This is my biggest cause of relapse. I’m at Day 159 today and I’m new to this site. Can anybody relate to this dilemma in sobriety?? BTW my personal best is 13 months of honest sobriety. Any thoughts would be appreciated:) Steve
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As I never felt bored in my life I have no advice and can’t relate but welcome to TS 
Congrats on your sober days!
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Boredom is a common feeling in early recovery especially; many new members here on Talking Sober have shared about it.
As addicts we have a pattern of behaviour and our addiction is at the centre of it. We treat it like a profession: we invest money and time in our addiction, we have stories from our addiction, we feel the pull to go to it (just like that pull to get to a hobby or a passion). It always ends in the ditch but we repeat the cycle endlessly.
When we go dry-but-not-in-recovery, we aren’t physically doing our addiction but the patterns are still there. It’s like a waterfall where we build a dam to try to hold back the water (above the waterfall), then the waterfall looks boring. It’s dead and lifeless, no water flowing.
The problem with just building a dam, without doing more to reshape and redirect the water flow, is that the water level behind the dam just keeps building up and building up until BAM! the dam breaks, and we relapse hard.
To redirect the water flow, we need to learn new habits and new ways of thinking and behaving. We have to practice them until they become familiar. Gradually we discover healthy interests and healthy lifestyles, and we are no longer bored. It takes time and effort with other people in recovery, and it takes an open mind and a willingness to listen, learn, and change daily behaviours, but it is possible.
Personally I found the readings and groups here helpful: Resources for our recovery
Welcome to Talking Sober!
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Maybe join a gym and go to meetings meet new people bring them into your life ,or maybe try volunteer work occupy your mind take away the boredom wish you well
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I definitely felt like I didn’t know what to do with myself and thought my new life was boring without alcohol in the very beginning a lot. The thing is we spent a lot of our time just drinking and just stopping leaves a huge void ( at least for me it did) to succeed at creating a fulfilling new life we need to actively seek out new healthier ways to fill that time . To be completely honest it’s is still something I am working on myself. But I do find that because I am actively trying, those feelings happen less and less often. Also try to remember that often the “my new life sucks” “everything is boring without alcohol” thoughts are also your addict mind trying to suck you back in.
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Thank you for your honesty. I think you make a great point. My disease wants me to reach a crossroads where I remember only the good times while drinking… not the misery and consequences! I stay active with meetings and started a new garden from seed. The sun is out today and I need to relax and enjoy my sobriety. We are the lucky ones 
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Welcome! Like the others, I struggled with having too much time on my hands once I quit drinking, especially in the evenings. I embrased audiobooks and podcasts which keeps my mind intrigued and then I do what I like (or what needs to get done) while I listen.
Glad you’re here and congrats on the days you’ve stacked up so far.
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Boredom was definitely a trigger for me to drink. After getting sober, it took me some time to find ways to fill my evenings, which is when i used to drink. But eventually i realized what a lucky problem that is to have. How nice is it to have free time back again? Don’t give in to the fantasy of those skewed memories- you didn’t lose those hours to anything worth giving them to.
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I found that when you just take the drink out of your life, life will get pretty boring.
However, when you change your lifestyle, then everything opens up and you will rarely experience boredom. Fill your time doing something new and enjoyable. When I first quit, I started to learn how to cook and challenged myself to become better with each meal. It was a great skill to learn and had fun learning, and it was relatively no cost as I had to eat anyway!
What things are you into or maybe think you’d like to learn?
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Hi Steve,
Whilst we’re not drinking and not in active recovery, our disease is doing press ups and squats in the parking lot, keeping fit.
And always, always looking for a chink in our armour to weasel it’s way back into our lives.
Boredom and feeling that you’re boring are real killers, I joke not.
The key I’ve found over my 21 years of sobriety is to keep busy do things you wouldn’t normally do try new things.
Do things you don’t like or want to do, wash the car, clean house etc.
But most of all you need a recovery program, you can’t do this alone.
Without a program you’re just a dry drunk, with a program, worked to the best of you’re ability, you’re actively doing something positive.
You will meet new people, make new friends, have a new outlook on life, and most of all you’ll have F2F contact with people who really understand what you’re going through and speak the same alcoholic language.
Take and just don’t drink ODAAT.
&
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