We shouldn’t drink to escape reality, dull our pain, gain the approval of others, or to lose our inhibitions. If alcohol is necessary https://ecosoberhouse.com/ for us to have a good time, to relax, or to be honest, then something is wrong. Perhaps a flaw in our character is being revealed.
Understand What Boredom Is and How It Can Trigger Drinking
Take responsibility and choose the more creative and productive path. If you are an adult and active yet bored with work or mundane, tedious activities, push yourself to discover new adventures or make new friends. If your job represents a form of security but is painstakingly boring, drinking out of boredom explore new possibilities for employment even if you never fill out an application or get a job interview. When children or adolescents are spending too much time in front of the television (or screens of any kind) or listlessly whiling away hours, it may be time to step in.
Take a Break From Alcohol and Seek Help
Sometimes boredom in sobriety looks like not wanting to be around anyone. We want to isolate and sit with our feelings. So many people quit drinking and end up walking around in a dopamine deficit state, struggling to find joy in anything. When you use alcohol (or any substance) to artificially boost serotonin and dopamine levels in your brain, you create an imbalance in the brain. When we feel bored, we notice our own thoughts. If those thoughts are very negative, then hanging out in your own brain isn’t going to be a great experience.
Tips For Avoiding Triggers That Lead To Alcohol Relapse
Some days are not very exciting, and some days are joy filled. Some days, I’m moving forward on projects that get me really, really excited. Drinking as a way to cope with boredom indulges in and perpetuates that passivity. It’s hard to think of a more passive activity than lying on a couch with a six-pack of beer. You may think you’re going to feel better after boozing, but in actuality, you’re reinforcing the notion that you need to wait for life to entertain you.
- If you quit drinking and experience any new or worsening mental health symptoms, please consider therapy.
- Let people know you want to see more of them.
- If executed early and properly, boredom will have no opportunity to lead to dangerous experimentation with potentially addictive behaviors.
- What this means is that we have personal control and responsibility for reducing boredom in our lives.
- It’s even harder if your loved ones don’t support your sobriety.
The very things you should be doing to feel better require a level of motivation you might not be able to fathom. Getting drunk did not magically change the dynamics of that situation. We were all just sitting around and getting drunk, perfectly content to not really do anything together. My friends and I got together for happy hours after work. During the day, there were all-inclusive brunches.
Just restart your plan and recognize & reflect on what challenges need to be overcome and how. Recovery is hard work, but we think you’ll find it’s well worth it. Call us today for a free, confidential consultation. Always have a list of people that support your recovery available.
There are healthy ways to deal with boredom and then there are the other options – the things we do to escape it entirely. I hope you trust the process and release some of your fears about what life will be like without alcohol. So for a woman who loves to multitask and likes to check things off the list. I was like, I’m sitting around not drinking but I worked out four times this week, five times this week.
- Now there were a bunch of other ideas that came up on the call that I wanted to share.
- You slowly transform into someone who can’t have fun or feel happy without alcohol.
- It may feel like all you’re doing is reading a book, watching TV, making tea, going to bed.
Alcohol artificially boosts serotonin and dopamine in your brain.
And slowly but surely, things began to pop up. Things that I remembered from ages ago, things that I had never experienced or done. Dreams that I had that I didn’t think were ever going to come true because I was so busy with work and kids and life. And by the way drinking and hangovers, and a singular focus on alcohol as being incorporated with everything I did. And in the beginning, it takes a little bit of work.
Understanding the Link Between Boredom and Drinking
Boredom is what can occur when you feel like you’ve got nothing to do and no real agency in changing that fact. If Dr. Carnell is right, what you need is a big surge of dopamine, so why not get physical? Exercise sends a rush of dopamine throughout your system (the same as snacking on some popcorn might), and it’s way more healthy. People who have naturally lower levels of dopamine are more likely to seek out and become addicted to dopamine-producing substances or activities like alcohol, drugs, and gambling.
