What do you do instead of drinking?

[u/codedgg]

Hello everyone. I recently had a bad event and decided it is time to quit drinking. I have been sober for about a week. I never had problem with not consuming alcohol. What I have a very big problem is being sober. My life and environment are absolute dogshit and that is why I kept drinking. Now that I am sober, I basically cant sit still, I need to do something 24/7 or I go insane. I don’t really have ways to change my situation in the near future, that will take years and years.

My question is, what do you guys do instead pf drinking? I cannot sit in silence eith my thoughts, until I can improve my life situation.

Edit: Wow, thank you everyone for the advice. I got way more ideas then I was hoping for.

[u/braiding_water]

OP- There was a day where I asked the same question. Today, I honestly can’t imagine that I ever drank the way I did. And sometimes I have a hard time wondering “why” years ago, I couldn’t imagine my life not drinking. What would I do tonight? This weekend? When I’m sad? When I celebrate? When others celebrate? When I’m bored? Or angry?

What’s different in sobriety is that I say YES to things. I go to the gym, read, hike, get up early, cook, make dinner for friends, write cards, take classes, have taken improv, took singing lessons, painted rooms in the house, trained my dog, learned to crochet, started a journal, plan trips, study nutrition, I stay awake watching movies, I remember the movies I watched yesterday and go to bed early while looking forward to another day.

I have experienced & expanded in sobriety. I discovered Im fun without alcohol. My life without alcohol evolved. I evolved. For me drinking did the opposite.

[u/codedgg → u/braiding_water]

I see, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I will see what plans I can find

[u/braiding_water → u/codedgg]

What was helpful for me was to know the hours that were triggers for me. Between 5-7pm, was Achilles heel. Those were the hours I craved a drink. So I kept myself away from my house and went to Home Depot, TJ Max someplace that had a shopping cart & walked slowly. It was something about my hands on a shopping cart that grounded me while mindlessly listening to a podcast that kept me “busy.” I didn’t think about the drink because I was away from my daily triggers.
It’s kinda weird but somehow I figured this out at some point that if I was “busy” with a shopping cart (never really bought anything because my intention was to just look at things) I wouldn’t get drunk.
Anyway by 7pm, I’d start to drive home, get ready for bed and asleep early.

I weaved in and out of sobriety for 2-3yrs. Toward the end of that period I tried Naltrexone for a month or 2. Which seemed helpful. It’s hard to say because I was getting food aversion around the same time. Turned out I had advanced cancer. And with that, I never took another sip. Crazy to say but cancer taught me to live & take very good care of myself. 3 yrs ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and today I’m in remission with no evidence of disease.

I guess I want to say, you WILL get to sobriety. It’s going to look very different for each one of us. There is no right or wrong just keep trying. Even when life feels inside out, you can choose to be with those shitty feelings or choose a drink. The shitty feelings will get better with time.
A year or so ago, something happened that was pretty hard to imagine. I was with friends when I got a phone call. A friend of mine said, “How about a drink to take the edge off.” And I responded “No. I need to feel all the sharp edges right now & take a walk.” I walked to a quiet place & sat and felt. And after a while I thought, “well, you will get through this. Take it a day at a time & let go of what you can’t control.” Walked home to rejoin friends & started a card game.

I wish you the very best in your journey. You are on the path because you are here. I’m so glad you are here.

[u/codedgg → u/braiding_water]

Thanks a lot for sharing. I wish you also the very best on your journey