New here Hello Drank beer most my adult life. Moderate and heavy at times I’m 64 and totally retired a year ago I discovered soon free time is my enemy. I’m a responsible person so my drinking never interfered with work Now much idle time drink way too much I’m on my 2nd day of abstinence and my main complaint is anxiety I have Xanax script but even w it stil anxious Glad to find this site Good luck to all including myself On |
Welcome, and I'm glad you found us. Anxiety is very typical in the early days of withdrawal and recovery. It will ease up as time goes on and you will be able to find healthy ways to deal with it. I'm glad that you want to make your retirement days enjoyable and meaningful. |
Originally Posted by Anna
(Post 6806744)
Welcome, and I'm glad you found us. Anxiety is very typical in the early days of withdrawal and recovery. It will ease up as time goes on and you will be able to find healthy ways to deal with it. I'm glad that you want to make your retirement days enjoyable and meaningful. |
It's so good to have you with us, Ltcol. I know many people who retired & developed a problem with alcohol. With nowhere we have to go, & no particular projects to work on, it's easy to relax & not pay attention to our consumption. I was older too when I came to SR. I drank for 30 yrs. & now have 10 sober. Talking things over here helped me to not feel alone with the problem. You can do this! |
Welcome to SR :) |
Welcome to the family. :grouphug: I hope the support here can help you stay sober for good. :) |
Originally Posted by Ltcol
(Post 6806730)
Hello Drank beer most my adult life. Moderate and heavy at times I’m 64 and totally retired a year ago I discovered soon free time is my enemy. I’m a responsible person so my drinking never interfered with work Now much idle time drink way too much I’m on my 2nd day of abstinence and my main complaint is anxiety I have Xanax script but even w it stil anxious Glad to find this site Good luck to all including myself On |
I fell into drinking too much wine in my mid forties. Finally stopped last April. Best decision ever. This is a great community for working on sobriety! Glad you are here. |
Hi and welcome ltcol :) I was retired through ill health ion my 30s and and yes for a long time free time was my enemy too, and I developed alcoholism. I had to deal with the alcoholism and the problem of free time together. This community helped me stay sober, and volunteering in my community gave me back a sense of meaning and purpose. I really recommend it :) D |
[QUOTE=Dee74;6807251]Hi and welcome ltcol :) I was retired through ill health ion my 30s and and yes for a long time free time was my enemy too, and I developed alcoholism. I had to deal with the alcoholism and the problem of free time together. This community helped me stay sober, and volunteering in my community gave me back a sense of meaning and purpose. I really recommend it :) D[/QUOTE Wow Thanks for all the outpouring of suggestions and legitimate caring. This seems to be an awesome site and I’ve quickly noticed one thing that’s suggested over and over “Not one size fits all” in your journey to sobriety Thanks to all who have responded and in advance to those who do ✌️ |
Originally Posted by Ltcol
(Post 6806730)
Hello Drank beer most my adult life. Moderate and heavy at times I’m 64 and totally retired a year ago I discovered soon free time is my enemy. I’m a responsible person so my drinking never interfered with work Now much idle time drink way too much I’m on my 2nd day of abstinence and my main complaint is anxiety I have Xanax script but even w it stil anxious Glad to find this site Good luck to all including myself On |
Congrats on your retirement, hopefully it can be everything you dreamed of. I agree with you 100% on the boredom/idle time issue. Boredom was my enemy, and when I was bored I'd drink. Worse yet, it didn't matter what time of day it was. If I was bored, I'd drink. Congrats on your 2 days. Anxiety early on is common and will go away. |
Welcome Ltcol! :You_Rock_ |
A very warm welcome to you . I retired last march age 60 and its taken me a while to adjust having worked since i was 15 . Boredom is bad for us at any time but when retired we really need to make more effort to keep ourselves occupied . The recent snow in UK has affected me as we don,t usually get as much at once. SR has been a great support for me and I know you will find many people here willing to offer you the same . |
Welcome Ltcol! I look forward to seeing more posts from you. Great job on your 2 days. I had a lot of anxiety issues, especially in my last years of drinking and the first four days of quitting. I have been in recovery now for 44 days and have very few issues with anxiety so far. Keep going, it gets better! |
Glad to have you here ltcol :) D |
Welcome! I'm now semi retired and anxious to make it full time retirement soon. I used to worry that in retirement, with no responsibilities and no job accountability that I would drink like a fish. I'm not worried about that anymore, I've been sober coming up on 8 years, and sobriety is now my life style. And I can tell I'm going to be way to busy in retirement to drink. |
I hear you with the anxiety part. I have it every day and it is awful and terrifying. Someone suggested I was using alcohol to self medicate my underlying anxiety and that may be true. It sucks and I am really sorry you have it too. I met a guy in AA who started drinking very heavily when he retired. His family took notice and he went to rehab and came to AA. AA is not for everyone but it helps me. Free time is my worst enemy so I try to stay busy and some of that means coming here and posting. I wish you the best and hope to see you again soon on here. |
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