This might be a bit uncomfortable, as we often drink to reduce the noise of our own thoughts. But if you can spend time with those thoughts, you will be better prepared to make changes that can positively affect them. Andy drinking because of boredom explains how a straightforward, 7-stage process enabled him to change a lifelong addiction to alcohol. 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.
Incredible Books on Sobriety That Helped Me Quit For Good
I didn’t realize that my love affair with drinking was making me more anxious and less able to manage my responsibilities. Like many of you I started drinking too young, going to parties and drinking with friends, and I continued drinking into my 20’s slowly building the bad habit. From drinking on the weekends with buds, to drinking on thirsty Thursday and taco Tuesday, to having a few beers after work everyday to wind down and enjoy my time. I don’t have any trauma, I had a great childhood, I don’t drink to run from pain, I’m not an angry drunk and haven’t done anything super regretful while drinking. I continued to drink from bad habits and addiction, but also to hide from boredom. The normalization and accessibility of alcohol certainly doesn’t help when you’re struggling to stay sober.
Free 30-Day Sober Guide
Recovery isn’t always easy – but it’s worth the effort. Loneliness is a distinct psychological concept from social isolation and has been identified as a clear risk factor for alcohol related problems. When that’s the case, it’s a sign of deeper problems that need solving. And when I tried to hang out with people without alcohol, I struggled mightily. The brain has essentially been rewired to find these natural rewards less appealing compared to the artificial high from alcohol. If this topic interests you, I highly recommend listening to this interview with Dr. Anna Lembke, the author of the best-selling book “Dopamine Nation” (also recommend reading).
- Now I did a whole episode with my sober bestie Ingrid, where we talked about how to not be lonely and how to find friends in early sobriety.
- It’s very common for people, especially those with additional mental health issues like depression and anxiety, to drink out of boredom.
- That being said, if you are able to start your sober journey with a feeling of happiness, these challenges can be easily overcome.
- Or you lose interest in an existing hobby because it’s easier to drink.
- And I would think about what else I could do with my afternoons and my evenings that didn’t center around wine.
Getting Drunk Alone: When Is It A Problem?
But whatever it is, researchers argue, it is not simply another name for depression or apathy. It seems to be a specific mental state that people find unpleasant—a lack of stimulation that leaves them craving relief, with a host of behavioural, medical and social consequences. I’m not suicidal, I’m just extremely unhappy and alcohol was a way out for me; a bandaid to mask whatever was/is going on. I can have a million hobbies but it does nothing, no matter how interesting they are. I want to drink, I always want to drink…but I’ve already made it 20 days sober and I don’t think it’s possible for me to have just one drink. The thing is, this even seems to be the case for a lot of people who have busy lifestyles.
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. Eventually, this leads to an unhealthy pattern of emotional drinking that is much marijuana addiction harder to quit. To understand why drinking out of boredom can be so risky, it’s worth taking time to understand the role of dopamine in how we behave and make decisions. You need to figure out the cheese and crackers sitting in your favorite chair and reading a book. Or is it just fun and fulfilling and it makes you happy without the wine? I find walking is, for me, the elixir of everything.
Describing her therapeutic approach as evidence-based, Courtney champions a humanistic or person-centered approach as the ideal foundation. Originally from Boca Raton, Florida, Danny moved to Denver to study at the University of Colorado and earned a master’s degree in counseling. Danny spent the first nine years of his career working in youth residential treatment.
