YCDT2

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone has had a happy and sober holiday thus far! I am not so fortunate. I have been (mostly) sober since around mid September. In the days since work has been out, however, I have already started drinking excessively. I think boredom is my demon.

ScottFromWI

Are you sure alcohol isn’t the demon? Boredom is a state of mind....and you can change your mind. But alcohol only causes problems....and you can’t change that.

YCDT2

Of course it is.

Dee74

A lot of us come to sobriety with no idea how to handle having nothing to do.


I genuinely forgot how it was to have to actively get up off the couch and find things to do - hobbies interests exercise - even a little housecleaning is better than drinking...can help with stress too if you have that....

What about a little volunteering in your down weeks?

D

August252015

Of course it is - meaning boredom is the demon?

Hard to read tone in a message- and your title says stress, then you talk about boredom...everyone here is happy to support you and help if you want to talk about what's going on.

Delilah1

I have found daily exercise such an important part of my recovery for my body and mind. I also read nightly, spend quality time with my kids, and make plans with friends to go for walks (I used to make plans to go for drinks). I'm an avid reader, and I love not rereading the same page because I had too much to drink.

What do you enjoy doing? Is there anything you were passionate about when you were a kid?

Soberwolf

Everyday is a new day

Guener

I was thinking about this lately, as I have been having a lot of free time on my hands lately. For myself it is more about apathy and inertia than boredom. There are definitely things I can be doing, should be doing on some of those, but it's hard to find the motivation to raise myself above the tendency to just sigh.

Part of this is due to struggling with loss of interest in things that I used to enjoy, including reading, swimming, music, and many other things. This has been a struggle for me for a long time as I have dealt with chronic though treatable depression. I am reluctant to alter my medication, as it has been working for me for a couple years now to keep me out of the darker depths and has helped me to get to a point where recovery is something that I am able to work upon. There are a few things that I find help me to get through the day with interest, primarily my work, but part of that is that work is much of my identity that I rely upon for self-esteem.

I feel that I need to branch out a bit further in exploring my possibilities and push a little bit hard to work on those things that I used to enjoy. If I can not drink then I can do more to seek happiness, too, in other avenues. It's not easy, but I'm willing to do more.

DriGuy

BOREDOM! I suppose it's different for others, but when a counselor asked me why I drank, I did a split second inner search and blurted out, "Boredom." In my case, it was just an answer to avoid the real issue. Now it's true, I was bored a lot of the time, so it was a convenient response. But the real problem was that I didn't want to admit to being addicted.

Here's something else to consider; Is boredom the cause of drinking, or is drinking the cause of boredom? Think about that. What could be more boring than drinking yourself into a foggy stupor night after night? Do something else, and I'm betting your boredom goes away. I wasn't expecting that to happen. Just one day well into sobriety, it hit me, "What happened to my boredom?" It was one of the unexpected outcomes of not drinking anymore.

Since I'm not nursing a hangover, when I sense a bout of boredom coming on, rather than reach for a bottle, I do something that needs to be done. Sometimes, I don't want to do what needs to be done, but it does end the boredom and the unexpected reward is a feeling of accomplishment. Just being engaged in fixing a leak, or taking on a project actually makes me feel good.

Of course, there's a caveat involved, and one that takes some work and a serious commitment. You have to break the cycle and stop drinking first, and this means never drinking again, because if you allow yourself to do that, you won't get anywhere. Your problem is drinking, and it's not just a cause of boredom. There's a whole bunch of things way worse than boredom that result from alcoholism.

Mango212

It is indeed!

Plure

I could've written this too...was doing well in not drinking until the holiday season came around and then a little here and a little there which led to some excessive drinking days.

For me stress and boredom can be triggers, especially in early recovery.

Mango212

'I can't think my way into right actions, but I can act my way into right thinking.'

Prayer is a powerful action.

Going to a center that deal with recovery is a powerful action.

Being here can be a powerful action.

D122y

Ycd,

It is a battle in my alcohol damaged brain between analysis and emotion. I know drinking will destroy me, but I have a lack of natural endorphins and dopamine from drinking. Without the booze...medicine...I get agitated etc.

It is a viscous circle that can never be stopped...only quelled and understood. Awareness and strategy e.g sr, aa, avrt, etc etc. Are how some folk manage. Other decide they hate booze etc.

I am all over the place with bottom line of never drinking booze again and making it to my death bed sober.

Booze does nothing other than drug me into an unreal state. When I was a drunk I was a chemical alteration of my real,self. Never again.

Thanks.