One of my major stumbling blocks whenever I have tried to manage or quit drinking alcohol in the past was the worry about what I would do instead. But that is probably muddled thinking due to the effects of the alcohol on my brain.
Looking at it from another perspective there are loads of activities that I have never done or have started and then discontinued as a direct result of the time wasted drinking or recovering from drinking.
Some examples are:
1. Walking - always wanted to join a walking club and go on long treks through the coutnryside exploring the world around me.
2. Learn foreign languages - my garage is full of old language text books, tapes and cd's from my failed attempts to learn French, German, Mandarin and Hindi.
3. Learn to play the guitar. I have an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar in my garage. My playing ability after years of dabbling is to play about 6 chords.
4. Cycling - I have two mountain bikes and one racing bike in my garage, both of which have not seen the road for over 12 months.
5. Cooking - I was going to teach myself to cook Indian food. Bought the books ...... stored them in the garage.
6. Reading - I have hundreds of books that I have bought, opened to start reading, cracked open a can of beer and the rest was history. Woke up the next day on the couch with the book unread and a sore head. "One day" I would like to read those books.
7. Household chores. - we have a huge block of land with plenty of potential, but at the moment it looks like an overgrown jungle. Funny how I just never get the time to work in my garden.
The list could go on and on.
So in reality there is no shortage of things to do instead of drinking.
It's just a case of quitting the drinking long enough so that I can start and follow through on the activities that I have already started.
I made a start on this today by taking my dog for an hour long walk. This would not happen if I had been drinking last night, because I would have felt too lousy to even contemplate any physical activity, and I probably would not have woken up early enough anyway.
The journey continues.
Looking at it from another perspective there are loads of activities that I have never done or have started and then discontinued as a direct result of the time wasted drinking or recovering from drinking.
Some examples are:
1. Walking - always wanted to join a walking club and go on long treks through the coutnryside exploring the world around me.
2. Learn foreign languages - my garage is full of old language text books, tapes and cd's from my failed attempts to learn French, German, Mandarin and Hindi.
3. Learn to play the guitar. I have an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar in my garage. My playing ability after years of dabbling is to play about 6 chords.
4. Cycling - I have two mountain bikes and one racing bike in my garage, both of which have not seen the road for over 12 months.
5. Cooking - I was going to teach myself to cook Indian food. Bought the books ...... stored them in the garage.
6. Reading - I have hundreds of books that I have bought, opened to start reading, cracked open a can of beer and the rest was history. Woke up the next day on the couch with the book unread and a sore head. "One day" I would like to read those books.
7. Household chores. - we have a huge block of land with plenty of potential, but at the moment it looks like an overgrown jungle. Funny how I just never get the time to work in my garden.
The list could go on and on.
So in reality there is no shortage of things to do instead of drinking.
It's just a case of quitting the drinking long enough so that I can start and follow through on the activities that I have already started.
I made a start on this today by taking my dog for an hour long walk. This would not happen if I had been drinking last night, because I would have felt too lousy to even contemplate any physical activity, and I probably would not have woken up early enough anyway.
The journey continues.
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