Fun stuff to replace the fun drinking gives you

What fun stuff can be suggested that can place hold for the fun alcohol gives me

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Welcome Dweezy,

I don’t know if I can describe what alcohol gave me as fun. Maybe in the beginning years ago but more recently it was a very dark place with harsh consequences. That said, I now have loads of time in the evenings and fill them with paint by numbers, Knitting, journalling, decorating my journal, watching series on Netflix, cleaning and decluttering my home - one drawer or shelf at a a time. Going to meetings - in person and online. Cooking, reading,

There is not enough hours in the day now for me to do things I really consider fun. Maybe start making a list of the things you find fun and get busy doing them. Or if you are not sure yet try all sorts of things so you can figure out what is fun for you!

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Welcome! :black_heart:

Alcohol deceived me, pretending it held the key to fun, but it only poisoned my mind, convincing me that joy was in the chaos when all it brought was emptiness and pain.

In sobriety I have discovered authentic joy in romanticizing the smallest moments that fill my day. A hot cup of tea, in my hobbies, a good book, a walk with my animal companions to clear my mind.
Each day I find peace in the calm of knowing I am no longer chasing a lie disguised as fun.

Alcohol doesn’t need to be replaced. It just needs to be eliminated. :black_heart:

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Hey Dweezy,

welcome to TS :wave:

If you feel like alcohol has been providing fun for you, what kind of fun are we talking about?

I struggle to want to replace the fun of waking up in a cold sweat, full of anxiety, and dreading to think about what poor choices I mad the night before. There’s just nothing like it!

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Thank you. I’ve been trying to find stuff to do because I only ever think of drinking when the boredom kicks in.

Hey Acromouse. Thank you. Well the feeling of having been carefree for a few hours and enjoyed laughs with friends and family. Or just dancing to some music.

There is a lot of fun and that’s what hard. Beating the boredom these days since drinking and being with people kept me entertained.

Hi Amy. I can imagine, that feeling isn’t great.

Although personally, I always felt the regret gave personality and community especially when the poor decisions were made with friends and stuff. I do understand why some other people do not like the feeling. It’s a net negative feeling.

I’m very happy you have found better days. Hopefully I too begin to feel that way.

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Thing is, as long as you still cling on to it as a net positive, quitting drinking is going to be really really hard. For the longest time I kept thinking there was some type of benefit in ‘making memories’ and ‘epic hangovers.’ Took me a long time to realize that not remembering something doesn’t mean I had fun.

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Very fair point.

I’m a video games addict and this problem comes up a lot in gaming recovery circles. So, it’s aimed at a different group of people but I think you still may find it useful: I have a resource that I can point you to Links sometimes get flagged automatically on this forum so google “game quitters hobby tool” and click on the search result that says “Hobby Tool, Find New Activities to Replace Gaming”

Ignore anything that says “pdf” (that’s just trying to get your email so the site can advertise to you :face_with_diagonal_mouth:). Click on one of the buttons for what you want from a hobby, for example “Relaxing”, and scroll down to read through a list.

Of course you can instead also just google something like “list of hobbies” but I like this resource anyway. Or you could see what craft/sports/music/hobby groups are in your local area, or you can think back to what you enjoyed as a kid and see if you still like it now.

Figuring out what you were looking for when you turned to alcohol (fun or social or managing emotions or whatever) and then finding alternative ways to meet those needs is a fantastic thing to do for recovery, good luck! If you find something you really enjoy, come back and tell us about it?

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Love this!!! :orange_heart::orange_heart::orange_heart:

Alcohol lies, cheats and steals!

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