Dr. Daniel Siegel, the author of Mindsight, thinks of life as a river. To safely and optimally navigate the waters one must avoid the shores of rigidity on one side and chaos on the other. I alluded to this in the paragraphs above, but service work is the ultimate boredom buster. Personally, I meet this demand by going to church, getting involved in community outreach (soup kitchens, homeless shelters, clothing pantries), and going to tons of meetings. There are a host of things you’ve never done (healthier things!). I don’t think anyone is really a natural, but that’s another discussion.

Solitude can be comforting, but it can also make us spend a lot of time with our thoughts, ruminating over past events and worrying about the future. But it’s just occurred to me that a lot of my drinking is just habit or boredom. I had a nap after work and I have a beer in the fridge that I was planning on having later as my “last drink ever”. I want this beer about as much as I want to do my laundry.

Protect Your Peace Quotes: Motivational Words In Addiction Recovery

I shouldn’t say that, cause my life is pretty crazy. My life is way more peaceful drinking out of boredom than it was 10 years ago. But does it mean that I don’t enjoy myself more?

• I get to explore myself, my body, my people, and my world.
• Attending massive amounts of meetings turns into something that occupies all of your time.
• If you don’t get honest about this lingering phantom and continuously call yourself out on it, then you’re setting yourself up – just like the youtube to classroom conundrum.
• Guests feel safe, comfortable and supported at all times.
• Those thoughts often bubble to the surface when we’re by ourselves.
• Plus, it helps us with our emotional sobriety and wellness.

Alcohol robs you of the ability to feel naturally motivated and inspired. Those feelings don’t come back immediately when you quit. So it’s not that sobriety is inherently boring; it’s that your serotonin and dopamine levels are now very low. This is important to remember when thinking about boredom. I’ve been where you are, as have thousands of other sober people who had to learn to have a life again after sobriety.

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The old saying goes ‘an idle mind is the devil’s playground’ and that’s absolutely true in sobriety. It’s hard to be bored when you’re stoned out of your head or drunk as a skunk but take those away and you’re left with a racing mind looking for any excitement. Apps such as Cutback Coach and Moderation Management can help people create structure around drinking and provide tools to manage stress, she says. There aren’t many life experiences comparable to getting sober.

• Serotonin depletion can cause major mood swings and feelings of sadness, anxiety, and irritability.
• There are a lot of things you can do if your allow boredom to be your time for processing instead of toxic-time.
• In active addiction addicts spend the bulk of their time obsessing over their habit, worrying about where they’re going to find their next fix, and using.
• As a kid, whenever I was bored I would read a book, look for friends to play with, go for a walk, or make up my own games such as kicking rocks on the ground to see how far they could go.

Sobriety is not boring with so many places to go and see. There are so many daytime activities that you can participate in. There is an entire daytime world of experiences waiting for discovery.

Does A Drunk Mind Speak A Sober Heart? Not Exactly

That overcorrection is what you’re probably feeling right now. When you use alcohol (or any substance) to artificially boost serotonin and dopamine levels in your brain, you create an imbalance in the brain. That latter experience feeling like everything is gray and dull and lacks meaning?

If you are attending support groups, meeting people, and getting involved in whatever sober community you’ve connected with for support. There can be meetings, events, opportunities for service, and much more to keep engaged and busy. However, as days become weeks, and weeks become months, boredom may set in–this is very common. Handling emotions of any kind can be a relapse trigger, and this is especially true in early recovery. Boredom can bring unwanted feelings of restlessness, irritation, and low self-esteem, and it’s important to learn and discover healthy ways to manage these feelings. The mental obsession that can accompany substance use also takes up a lot of space in the brain, so as the mental obsession fades the feelings of boredom may amplify.