FreeOwl

never music... I prefer the sounds of the wind, the birds, the squirrels, the leaping whitetails, the waterfall, the silence.... ahhhhh... the healing sounds of silence.

Pasttime

Welcome. Lots of good suggestions on overcoming the boredom without drinking! doing something physical means you can't drink. Sitting home along makes you want to; and drinking makes you even MORE lonely and MORE bored. I think the best thing I'm going to try is to find something that prohibits me from drinking. I'm not much of a runner myself, but I think I may join a gym. I think finding a way to be surrounded by people will help. If not with a runners club, maybe through volunteering somewhere? We just need to replace our passion for alcohol with a passion for something else.

Berrybean

Welcome SoberRunner.

One of the things AA has done for me is make it so that I can actually enjoy (yes, enjoy!!) my own company and enjoy serenity and peacefulness, which once would have been felt as boredom and restlessness.

Do you have a Kindle? There are some great books out there that might help pass some time and strengthen your sober-muscles a little. The two that helped me the most in early sobriety were...

Monkey on my shoulder
Living Sober

I'm sure that others will have their own recommendations.

Personally, if I could have any hobby in the world it would be making minatures - maybe a dolls house, but I also have grand schemes for a pub, a market square, a carnival (with the kind of detail that Pieter Brueghel the Younger had, but modern http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...he_Younger.png)

Unfortunately, as lovely as my flat it, it's not much bigger than a dolls house itself, so that's not possible as there isn't the space for what I'm working on, or storing crafting supplies. Dioramas are pretty fun to make though if you have an artistic streak, and won't cost the earth either. You could even make them to show some of the experiences that led to your decision to go sober. xx

johnt99

"1-2 hours on the trail makes a new man of me.... every. time."

FreeOwl - I can definitely relate to this. an hour and a half to two hours is my favorite length of run, and definitely on the trails. I ALWAYS feel better after this.

SoberRunner - I mix it up, half the time I'll listen to music, and half I don't. I think I get the meditative effects of being out on the trail more when I don't have music, although when I do listen to music it often empowers me and gives me a different type of positive experience, depending on what I'm listening to.

SoberRunner

I finally stopped complaining about my runs/workouts being "boring" and did something about it... Most likely due to drinking less--thanks to SR! --and having more energy.

A lot of you suggested joining a running group so I found a "group" that resonated with me. This place is awesome! Each workout session is 60 minutes and you get to know your "group" because the same people come on the same days, as each day focuses on something different.

My new group, check us out: http://youtu.be/Qh4J986AY5c

Berrybean

That looks brilliant - love the camaraderie element of it. Congratulations on finding such a great running group. Wish my gym did something like that! Maybe I'll pop a suggestion in the box

Soberwolf

Exellent SoberRunner

Venecia

Good job, SoberRunner!

When people ask "what is a plan?" I think you've demonstrated what part of that means: Taking an action -- doing something different -- that supports sobriety. Enjoy your new running club!

SoberRunner

... Or look and see if Orangetheory Fitness is in your area. It's a specialty gym so all they do are the cardio/strength (group) workouts; each session is 60 minutes.

Also, I didn't mean to overlook your previous post on my thread. Sorry!
No, I don't have a kindle but I'm loving your diorama idea! I've never heard of those (but I've seen a few) and it would be cool if I could make one. I love animals so I'd be interested in making a zoo, but I'm not much of an artist so who knows what it'd end up looking like! Lol.

SoberRunner

Thanks All!

Berrybean

No probs.

I looked the Orangetheory Fitness up in the UK - it's only in London at the moment, but I'll keep my eyes peeled. It might just work its way to my area as well.

I did a term of dioramas with my pupils at school as part of their Arts Award work - they all have special needs to varying degrees so it was slow progress but they all turned out well. We used a lot of collage effects for backgrounds, and they found images on-line to print and stick on card for different things in their scenes as well as drawing and making bits and pieces. It was a pretty cool project. As many of them are non-verbal, or have limited communication I feel like I learn a lot about them while we work on the projects where the have free rein to take it in the direction of their choosing. There were aircraft hangars, skateparks, play parks, beaches, Disney scenes, bedrooms, kitchens, Wonkas chocolate factory, pubs, night-clubs, rabbit warrens, Smurf villages, forests, mountains, corner shops, planes flying, dream scenes, ... I could go on and on and on lol.