We go around on auto-pilot when it comes to certain patterns or behaviors. Stopping at the moment to look around at what’s happening, what emotions you are experiencing, sensations, and thoughts that are present, bringing awareness, and then making a choice. Start consciously thinking about your drinking routines and ask yourself what’s triggering that particular routine or pattern. Workaround managing and coping with those triggers by finding a different strategy that works best for you. Learning to identify the triggers to drinking is the first step towards preventing drinking out of boredom. Let’s address another reason life without alcohol feels boring.
- A few years ago, researchers at the University of Virginia did a really interesting experiment.
- My social circle changed when I got sober because I realized that many of my relationships were based on getting drunk together, and that was it.
- She enjoys playing board games and having home karaoke nights with her friends.
- But self-medicating like this is not just bad for your body, but it is also likely to make your mental health worse.
JILL GODING
Before AspenRidge, she spent six years in substance-use and mental-health roles. Jasmine takes a person-centered approach—humanistic and narrative—blending brief solution-focused work and elements of Internal Family Systems to build compassionate, collaborative change. Finding resources for ongoing drinking issues, even when simply drinking out of boredom, can make a world of difference. Catching signs of abuse early also minimizes the risks of adverse health effects and increases the probability of achieving sobriety much more quickly. The decision is often met with doubt, questioning if sobriety is attainable. It can also spark feelings of shame, guilt, and resentment.
Make a Schedule to Structure Your Days
While alcohol abuse is common, it doesn’t mean you have to face it alone. Downplaying the seriousness of alcohol misuse and addiction can have impactful ramifications. In fact, alcohol is connected to over 60 different cancers and diseases. Even when consumed in smaller quantities, alcohol can have short- and long-term effects. Also know what you are going to drink and select from alcohol alternatives. Bars are more frequently providing alcohol-free beverages to help encourage safe drinking habits and reduce risks of accidents caused by driving while intoxicated.
Breaking the boredom drinking loop isn’t just about saying “no” to alcohol—it’s about saying “yes” to a life where boredom doesn’t send you to the bottle. It asks us to upgrade the belief that alcohol is the only answer to boredom and to expand our skills for managing boredom with more empowering choices. If you’d like to explore this further, check out this list of boredom-drinking-interrupting activities. Now, working with sober curious folks who want to break their drinking patterns, I’ve seen how often boredom becomes one of the hardest emotions to face on the alcohol-free journey.
No wonder so many of us will avoid boredom at all costs—through drinking, shopping, scrolling, or, when all else fails…self-administering mild electric shocks. Back in the day, our ancestors didn’t have time to be bored. They were constantly hunting, gathering, building fires, and protecting themselves from wild animals or rival tribes. 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.
Why do we resort to drinking out of boredom?
Bite-sized sober curious tips + inspiration you can read while waiting for your morning coffee to brew. Twice a week, straight to your inbox—helping you effortlessly drink less without sacrificing the joy of life. Boredom happens when your mind is under-stimulated or disconnected from meaning—and we’re wired, both biologically and culturally, to avoid it. In a society that prizes productivity and comfort, drinking can feel like a quick escape from that restless, “something’s wrong” feeling.
About 20% of Americans with an anxiety or mood disorder such as depression have an alcohol or other substance use disorder. And before long, our brain would even stop searching for an exit or try to make the situation more engaging. Instead it would just default to drinking whenever a sign of boredom arose. We perform our jobs to earn money, use that money to escape on vacations, and then rise and repeat through the same loop again. And when the void creeps in, drinking becomes the easiest escape.
Michael completed his MSW at the University of Denver (2017), followed by a Family Therapy certificate (Denver Family Institute, 2018) and advanced CSAT certification. His lens is family systems (Bowen/structural) with a Rogerian, humanistic stance. Give us a call and we can help find the right treatment program for you or your loved one – even if it’s not ours! Nate Denning is the Lead Admission Representative at AspenRidge Recovery. Before moving to AspenRidge, Nate served as operations director at a local organization that has sober living homes throughout the Denver area. When he’s not working, Nate enjoys horticulture and is very active in Denver’s recovery community.
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- Don’t get down on yourself because you can’t get wasted at the bar with your friends anymore.
- During his time as a therapist, Justin has worked in a residential addiction treatment facility, private practice, and outpatient settings.
- Taking a personalized approach allows many families and individuals the chance to adjust treatment to best suit lifestyle, needs, and long-term goals.
- If nothing else, it starts to chip away at any notion you might have that you’re unworthy.
- We welcome anyone who wishes to join in by asking for support, sharing our experiences and stories, or just encouraging someone who is trying to quit.
If you’re like most people I work with, you may have been told that changing your relationship with alcohol is simply about “just drinking less.” But that’s misguided advice. We’ve been taught that feeling boredom means something’s wrong with us. The truth is, boredom is an incredibly uncomfortable state for many of us, and the lengths people would go to avoid feeling it may surprise you.
I drink because I’m anxious and I want to numb the feeling
It signals a feeling of satisfaction, pleasure, or reward, encouraging us to repeat the behavior that led to this good feeling. All these tips are here to help you prevent drinking out of boredom. They give you alternatives to drinking to fill gaps in your life. If you want to get better control of your drinking, drinking out of boredom you need to think about what your future drink-free life will look like.
Alcohol and Boredom: A Loop You Can Break
It’s one of the many ways you will relearn how to enjoy life again without alcohol. Right now, you’re doing a very hard thing, and sometimes hard things feel lonely. Fortunately, there are more ways than ever to connect with like-minded people who are fellow travelers on this path.
If you must dig WAY back into childhood for this answer, then do that. Staying busy is a great way to stave off boredom and create space for healing the parts of your brain that took a walloping from drinking. It’s particularly therapeutic to find something to do with your hands. Forming healthy connections with other people is an important of this process.