Ltcol

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

Anna

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.

Ltcol

Thanks ♥️

Hevyn

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!

Bruno1979

Welcome to SR

least

Welcome to the family. I hope the support here can help you stay sober for good.

Rar

Welcome! I am also retired. Drinking never interfered with my work either. However, retirement makes every day a day off. While we wait for retirement all of our working lives, it is indeed an adjustment. More time to drink and I was starting to drink earlier and earlier. I have every recreational opportunity available to me in my community. I was getting to the point that I would rather drink than do other things. I have always suffered from anxiety. My morning anxiety has all but disappeared with sobriety. Day 2 is a very rough day. Hang in there. Keep yourself busy. Read through the forums. There is a wealth of information here. I spent several hours a day here during my first several days. Even now, whenever I have lots of anxiety or bad craves, I log on here and read. I try to give back to the community and post. Post whenever you want. Post especially if you need help and BEFORE you drink. Wait for the help. Wishing you the best. Hope to get to know you.

SimplyFree

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.

Dee74

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

Ltcol

[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
✌️

DangerZone

I think you answered your own question right there. Try and stay busy as much as possible. That should help keep your drinking down. Volunteer work, reading, working on some type of project, outdoor activities that don't involve drinking etc. All these activities can help keep your drinking to a minimum.

thomas11

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.

Nonsensical

Welcome Ltcol!

hpdw

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 .

Komplex

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!

Dee74

Glad to have you here ltcol

D

Zebra1275

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.

chowchow

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.