Sober living

The good news is that your brain can adjust and restore balance to your internal world. The longer you stay away from alcohol and give your brain some much-needed TLC, the less you’ll feel like life is dull and uninteresting. So it’s not that sobriety is inherently boring; it’s that your serotonin and dopamine levels are now very low. To unpack some of the underlying reasons you feel bored right now, it helps to understand what alcohol does to your brain.

First, a Quick Explainer on Dopamine

So many people quit drinking and end up walking around in a dopamine deficit state, struggling to find joy in anything. 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. Acute anxiety and depression from the withdrawal process can ease within a few days to a week. But for many people, lingering feelings of anxiety, depression, and general malaise can last weeks, months, or even longer. Exercise is a powerful way to rebuild your body in recovery and a healthy coping skill.

Treatment

Through coaching others, I have found that making time for important activities is one of the big bottlenecks. However, if you are able to schedule your time, it can be a game-changer. Most people set goals and think they will achieve happiness when they reach their goals. To live a great quality sober life, you need to focus on building it. The setting, working on and achieving goals is practiced by (almost) all successful people.

What to Do When Bored in Sobriety

Whether your sobriety has you wallowing in boredom or self-pity, please know that it will get better. Even if you have no idea HOW things can change, trust the process and keep working on it. It is very common for people to replace alcohol with sugar in the beginning, which is detrimental not only to your waistline and physical health but your mental well-being as well. It also opens up space to approach your internal world differently. One of the biggest impediments to my sobriety during my relapse days was my inability to avoid getting consumed by emotions.

Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

Even when consumed in smaller quantities, alcohol can have short- and long-term effects. Various factors lead individuals to abuse alcohol, including genetic traits, environmental reasons, and societal factors. Still, alcohol is a highly addictive substance that can lead to dependency, especially when consuming frequently and in drinking out of boredom large quantities.

• It typically occurs when we find ourselves disengaged from what’s going on around us or when there’s a lack of interest or enjoyment in our activities.
• There are many reasons for this, from previous patterns of alcohol use to brain chemistry.
• It is also responsible for regulating movement and emotional response.
• Another woman on my call said that she had found during quarantine a local farm that did vegetable deliveries and also the freshest eggs she’s ever seen.
• These may take up only a few minutes but will cut down on boredom and help you keep focused on why you’ve quit.
• For example, CBT might help you realize you look at boredom in a negative light.