Hobbies you now avoid?
Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: uk
Posts: 2,548
Drinking run alongside any interest or hobby i have or had.
if drinking couldn't happen then it ceased to be of interest or became boring and futile.
sobriety has rekindled alot of those interests...the activity has become the driving force rather than how much drinking i can get done.
fishing and drinking went together like bread and butter.......
only in sobriety did i realize how little was about fishing and how much was about getting drunk in the middle of nowhere.. in peace.
Now that peace is something i chase without the help of alcohol.....spending time fishing in beautiful surroundings......just me...god......and his creations.
fishing without booze!!........i couldn't comprehend that.
these days i cant imagine spoiling something so peaceful by "rounding of the edges".....with something that only destroys that perception.
if drinking couldn't happen then it ceased to be of interest or became boring and futile.
sobriety has rekindled alot of those interests...the activity has become the driving force rather than how much drinking i can get done.
fishing and drinking went together like bread and butter.......
only in sobriety did i realize how little was about fishing and how much was about getting drunk in the middle of nowhere.. in peace.
Now that peace is something i chase without the help of alcohol.....spending time fishing in beautiful surroundings......just me...god......and his creations.
fishing without booze!!........i couldn't comprehend that.
these days i cant imagine spoiling something so peaceful by "rounding of the edges".....with something that only destroys that perception.
Follow Directions!
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Fredericksburg, Va.
Posts: 9,730
I did a lot of different things while I was drinking, the longer I drank the fewer of them I did, if I could not drink while doing something I no longer did it!
Slowly over the years even things I did while drinking I quit doing because I was just to busy drinking! In the end the only thing I really did was yard work because I could drink all I wanted & no one was there to gripe about my drinking and my yard looked darn good. The last 5 years of my drinking I either sat in my garage drinking, listening to the radio, trying to read the newspaper & trying to do crosswords.... or I was working in the yard drinking.
After I quit drinking I avoided my garage at all cost for about a year, then I went out there and began to clean up all the empties and tossing out the full ones I had hidden and forgot where they were.
I do yard work, but not like I used to, since I quit drinking I quit dreaming up things to do in the yard that did not need to be done.
I would suggest not to really worry about it, keep your recovery #1 and with time any hobbies you, like I did, have been avoiding will start to become a pleasure again.... & the best thing is you will be able to do them easier & better then ever before.
Slowly over the years even things I did while drinking I quit doing because I was just to busy drinking! In the end the only thing I really did was yard work because I could drink all I wanted & no one was there to gripe about my drinking and my yard looked darn good. The last 5 years of my drinking I either sat in my garage drinking, listening to the radio, trying to read the newspaper & trying to do crosswords.... or I was working in the yard drinking.
After I quit drinking I avoided my garage at all cost for about a year, then I went out there and began to clean up all the empties and tossing out the full ones I had hidden and forgot where they were.
I do yard work, but not like I used to, since I quit drinking I quit dreaming up things to do in the yard that did not need to be done.
I would suggest not to really worry about it, keep your recovery #1 and with time any hobbies you, like I did, have been avoiding will start to become a pleasure again.... & the best thing is you will be able to do them easier & better then ever before.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: TN
Posts: 58
I just had to chime in on this one - in the garage and doing yard work were my FAVORITE places/settings to drink. I felt like I could get a lot done (at least early on in the evening), so who cared if I had to spend the next day in bed doing nothing.
Drunk garage work sent me to the hospital once (nothing too major, just needed some stitches in my face), really p*ssed off my neighbors (I would fire up one of my Mustangs and rev it at crazy hours, lucky I did not blow up the motor one night), and resulted in me putting more than a few unnecessary scratches in paint. I also forgot to tighten up a oil drain plug on our truck; I never noticed it was only hand tight until my next (drunken) oil change. By some miracle it never came out.
Drunk yard work really escalated my drinking I think. When I moved into my first house, I was happy drinking 2 24oz beers while mowing (riding) our ~half acre yard. By the time we moved into our second house, I definitely needed about 4 24ozers to mow about the same size yard, and once the yard was done I would have to go out and get more beer or drink whatever was left in the house. But I had "fun".
Last summer was my first alcohol-free summer, and I can say that the yard did get mowed much less (but enough), basically it was because it is really not a lot of fun actually mowing. But, I could get it done in about half the time because I was not taking beer-and-smoke breaks.
I managed to stay in the garage a lot more post-alcohol, at least while it was warm outside. During my early recovery, I think I tried to "build" my way out of it. I built some really nice workbenches in my garage, generally cleaned things up, etc. I also drove my "fun" cars a lot more (and sober). I finally wentback drag racing for the 1st time in over 20 years, something not possible when I was drunk one day, hung over the next.
A new hobby I have is Karate, I have been doing it with my 7yo son (our classes are same days back-to-back), and it is definitely NOT something you can do hung over (or drunk, obviously). I am not going to allow myself to let him down by quitting, and the only thing that would make me quit is if I allow myself to return to my old drinking ways. We started last summer and earned our 1st belts right before Christmas, by the way.
Sorry, long post. Nice to have a place to vent.
Drunk garage work sent me to the hospital once (nothing too major, just needed some stitches in my face), really p*ssed off my neighbors (I would fire up one of my Mustangs and rev it at crazy hours, lucky I did not blow up the motor one night), and resulted in me putting more than a few unnecessary scratches in paint. I also forgot to tighten up a oil drain plug on our truck; I never noticed it was only hand tight until my next (drunken) oil change. By some miracle it never came out.
Drunk yard work really escalated my drinking I think. When I moved into my first house, I was happy drinking 2 24oz beers while mowing (riding) our ~half acre yard. By the time we moved into our second house, I definitely needed about 4 24ozers to mow about the same size yard, and once the yard was done I would have to go out and get more beer or drink whatever was left in the house. But I had "fun".
Last summer was my first alcohol-free summer, and I can say that the yard did get mowed much less (but enough), basically it was because it is really not a lot of fun actually mowing. But, I could get it done in about half the time because I was not taking beer-and-smoke breaks.
I managed to stay in the garage a lot more post-alcohol, at least while it was warm outside. During my early recovery, I think I tried to "build" my way out of it. I built some really nice workbenches in my garage, generally cleaned things up, etc. I also drove my "fun" cars a lot more (and sober). I finally wentback drag racing for the 1st time in over 20 years, something not possible when I was drunk one day, hung over the next.
A new hobby I have is Karate, I have been doing it with my 7yo son (our classes are same days back-to-back), and it is definitely NOT something you can do hung over (or drunk, obviously). I am not going to allow myself to let him down by quitting, and the only thing that would make me quit is if I allow myself to return to my old drinking ways. We started last summer and earned our 1st belts right before Christmas, by the way.
Sorry, long post. Nice to have a place to vent.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Ontario
Posts: 806
Originally Posted by SkiStop 
Do you avoid any hobbies now that you do not drink?
I really enjoy working in my garage. I've created a pretty nice work space and built up a nice collection of tools. I've built bookshelves, a bench, a cabinet and various other things for the yard and house, and then stained and finished them, too.
I've really enjoyed doing this, but it's always been a hobby I do while drinking beer. I used to turn on the radio to my favorite station, pop open a 12-back of beer, and get to work. I would work for hours with intense focus while I got drunker and drunker. Even though I had to re-do some work, the finished products all turned out pretty nice (at least, my wife has been impressed).
I'm not sure I would enjoy this hobby without the drinking part of it. In fact, looking back, it's hard to say whether it was more about the drinking than the actual woodworking.
I do have other hobbies that do not go with drinking, most of them being outdoors/exercise stuff. I like to ski, hike, bike, etc.
It seems silly to avoid woodworking, but I'm afraid that I'll get no enjoyment from it now or, worse, it will trigger cravings. Maybe in time I'll be able to do it again?
I really enjoy working in my garage. I've created a pretty nice work space and built up a nice collection of tools. I've built bookshelves, a bench, a cabinet and various other things for the yard and house, and then stained and finished them, too.
I've really enjoyed doing this, but it's always been a hobby I do while drinking beer. I used to turn on the radio to my favorite station, pop open a 12-back of beer, and get to work. I would work for hours with intense focus while I got drunker and drunker. Even though I had to re-do some work, the finished products all turned out pretty nice (at least, my wife has been impressed).
I'm not sure I would enjoy this hobby without the drinking part of it. In fact, looking back, it's hard to say whether it was more about the drinking than the actual woodworking.
I do have other hobbies that do not go with drinking, most of them being outdoors/exercise stuff. I like to ski, hike, bike, etc.
It seems silly to avoid woodworking, but I'm afraid that I'll get no enjoyment from it now or, worse, it will trigger cravings. Maybe in time I'll be able to do it again?
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