What do you do during the time you used to drink?
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Illinois
Posts: 8
What do you do during the time you used to drink?
So I just quit drinking a few days ago, and the biggest problem hasn't really been the cravings, its been what to do with my time instead of drinking. I'm a creature of habit, and drinking has simply been what I've done every night after work for the last two years. I need to find something to replace it. Trouble is, I get off work at 11pm, so I can't really go out, unless its to a bar, which is obviously not helpful.
So to those of you who are quitting, or who have quit, what do you do during the time you used to drink?
So to those of you who are quitting, or who have quit, what do you do during the time you used to drink?
Where can I get a cup of tea?
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere in space...
Posts: 55
Hi griptape. Mine tonight (my Plus Day 2) is to watch a DVD and read some of a book. Oh - the first thing was to go to the shops and buy food, but no booze. I managed it.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Illinois
Posts: 8
Originally Posted by ArthurDent
Oh - the first thing was to go to the shops and buy food, but no booze. I managed it.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 18,299
Hi Griptape, just a few days in myself and I do feel at a loose end a lot of the time. I have spent a lot of time on this forum actually. I have read a book, had a long bath everyday, listened to some audiobooks and stuffed my face with food.
This is all early days stuff-I am still de-toxing really, the next plan is to go for an hours walk a day, do all the things around the house that need doing, I could do with finding another hobby besides computers
This is all early days stuff-I am still de-toxing really, the next plan is to go for an hours walk a day, do all the things around the house that need doing, I could do with finding another hobby besides computers
Paused
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Littleton Colorado
Posts: 13
I have been spending sooo much time on these forums. Its hard cause i come home to a house full of drinkers at night. But i just hop onto the computer or like any of you said read a book or take a bath. I used to spend just as much time if not more drinking with my family but then that all changed and i have to find ways to hang out with them and just sip on soda or water. Like some of you im still in my first few days.
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
Way To Go!
to our newly sober members!
Dan posted this...and I hope it will help...
100 things to do...
1. Attend at least one major sporting event: the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the U.S. Open.
2. Throw a huge party and invite every one of your friends.
3. Swim with a dolphin.
4. Skydive.
5. Have your portrait painted.
6. Learn to speak a foreign language and make sure you use it.
7. Go skinny-dipping at midnight in the South of France.
8. Watch the launch of the space shuttle.
9. Spend a whole day eating junk food without feeling guilty.
10. Be an extra in a film.
11. Tell someone the story of your life, sparing no details.
12. Make love on a forest floor.
13. Make love on a train.
14. Learn to rollerblade.
15. Own a room with a view.
16. Grow a fruit tree.
17. Learn how to take a compliment.
18. Buy a round-the-world air ticket and a rucksack, and run away.
19. Grow a beard and leave it for at least a month.
20. Give your mother a dozen red roses and tell her you love her.
21. Be a member of the audience in a TV show.
22. Put your name down to be a passenger on the first tourist shuttle to the moon.
23. Send a message in a bottle.
24. Ride a camel into the desert.
25. Get to know your neighbors.
26. Plant a tree.
27. Learn not to say yes when you really mean no.
28. Write a fan letter to your all-time favorite hero or heroine.
29. Visit the Senate and the House of Representatives to see how Congress really works.
30. Learn to ballroom dance properly.
31. Eat jellied eels from a stall in London.
32. Be the boss.
33. Fall deeply in love -- helplessly and unconditionally.
34. Ride the Trans-Siberian Express across Asia.
35. Sit on a jury.
36. Write the novel you know you have inside you.
37. Go to Walden Pond and read Thoreau while drifting in a canoe.
38. Stay out all night dancing and go to work the next day without having gone home (just once).
39. Drink cranberry juice at Oktoberfest in Munich.
40. Be someone's mentor.
41. Shower in a waterfall.
42. Ask for a raise.
43. Learn to play a musical instrument with some degree of skill.
44. Teach someone illiterate to read.
45. Blow all your savings and take a flight on the Concorde.
46. Spend a night in a haunted house -- by yourself.
47. Write down your personal mission statement, follow it, and revise it from time to time.
48. See a lunar eclipse.
49. Spend New Year's in an exotic location.
50. Get passionate about a cause and spend time helping it, instead of just thinking about it.
51. Experience weightlessness.
52. Sing a great song in front of an audience.
53. Ask someone you've only just met to go on a date.
54. Drive across America from coast to coast.
55. Make a complete and utter fool of yourself.
56. Own one very expensive but absolutely wonderful business suit.
57. Write your will.
58. Sleep under the stars.
59. Take a ride on the highest roller coaster in the country.
60. Learn how to complain effectively -- and do it!
61. Go wild in Rio during Carnival.
62. Spend a whole day reading a great novel.
63. Forgive your parents.
64. Learn to juggle with three balls.
65. Drive the Autobahn.
66. Find a job you love.
67. Spend Christmas on the beach drinking lemonade.
68. Overcome your fear of failure.
69. Raft through the Grand Canyon.
70. Donate money and put your name on something: a college scholarship, a bench in the park.
71. Buy your own house and then spend time making it into exactly what you want.
72. Grow a garden.
73. Spend three months getting your body into optimum shape.
74. Drive a convertible with the top down and music blaring.
75. Accept yourself for who you are.
76. Learn to use a microphone and give a speech in public.
77. Scuba dive off Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
78. Go up in a hot-air balloon.
79. Attend one really huge rock concert.
80. Kiss someone you've just met on a blind date.
81. Be able to handle: your tax forms, Jehovah's Witnesses, your banker, telephone solicitors.
82. Give to a charity -- anonymously.
83. Lose more money than you can afford at roulette in Vegas.
84. Let someone feed you peeled, seedless grapes.
85. Kiss the Blarney stone and develop the gift of gab.
86. Fart in a crowded space.
87. Make love on the kitchen floor.
88. Go deep sea fishing and eat your catch.
89. Create your own web site.
90. Visit the Holy Land.
91. Make yourself spend a half-day at a concentration camp and swear never to forget.
92. Run to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
93. Create your Family Tree.
94. Catch a ball in the stands of a major league baseball stadium.
95. Make a hole-in-one.
96. Ski a double-black diamond run.
97. Learn to play guitar.
98. Run a marathon.
99. Look into your child's eyes, see yourself, and smile.
100. Reflect on your greatest weakness, and realize how it is your greatest strength.
Dan posted this...and I hope it will help...
100 things to do...
1. Attend at least one major sporting event: the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the U.S. Open.
2. Throw a huge party and invite every one of your friends.
3. Swim with a dolphin.
4. Skydive.
5. Have your portrait painted.
6. Learn to speak a foreign language and make sure you use it.
7. Go skinny-dipping at midnight in the South of France.
8. Watch the launch of the space shuttle.
9. Spend a whole day eating junk food without feeling guilty.
10. Be an extra in a film.
11. Tell someone the story of your life, sparing no details.
12. Make love on a forest floor.
13. Make love on a train.
14. Learn to rollerblade.
15. Own a room with a view.
16. Grow a fruit tree.
17. Learn how to take a compliment.
18. Buy a round-the-world air ticket and a rucksack, and run away.
19. Grow a beard and leave it for at least a month.
20. Give your mother a dozen red roses and tell her you love her.
21. Be a member of the audience in a TV show.
22. Put your name down to be a passenger on the first tourist shuttle to the moon.
23. Send a message in a bottle.
24. Ride a camel into the desert.
25. Get to know your neighbors.
26. Plant a tree.
27. Learn not to say yes when you really mean no.
28. Write a fan letter to your all-time favorite hero or heroine.
29. Visit the Senate and the House of Representatives to see how Congress really works.
30. Learn to ballroom dance properly.
31. Eat jellied eels from a stall in London.
32. Be the boss.
33. Fall deeply in love -- helplessly and unconditionally.
34. Ride the Trans-Siberian Express across Asia.
35. Sit on a jury.
36. Write the novel you know you have inside you.
37. Go to Walden Pond and read Thoreau while drifting in a canoe.
38. Stay out all night dancing and go to work the next day without having gone home (just once).
39. Drink cranberry juice at Oktoberfest in Munich.
40. Be someone's mentor.
41. Shower in a waterfall.
42. Ask for a raise.
43. Learn to play a musical instrument with some degree of skill.
44. Teach someone illiterate to read.
45. Blow all your savings and take a flight on the Concorde.
46. Spend a night in a haunted house -- by yourself.
47. Write down your personal mission statement, follow it, and revise it from time to time.
48. See a lunar eclipse.
49. Spend New Year's in an exotic location.
50. Get passionate about a cause and spend time helping it, instead of just thinking about it.
51. Experience weightlessness.
52. Sing a great song in front of an audience.
53. Ask someone you've only just met to go on a date.
54. Drive across America from coast to coast.
55. Make a complete and utter fool of yourself.
56. Own one very expensive but absolutely wonderful business suit.
57. Write your will.
58. Sleep under the stars.
59. Take a ride on the highest roller coaster in the country.
60. Learn how to complain effectively -- and do it!
61. Go wild in Rio during Carnival.
62. Spend a whole day reading a great novel.
63. Forgive your parents.
64. Learn to juggle with three balls.
65. Drive the Autobahn.
66. Find a job you love.
67. Spend Christmas on the beach drinking lemonade.
68. Overcome your fear of failure.
69. Raft through the Grand Canyon.
70. Donate money and put your name on something: a college scholarship, a bench in the park.
71. Buy your own house and then spend time making it into exactly what you want.
72. Grow a garden.
73. Spend three months getting your body into optimum shape.
74. Drive a convertible with the top down and music blaring.
75. Accept yourself for who you are.
76. Learn to use a microphone and give a speech in public.
77. Scuba dive off Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
78. Go up in a hot-air balloon.
79. Attend one really huge rock concert.
80. Kiss someone you've just met on a blind date.
81. Be able to handle: your tax forms, Jehovah's Witnesses, your banker, telephone solicitors.
82. Give to a charity -- anonymously.
83. Lose more money than you can afford at roulette in Vegas.
84. Let someone feed you peeled, seedless grapes.
85. Kiss the Blarney stone and develop the gift of gab.
86. Fart in a crowded space.
87. Make love on the kitchen floor.
88. Go deep sea fishing and eat your catch.
89. Create your own web site.
90. Visit the Holy Land.
91. Make yourself spend a half-day at a concentration camp and swear never to forget.
92. Run to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
93. Create your Family Tree.
94. Catch a ball in the stands of a major league baseball stadium.
95. Make a hole-in-one.
96. Ski a double-black diamond run.
97. Learn to play guitar.
98. Run a marathon.
99. Look into your child's eyes, see yourself, and smile.
100. Reflect on your greatest weakness, and realize how it is your greatest strength.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: north carolina
Posts: 365
that was a great list.................here are some of mine that i use just to keep from climbing the walls because of boredom............................take a ride with no where to go.........join a gym and exercise........go for a walk-around the block,downtown,or at the beach..................watch stand up comics or stitcoms................rearrange the furniture......
Future Philanthropist
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 233
Heya grip. My shift runs til midnite, so I know too well the "ok, what do I do now" feeling. Getting off late is tough b/c usually there aren't many options that time at night as opposed to a 9-5 gig. Like you can't go to a bookstore or catch a movie or all those other things people can do to fill the space.
This will sound hokey, but really I posted here a lot and read SR and surfed the web to find all sorts of different perspectives on alcoholism. Drank a lot of Ginger Ale, no caffiene. At least if nothing else I felt I was helping my situation by reading up on it as much as I could.
This will sound hokey, but really I posted here a lot and read SR and surfed the web to find all sorts of different perspectives on alcoholism. Drank a lot of Ginger Ale, no caffiene. At least if nothing else I felt I was helping my situation by reading up on it as much as I could.
Where can I get a cup of tea?
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere in space...
Posts: 55
I just realised something; I don't really want to do things without a drink!
That's interesting to me. I have a DVD to watch and I can't get around to it, but it's getting late - do it now or have a late/bad night again. Took me a couple of hours to realise that it's not that I don't want to watch the film, it's because I want to have a drink and watch it. In other words, my mind's saying, "How can you enjoy the film without a drink..?"
Just thought that might help when you're feeling like you can't be bothered. Perhaps it's for a similar reason - you want to do it with a drink!
Do it anyway, and the feelings will pass. I'm off to enjoy a film despite not having a large glass of whiskey in my hand.
That's interesting to me. I have a DVD to watch and I can't get around to it, but it's getting late - do it now or have a late/bad night again. Took me a couple of hours to realise that it's not that I don't want to watch the film, it's because I want to have a drink and watch it. In other words, my mind's saying, "How can you enjoy the film without a drink..?"
Just thought that might help when you're feeling like you can't be bothered. Perhaps it's for a similar reason - you want to do it with a drink!
Do it anyway, and the feelings will pass. I'm off to enjoy a film despite not having a large glass of whiskey in my hand.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: fumbling towards ecstasy
Posts: 2,551
In early sobriety, the only thing we have to change is everything. I used the time to go to meetings and more meeting (at least one per day), read 12-step literature, be with people in recovery and hang out at SR. I also took a lot of naps, exercised and read a ton of books. Like our esteemed Music says, getting sober requires that we spend at least as much time on recovery-specific things as we did on drinking and using.
arthurdent brings up a good point. When I got clean and sober, nothing (and I mean nothing) was enjoyable let alone fun without drink or drugs. I had to re-learn how to live life all over again - from doing the dishes to going out to dinner with a friend. I had to learn to do everything sober. And, slowly but surely, the connections between drinking and using and certain activities lost their power.
Good thread, all.
--phinny
arthurdent brings up a good point. When I got clean and sober, nothing (and I mean nothing) was enjoyable let alone fun without drink or drugs. I had to re-learn how to live life all over again - from doing the dishes to going out to dinner with a friend. I had to learn to do everything sober. And, slowly but surely, the connections between drinking and using and certain activities lost their power.
Good thread, all.
--phinny
Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 18,299
I agree with Arthur too about not wanting to do stuff without the drink, or joint as it used to be for me (I gave up pot and started drinking more and more), and I agree with Phinneas it is about learning or re-learning how to live. In a way I am going to have to learn to be an adult at 36.
We all need each other.
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: The road of happy destiny.
Posts: 2,294
Honestly, now that I have some good sober time under my belt, I don't know how I found the time to drink before. I am leading a busy, healthy, fun, and fulfilling life. You all will find that, too. It just takes time--one day at a time...
Hugs--
Hugs--
Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: England
Posts: 108
Well I went fishing today, havent done that in an age and when I used to it was with a crate of beer! So just sat in a boat on a lake surrounded by mountains and fished and pondered ( and got wet as it pi**ed don for an hour). It was great, got home at 7 pm with 4 Rainbow trout, the hunter gatherer in me was well proud! So thats Saturday taken care of, now for Sunday there must be something on Carol's list I havent done!
Pete
Pete
Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: The Field of Dreams
Posts: 7,249
Originally Posted by griptape
So to those of you who are quitting, or who have quit, what do you do during the time you used to drink?
Free from Weed!
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: cali
Posts: 44
How bout a hobby, building models, painting, drawing, sculpting, electronics, woodwork, books, your car/truck, sewing, how bout buy a good telescope and explore the universe. Whats something you've always wanted to do but never have? Nows the time to study up on it and try it out.
Me personally I build robotic projects, ther are a thousand and one different robotic projects to do and compete with! Just studying up on it is enough to keep ya busy for a year.
Good luck!
Scared
Me personally I build robotic projects, ther are a thousand and one different robotic projects to do and compete with! Just studying up on it is enough to keep ya busy for a year.
Good luck!
Scared
Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: ENGLISHTOWN, NJ
Posts: 61
I joined a gym to get out all of my frustrations and to do something with myself. it really worked AND I GOT FIT!! I started to build model cars also. (I'm a tom-boy so it worked for me.) I also LOVE to color. That got my mind off of everything.
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