It’s a way to care for yourself by committing to a practice that releases positive, mood-enhancing endorphins and alleviates stress. Finding a new activity and hobby such as working out can provide something to look forward to each day. On holidays, my sisters and I were allowed to have a glass of wine with dinner. While the taste was not exactly enjoyable, I knew I would keep drinking it.
Download our Quick Start Preparation course as our FREE gift to help you stop drinking alcohol and get the best start to your new life. In coaching Ria Health members through the early stages of recovery, many drinking out of boredom have shared that they feel a sense of boredom—as in having nothing to do—which has led them to drink to pass the time. So I think the very first step here is to simply assess your relationship with alcohol.
Additional resources to fight boredom in sobriety:
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 quit drinking and experience any new or worsening mental health symptoms, please consider therapy. Let’s address another reason life without alcohol feels boring. If you’ve created an entire social life around drinking, it is natural to be afraid of life without it.
At the moment, bored drinking might not have a negative impact on your work or family life. If you start noticing these side effects, it’s time to re-evaluate how you deal with boredom. If you know you will feel lonely or down, try and plan some interactions to reduce those feelings and your reliance on alcohol. 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?
Mental Health Treatment
Meanwhile, you’re at home wondering how many days it would take someone to find your body after you’ve choked on those peanut M&M’s you’ve been knocking back during your latest Netflix binge. When you remove alcohol from your life, you free up all the time you spent drinking and recovering from drinking. If you ever sit down to do that math, you will shock yourself with how much time went towards drinking. Alcohol robs you of the ability to feel naturally motivated and inspired. Those feelings don’t come back immediately when you quit.