When the alcohol wears off, your problems will still be there, and you’ll likely reach out for more alcohol to escape them again. Whatever the reason for your boredom, drinking can create a negative cycle around it. So whether you are an absent-minded drinker or a lonely or anxious one, what can you do to prevent drinking out of boredom? Here are 5 tips to help you make changes to your drinking habits that could help you feel better, for good.
If your dose of stimulation is mostly a walk to the fridge, you might be a bored drinker. And while bored drinking isn’t necessarily problematic, it can sneakily become a serious health risk. Whether your sobriety has you wallowing in boredom or self-pity, please know that it will get better. Even drinking out of boredom if you have no idea HOW things can change, trust the process and keep working on it. When you get sober, you realize there is an entire daytime pulse in your city or town that you never really felt before. Things that people do during that day that don’t involve recovering or boozy brunch.
This proactive approach will empower you to break the cycle of loneliness, addiction, and more loneliness, ultimately leading to a more fulfilling life in the present moment. If you have someone you trust, let them know if you are feeling down or lonely – so they know you won’t mind if they check in with you more often. See if there are organisations around you where you could help out, that would love to use your skills and talents. If you want to change something, you first need to understand what it is.
I realized that sobriety was not fundamentally boring. Alcohol merely blurred my perception of social situations. I have gone to bars with people I genuinely like as a sober https://ecosoberhouse.com/ person, and I don’t stay for longer than an hour or two if nothing is happening. It’s hard to fill that time, especially when dealing with alcohol cravings and triggers.
Our brains like efficiency, so it takes note of the experience. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in your brain, essentially acting like a “feel-good” signal. Carole Bennett, M.A., is a family substance abuse counselor, lecturer, columnist and author based at her Family Recovery Solutions Counseling Center in Santa Barbara, CA.
But when you add bored drinks to social drinking, alcohol has the opposite effect. For many people, an antidote to boredom is picking up their knitting, grabbing a book, or writing in their journal. These healthy diversions fill a gap that drinking might otherwise fill. By removing the alcohol and making those necessary lifestyle changes, we increase the chances of becoming people who can enjoy the simple pleasure of life once again.