izzy1962

Im off today because of the holiday...home alone and unsupervised. Afraid of being bored and tempted (day 5). I exercised in the morning to kick start my energy. Then I looked around the house, noted what needed to be done, the kid left for school so there were a few loose ends to take care of. I wrote them all down and did them all and checked them off. When finished with them, I found more routine stuff to.. instead of ironing one outfit, I ironed a weeks... taking my time totally absorbed in every pass of the iron, checked expiration dates on everything in the fridge and tossed them, cleaned my car, worked on menu's for the weeks diner etc... I wrote these down too. The fear of having a drink was my motivation. Down time spent here

Boredom is big trigger for me. Ive read on this forum advice from successful sober posters and many said "stay busy in the early stages".

Dee74

sounds like a productive day Izzy

D

anxiousrock

I try to stay busy as well, but have burnt out before, which also led to drinking.
It's important to find a happy medium, giving yourself time to read and reflect as well as getting your things done.
easier said than done, for me. I'm still figuring it out lol.

advbike

I have a low frustration tolerance so sometimes if I take on too much I get frustrated/annoyed which inevitably leads to a craving. So in early recovery I tend to be easy on myself, just doing a little each day and spending plenty of time on SR. We all have our own pace, what is important is you seem to have recognized what works for you.

Good job on 5 days!

izzy1962

AR and AB thanks! I go back to work tomorrow after a week off. Its a steady suck but a routine one that usually keeps me grounded. I was just so worried about down time and what boredom would have led too. Sometimes when I have nothing to Ill try to read or watch TV but lose focus and start pacing-anxiety I guess. I read SR a lot and that's been very helpful. I figured if I had a plan, it would keep the demons at bay. Another plus was, wife had to work and was thrilled with what was done. Haha

Runswithspoons

Sounds like a day well spent, Izzy! It's nice to use some of that extra time to make the rest of the week feel smoother and organized... instead of waking up at an ungodly hour with a hangover, feeling hopelessly behind a week that already feels like it will never end. (Yep, don't miss those misspent "holidays.")

Surrendered19

It sounds like you had a great day. One thing to add to your future task lists - Just sit and move through a piece of time and don't do anything. I think that is an important thing to "not do" every single day. It isn't being bored either. It is just having a few minutes of restorative calm and quiet. Different than boredom.

Mizz

WONDERFUL!
We can accomplish a lot when we put our minds to it! Keep moving forward.