.
I walk my dogs a lot. I go to the gym. Photography is a big hobby too. I'm rarely bored, I am pleased to say and I am hopeful that as time goes on my ability to focus will improve at which point I plan to take piano lessons!
I suspect in the longer term my concentration was made even worse by alcohol and now that I am sober I am finding that reading novels and other activities requiring concentration are beyond me - for now anyway.
I walk my dogs a lot. I go to the gym. Photography is a big hobby too. I'm rarely bored, I am pleased to say and I am hopeful that as time goes on my ability to focus will improve at which point I plan to take piano lessons!
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