Physical exercise and outdoor activities offer a great way to stay active, have fun, and improve your mental health. Engaging in physical exercise and outdoor activities can boost your mental wellbeing and help you resist the urge to drink out of boredom. Some fun and exciting examples of physical exercise and outdoor activities include kayaking or drinking out of boredom fishing, camping, spin class, yoga, Pilates, CrossFit, Zumba, Bootcamp, and Class Pass. By incorporating mindfulness practices and stress management techniques into your daily routine, you can effectively manage boredom and negative emotions without relying on alcohol. Surrounding yourself with supportive friends and family who encourage sobriety and engage in alcohol-free activities can be incredibly beneficial in combating boredom drinking.

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There is a strong relationship between boredom, stress, and drug or alcohol use. It’s therefore no surprise that during the pandemic, the rate of alcohol consumption increased among people that reported COVID-19 related stress. The pandemic has been here and, at the time of this writing, is continuing to keep our world in a state of flux. This puts those who have formed an attachment to alcohol in a very vulnerable position. Regularly consuming alcohol when you’re bored has both short-term and long-term effects on your health, even if it doesn’t lead to a drinking disorder. People often use alcohol to enhance experiences, but this kind of drinking is problematic because it makes you dependent on alcohol to not feel bored or to have a good time.

Learn to say NO

This provides quick access to those who empower you on your recovery journey. Surrounding yourself with people that support you can help alleviate possible remnants of guilt and shame from past behaviors. Take control of the aspects of your life that you have some influence over and watch the world change around you. Whether it’s your partner, friends or colleagues, ask those who know you for ideas of things you can experiment with to fill your time differently.

Start building healthier drinking habits today.

It’s a great way to boost dopamine and endorphin levels naturally. It’s pretty normal to reduce the entire experience of boredom in sobriety to missing alcohol and believing that getting drunk is the primary way you (and everyone else) have fun. Looking to the future, researchers such as Eastwood are intent on finding better ways to understand what boredom is and why it is correlated to so many other mental states. They also want to investigate boredom in people who aren’t North American college students.

During his time as a therapist, Justin has worked in a residential addiction treatment facility, private practice, and outpatient settings. Beyond her clinical practice at AspenRidge, Courtney finds solace in outdoor activities, sports, reading, and cherishing quality time with her family and beloved dog. Originally from Chino Hills, California, Chanel began her education at Gonzaga University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Philosophy. She continued her education at the University of Denver and earned a master’s in clinical mental health counseling. Chanel completed internships at AspenRidge during her studies and eventually joined the team as a full-time primary clinician.

• If your job represents a form of security but is painstakingly boring, explore new possibilities for employment even if you never fill out an application or get a job interview.
• When discussing boredom in recovery, I often suggest that my clients look at some of the activities they are willing to do to help pass the time when feeling bored.
• Curtail the screen-time hours and help your child look for and plan stimulating activates or hobbies.
• Drinking isn’t a personality, but for so many people, it is.
• She is a trauma-informed clinician who prioritizes the relationship between clinician and client.
• Drugs or alcohol can appear to take away the pain of emotional, mental, or physical challenges.
• But in Danckert’s research sample of people with traumatic brain injury—who are predominantly in their 40s—ageing seems to have weakened the link between boredom and self-control.

Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

• And it’s time to look forward to what is hiding underneath what you’ve been doing.
• Participating in new and thrilling experiences will show you there’s more to life than addiction that you can take advantage of in sobriety.

One of the biggest impediments to my sobriety during my relapse days was my inability to avoid getting consumed by emotions. When you get sober, you realize there is an entire daytime pulse in your city or town that you never really felt before. Things that people do during that day that don’t involve recovering or boozy brunch.

Originally from Boca Raton, Florida, Danny moved to Denver to study at the University of Colorado and earned a master’s degree in counseling. Danny spent the first nine years of his career working in youth residential treatment. After managing that program for six years, Danny moved to AspenRidge and now leads the clinical team. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America says that alcohol and other substances can worsen anxiety symptoms. About 20% of Americans with an anxiety or mood disorder such as depression have an alcohol or other substance use disorder. Alcohol’s reinforcing effects can be attributed to the way cortisol interacts with the brain’s reward system, causing a person to feel pleasure and therefore reach for more of it when stressed.