Boredom is often simply a state of awareness that shows up just prior to the surfacing of difficult, painful thoughts and feelings we have pushed away from our conscious awareness. Whether you know you want to stop drinking and live an alcohol free life, are sober curious, or are in recovery this podcast is for you. I discovered tapping and other ways of relaxing myself that are really interesting. Another woman on my call said that she had found during quarantine a local farm that did vegetable deliveries and also the freshest eggs she’s ever seen.
Eliminate alcohol from your living space
With lower rewards, normal behaviors are less appealing, and people find themselves feeling bored. That unwanted feeling in addiction recovery is boredom, but it is fueled by the impact of substance use in the brain. If you find yourself bored without alcohol or drinking simply because you’re bored, you might be developing an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Regular drinking is often considered socially appropriate and normal, but if your drinking extends to when you’re alone, that’s a red flag.
- That latter experience feeling like everything is gray and dull and lacks meaning?
- This cycle can lead to unhealthy consumption patterns when feeling anxious or overwhelmed.
- It’d be far from the first time I drank on the job, even though I know it’s not a good idea obviously.
The Sober School
Your relationships are strained, either because you’re irritable, which is so normal, or because your spouse is adjusting to navigating you without drinking or because they’re still drinking. And every day, you are navigating your entire life. Without alcohol, you are getting up and getting dressed without a hangover. You are working and dealing with your boss and your co-workers without thinking about if you have enough wine at home at the end of the day. You’re sidestepping offers for office happy hours, or zoom happy hours. But believe me when I tell you that I realized that longer term sobriety was an exciting new adventure.
Create your username and password
The winter months often meet a halt to favorite outdoor activities. This shift in routine, coupled with earlier darkness and cold temperatures, can lead to SAD. Once SAD and downtime collide, bored drinking can result. Sure, having a single drink while alone might not seem like a problem if you eat well and exercise. But if you add it to the drinks you have with friends and that everyday glass of wine with dinner, your total number of weekly drinks can increase rapidly. Being alone doesn’t automatically make a person bored.
- And if I did nothing else, I was like, Okay, I did that today.
- Parties, seasonal events, family meals or work gatherings might spring to mind.
- Predictable plans lead to predictable behavior.
- Given the ubiquitous nature of alcohol advertising, you might look forward to having that drink as soon as you walk through the door at home or meet your pals at a bar.
- However, boredom drinking can result in a damaging cycle that is difficult to break and can negatively impact ongoing mental health.
- By practicing self-awareness and reflection, you can develop healthier habits and coping mechanisms to replace boredom drinking.
This, in turn, makes you feel more bored more frequently, which reinforces the desire to drink, and round and round you go. The brain has essentially been rewired to find these natural rewards less appealing compared to the artificial high from alcohol. When you drink, it floods your brain with an artificially high amount of dopamine. Chronic alcohol use can dull the brain’s dopamine response. This is your brain’s way of trying to restore balance.
Finding Healthier Ways to Cope with Boredom
It’s even harder if your loved ones don’t support your sobriety. On the one hand, you have no idea what you’re supposed to do with yourself. A lot of people don’t feel good when they first get sober, so it’s totally understandable if your feelings are all over the place. If you’re at the point where you’re emotionally drinking and unable to derive pleasure from everyday activities, it can be a sign that you need additional support to break out of this cycle. The contrast between the heightened emotional state while drinking and the flatness of mood when sober can make everyday life without alcohol seem uninteresting – sometimes unbearably so. But when dopamine levels artificially spike (like what happens when we drink alcohol), that’s when trouble starts.
Drugs or alcohol can seem like the answer to boredom or emotional pain.
It searches for a spark, something to stimulate and captivate us. This might explain why, in such moments, we impulsively reach for distractions, like the remote or a social media scroll. Make a commitment to allocate alcohol-free days and stick to them, keep alcohol and substances out of your home, make a schedule to structure your day, and connect with a supportive group regularly. Swapping our routines and habits that are damaging you for ones that can strengthen your body and soul will give you a really clear reason why you want to stop drinking out of boredom. If you always have a bottle open when watching TV, then it quickly becomes a very hard habit to break. This is particularly true if you’ve had a hard day at work or with the kids, and you are tired or stressed out.
Sobriety itself isn’t boring
Not to mention alcohol also suppresses hormones related to appetite. So when you reach for a snack, you add even more pounds. If you do manage to meet your friends, the added drinks from socializing might affect your ability to get home, placing a burden on your friends. A sure sign of problematic bored drinking is failing to achieve hobby-related goals.
What I don’t advise is trying to tackle it by yourself. And if you need a place to start, we have a wonderful private Facebook group full of people wrestling with some of the same questions and concerns you have. After a while, you’ll https://ecosoberhouse.com/ notice that your interests start to narrow, as does your social circle. You only do things that revolve around alcohol. Normally, this helps us learn and survive by rewarding life-sustaining actions like eating or having sex.
Ever feel like half the reason you drink is out of boredom?
But oh my god, pets, and taking care of a pet is so joyful and wonderful to be able to cuddle them and to have a physical being that loves you and amuses you and that you have to play with. They were little Siberian Tabby brothers, when they came to us, they were two and a half pounds. drinking out of boredom It wasn’t even something my kids wanted or my husband wanted. But I was like this, and I love them so much. And I know so many people have adopted dogs, or gotten puppies during the quarantine, but also in early sobriety, and just the joy that that brings you is wonderful.