What do you do with your evenings?
 

I'm now 12 days sober. I feel like I'm in a really good place mentally. Some days/moments are easier than others at this point.

One question though....What in the hell do sober people do with their evenings???

I feel like tv is boring now and I don't really know what to do with my time at night. I feel like I'm just passing time until bed time. Which I DON'T want.

Any suggestions?

I used to wonder what I'd do if I weren't drinking. Now that I'm sober I've discovered that I can do anything I want and do it better sober. :)

Do you have kids? Can you spend more time with your family or friends? How about going to a movie. Treat yourself to dinner out. Visit a museum. Volunteer in your community. There is so much to do and with a little more sober time you'll realize how many opportunities you have for sober activities. :)

Service work, working with other alcoholics and addicts

Check out our Sticky which has lots of ideas:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ething-do.html

I do have kids. Things are quite busy with dinner, homework, bathing, etc but then after they go to sleep....then what???

Thank you!

For the first month or so I struggled with the same thing. I have kids too and when I was done with dinner, homework, bathing I was left twiddling my thumbs. TV, books, everything seemed so utterly boring. I would usually go to bed. It gets better with time and you will probably start enjoying the same things you enjoyed before. Or even find some new ones. My attention span wasn't the best early on either so I would read magazines. Do crossword puzzles. Come on SR. Small things that worked my way into bigger things.

Time for a hobby. You can greatly improve upon yourself in ways that you couldn't even imagine before.

Work out, run or walk, play music, listen to music, cook, eat, clean, watch tv/movie, read, play computer games, surf internets, catch up on email, creative writing (?), oil painting (?) whatever.

I can easily blow an hour puzzling through different chord voicings and arpeggios for a jazz standard on my guitar, or just plain wailing away on some solo stuff.

Learn an app or program, like adobe photoshop, lightroom. choose something you are interested in.

I don't have kids so there is even more time to fill. Since I am in Florida though and it isn't too cold, I walk. Up to 4 miles per night now. Serves a dual purpose, fills my time, gives me some cardio and gives me time and space to think...

I went through this pretty hard in the beginning. I remember when I posted sort of the same question someone asked me, "what do you like to do". At that time, my only answer was "I like to drink". After a few more days I realized what my new hobby was, it was exploring new things to do!

I spend my evenings when not exercising or reading, researching whatever pops into my mind that I want to try or learn. There are no boundaries now and this was the greatest realization I have ever had. I can do ANYTHING, where as for years I couldn't.

Can't say I have found any one thing that really gets me excited, but just having the opportunity to is what I hold on to and that is what I do with my evenings.

I can't wait until spring comes and I have daylight again after work, then I am out of the house! I hate cold, I hate darkness so I really picked the wrong time of year I guess, but I am making it with books and exercise.

We will find our way kitfreed, this I believe.

I do all of those, except oil painting, and I can't run, but a bunch of great suggestions xxxx

I do have kids. Things are quite busy with dinner, homework, bathing, etc but then after they go to sleep....then what???

You are in early sobriety so you can always log on here and learn something. Read the Big Book or other recovery literature. You probably spent a lot of time drinking; now you have to learn other things to keep you busy. There are some good ideas in this thread and links to other threads. Read them and try something new.

I have a ton of stuff I do in my free time, and I watch TV about 2 hours a month! I have better things to do.

Thank you. I have a lot of hobbies that could use some practice. I know the basics in sewing, knitting, painting, furniture refinishing, etc. Maybe I'll spend my evenings working through my Pinterest boards!

Thanks for the suggestions!

When I first got sober I spent a ton of time in the evenings at the gym, or going to movies. With time though, I didn't have to replace my drinking time with anything and was more comfortable just being in my own skin, so to speak. Now, however I do have a 4 year old and my time is pretty consumed with caring for him. He goes to bed around 8:30, and after that my routine is pretty much to work out, clean up the house/kitchen, and read until I go to bed around 10.

Make more kids. :lmao Running and ducking!

BE WELL

Pinterest....LOVE me some Pinterest!

Just make sure you are actually using what you pin :)

I found myself with over 2,000 pins before I started making/using what I pinned, silly I know.
Kinda pointless, so I am trying to dedicate more time to actually doing them, than pinning.

After my kids are in bed, I have started learning a second language....the app is called doulingo, for iPad, iPhone, etc. it's free and is a great tool to learn several different languages.

Read, TV with husband (I'm at over 5 months now and I love TV again), take hot baths, yoga, play with my dog, go on SR, shop online and surf the web, laundry.