Sad & bored - trying not to slip up

I’ll hit the official 7-day streak of sobriety in about 2 hours. But I’m sad and bored and lonely. (AKA All of my usual triggers for drinking.)

I’m trying to stay the course, drinking tea and seltzer instead, but it’s hard today.

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You made a good choice coming on here to pass the time - lots of interesting stuff here.

I’ve had nights and days I’ve spent the whole day watching Netflix. It was a lot of TV but it kept me safe.

There’s a simple rule I use: you’re allowed to do anything that’s safe and legal, to stay sober. Anything.

Go for a three hour walk listening to audiobooks? Ok.
Eat pizza three days in a row? Ok.
Join a group you’ve never joined before? Ok.
Go camping? Ok.

Whatever. Your choice :innocent:

In addition to Talking Sober, meetings are a nice way to pass the time:
Resources for our recovery

Whatever you choose, remember why you’re staying sober. Drinking or using will always, always make things worse. You’re making a choice, today, so you can wake up tomorrow feeling good about yourself - and you deserve to feel good about yourself. You really do.

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A week is awesome! You’ve saved a weeks worth of drinking money by not drinking.
Do something nice for yourself. Pick up an old hobby.

You’ve made it through the worst of detox. Caving in to triggers will start that process over. Thats no fun. Being hungover isnt fun. Use the alone time for some self care. Maybe listen to recovery based stuff on youtube.

Quitting drinking caused alot of changes in my life and I felt kinda lonely at first too. it gets better.

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Thanks for this, @Matt. I’m in early days of recovery, and I’m beating myself up for not being productive enough, not doing the “right” things, etc. It’s good to remember that this is a major life change for me, and that it’s ok if I’m not perfect in all areas of my life right now, as long as I stay sober.

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It is a tough time at around a week, ten days. You feel physically better, and so easier to fall into the trap of maybe one is ok. Maybe time to really lean into sobriety video, podcasts, etc to get ur motivation up?

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Think about tomorrow feeling good in the morning.dont be sad be happy to know how strong you are and to look at yourself in the mirror and say I will succeed and change my life from where I am this is my 4th day the last 3 days were hell but today I feel good give it time be strong its just to break the habit