Hi y’all, I’m a boredom drinker and I am trying to keep my hands and mind busy. I’ve already tried:
Walking
Working out
Playing games on my phone
Watching TV/documentaries
Cleaning the house
Meal prepping food for the week
Reading
Feel like my attention span has gotten shorter and I am cycling through all these distractions without satisfaction. Thank you for any and all responses!
Everything you listed are life’s work and are required. I did some journaling in the beginning to help me put my thoughts and feelings into something healthy.
Oh, fishing, hunting and walking trails is something I do often.
But, sometimes there just isn’t shit to do and that’s when we gotta get stronger at being alone, or maybe catch a meeting or just do nothing and feel good inside our head. It takes time.
Sobriety first and everything else just works!
Welcome to our awesome community!
Do you have any hobbies? If you don’t, now is a good time to start some.Time flies when you’re doing something you enjoy.
Completely agree with Smitty! Sometimes you just have to sit with that uncomfortable feeling until it passes, the feeling of boredom or desperation for distraction- i know it very well. Over time you become used to sitting with those feelings and resisting the urge they bring, your brain becomes stronger 
i find reading books about sobriety really helpful for this, hearing other people’s stories and the negative effects of alcohol on the body is actually really interesting to me and really catches my attention, all the while reinforcing why I am choosing the sober life.
Wishing you all the strength you need to push through 
Start a vegetable garden, grow your own food! Do i need to make a list of benefits? 
There is a move called “The Sound of Metal” - it’s about a drummer in a metal band who suddenly loses his hearing. As a recovering addict, he feels like he’s on the verge of relapse as he has a hard time accepting his malady do he checks in to a halfway house for deaf addicts.
There is a scene where he is restless, so the house leader/sponsor has him sit in a room and tells him to journal or write anything until he can just sit and be.
He struggles with this exercise, immensely. It’s torture for him.
But by the end of the film, he finally stops, sits on a bench and just be’s. It’s a beautiful moment and one I can relate to.
This is a struggle that most, if not all, go through. It’s an exercise in mental fortitude to be able to sit and just be. To enjoy every moment as it passes, if when it’s empty.
Meditation can help with this, as does Journaling. 
You could add reading the forum to that list 
busy threads like the daily check in, meme wars in particular. I like the mental health memes and pet threads too.
Meditation has been mentioned a few times, it was huge for me when I stopped drinking. There are loads of threads on here with good app recommendations if you use the search bar 
but here is one with some YouTube links
I have fallen out of regular meditation practice but I keep coming back to it. One day I will get through this 40 day Tara Brach course
Yoga is another good way of developing mindfulness, a few of us are doing Yoga With Adriene’s 30 day journey at the moment
You also mentioned walking - there’s a thread for that too
Ah I saw that film advertised and never got round to watching it. Sounds really good!
I like listening to music. Make crossword puzzles. Play with LEGO’s. And spending time on here also helps a lot.
All of these things and made sure to join sobriety meetings either in person or virtual once a day and in particular the witching hours. I attend local AA and virtual The Luckiest Club meetings. I was a boredom drinker as well.
I’ve decided to take up Go again. I played it during active addiction but gave it up because, well, I got addicted to it too LOL. But now I have much more discipline I think I can handle it healthily ;D
And if not, well i’ll stop it again (much easier to give up than booze or meth etc etc)
But exercising the mind is so important. Gotta stave off that dementia right
If anybody else plays…
I drank while doing absolutely everything so when I quit drinking and taking drugs all the things I enjoyed stopped bc they were all boring. Turns out life wasn’t boring after all, it was me. There is so much out there to do but I couldn’t be bothered. There are times when nothing is exactly what needed to be done and I had to learn to be happy with my own company. The best thing I’ve found to occupy my time though is helping other people, it’s exciting, it’s a challenge, it’s always different bc no 2 people are the same but mainly it takes the attention away from me and what I want and what I should be doing. By helping others I help myself.
I plan on starting one this spring! Gonna do green beans, tomatoes, and corn for my summer beds. Going to try potatoes in some buckets too. Wish me luck, first time in about a decade.
I like this. I am working on joining a local group that does a lot of out reach and I’ve applied for the humane society since I much prefer animals to people.
Hobbies are awesome. Volunteering helps not just others, but ourselves as well…it is a win wintering! Getting in physical activity that you love is especially helpful IMHO, as well as journaling to get feelings out and meditating to help in just 'be’ing.
Learning to be okay with just our selves can be challenging and incredibly healing.
Lots of great suggestions in this thread!! 
Cooking, reading, listening to podcasts…
and napping.
Never underestimate the healing powers of a good nap. 20-30 minutes can really make a huge difference in your life.
I started oil painting when I quit drinking. It helps keep my hands busy and my mind distracted. Good luck!
Studies show that listening to a podcast or audiobook, whilst doing something that challenges your mind (a puzzle, crosswords, etc) improves brain function and intellect.
I’m currently learning 10 new vocabulary words a day to strengthen my brain. The years of drinking made my brain mush. One day at time!
Happy new year!
Give baking a try, if you’re making dough it can be a big time consuming process with really good food at the end. If it doesn’t work out no biggie, ingredients used are extra cheap. I was stuck inside this weekend due to cold weather and I had my daughter so we made hamburger buns and two loafs of bread. She supervised and poked the dough, she’s 2.5
Rock wall climbing is an idea if you have one near you. Extremely physically exhausting and the people there have a community that is pretty open.
I need to stay busy. But not too busy lol I feel better when I’m productive and doing positive things. But at the same time I can over do it, which leads to exhaustion, which leads to bad mood and ultimately using thoughts. So I plan… every night before I go to bed I write down my To Do list for the next day. I do a variety of different things. Things that are good for me physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and of course stuff for healthy fun. I’m very much about balance in life and not having 1 area more focused on the the rest. So physically for me is usually a walk outdoors or the gym, emotionally is self care related stuff (baths, essential oils, meditation etc), spiritually is connected to God morning and night, smudging etc, mentally for me is recovery related stuff so this forum, online meetings, reading recovery related material, etc. I try to choose abit from each and then I also make sure to take care of my responsibilities such as work and daily chores etc and once in awhile I try to get creative and try something new. Since my earlier attempts of getting clean I have discovered I love baking and dreamcatcher making. Life actually gets busy when ur clean and sober 