Filling the time that alcohol used to fill. Help please

[Metamorphosis]

Hi Everyone,

I have discovered your site and can see the great benefits of your community. I have recently been through a break up that was my decision but have three weeks alone before moving in with a new flatmate. Drinking wine at the end of the day ahs always been a favourite past time for me, but I noticed that being alone and having a lot of time to fill......that I waas drinking more than Iwould like.

The problem is what to do with the time when your head is being far more active that you need it to.

Any ideas from people who have done it. I would like to moderate my drinking.

Many thanks and Happy New Year to you all. :new:

[lushy]

Filling the time that alcohol used to fill. Help please

Welcome Meta!! That is the question many of us have...what to do with the time that you usually drink? It is really a simple answer, but it requires action on our part to go do something else during "wine o'clock." Read (I find it too hard to read when I have been drinking so good to do when sober), exercise, go to a movie, etc. Just do what you can to get through the time you would normally drink. I just did three days without wine this week and I found after the first night it was not that bad. Find something else to drink like tea. It seems boring at first but it feels much better the next morning that is for sure. And I just "allowed" myself a glass of wine because it is Friday and I am not ready to give up Fridays without wine yet, but I could have done it. A lot of this issue is a habit. You need to break the habit. Sounds like you are ready to make a change which will make breaking the habit easier. Stick around and visit the mods board anytime.....

[Metamorphosis]

Filling the time that alcohol used to fill. Help please

Thanks Lush,

It is good to know that it is doable. I think what I did was swap comfort eating for wine. I thought initially that it lasts longer and has less calories and then I relaised how nice i is to dampen your overactive mind. It is hard to admit that you have a problem. that is the most difficult. Thank you for your reply. It is much appreciated.

Cheers (perhaps not the best word to use.

Trish

[xtexan]

Filling the time that alcohol used to fill. Help please

Hi Metamorphosis:

I'm Neil, and Friday evenings (right now for me) are the real killer. That used to be the day of maximum drinking for me, and I looked forward to it. I planned so many things around Friday evening drunkeness, trying to get everything prepared just "right". I got pretty good at it. Plenty of booze, and reserve "emergency" booze. At least a carton of cigarettes, and some cigars too!! I would rent a bunch of movies before hand.

Then I would go out to the watering hole with my drinking buddies, and start in on preliminaries. Talk crap until closing time, and then drive home on a route that I had determined was the "safest" as in few if any cops. I got quite good at it. Then at home, alone, I would get the down and dirty drunk started. A few pain pills, and I was off and running for a whole weekend of blitz, pass-out, and hair of the dog. Great way to spend the weekend huh?

Anyway, the big void of sober weekends was left when I quit.

I took up flight simulations on my computer, which is pretty good. My first strategy now days when I get home on Friday evening is to do ALL the weeks laundry first thing. Then I always do some sort of exercise. This evening was a half-hour on the exercise bike (see my post in Fitness a while ago).

I'm reading more books these days, and also meditation using a brain wave machine. I am also doing my own video editing of various things, and making my own DVD's that end up being like the ones you buy with chapters, and titles, and captions and stuff. Very time consuming, and requires a lot of patience.

I never had time for those things when I was drinking, so you sort of have to learn to listen to your inner voices to steer you into constructive activities. This forum helps me a bunch too. Over a year sober now!

Good luck to you, and welcome to the forum! :welcome:

Neil

[betty boop]

Filling the time that alcohol used to fill. Help please

Hi Metaphorphosis :welcome:

I spend sometime in the 'wine hour' (thanks for that Lush). on this site.

After a few days I actually enjoy the sober time, Keep with it,

All the best , Paula :h

[Metamorphosis]

Filling the time that alcohol used to fill. Help please

Hi Paula and Neil,

Thanks so much for the advice! It is so good to know that there are other people in the world who have done it and are still going through it. It is a daily decision huh? I was meeting with a few friends last night and I told them about this website and they said to me don't worry...you don't have a problem....but we are all the same, we love our wine and can take it too far. I let them have their say and then thought that I would make up my own mind, which I have....... I have problem now but I don't want it to turn into an even bigger problem. So I will see where my inner voices take me and invest into something really constructive!

Keep up the replies, it is good to have people egging you on!

Take care and enjoy the weekend.

Trish

[Lotus]

Filling the time that alcohol used to fill. Help please

Hi Metamorphis:

I replaced my "wine-hour" with drinking flavoured water, but was still in a shitty mood this weekend as I wan't getting the effect. Fill your time with doing quizzes, reading, watching a movie. As I already suggested to Maxi and Daisy to look into doing a college course. That will occupy your time and it will be very hard to study whilst drinking.

Mandy x

[Accountable for Me]

Filling the time that alcohol used to fill. Help please

Be Kind to Yourself

My only suggestion to you is to be kind to yourself. Try to distract yourself with thing you enjoy... Like reading, movies, baths, walking, whatever is your cup of tea! Also I believe in the mental talk - tell your brain that you simply are sick and tired of being sick and tired and deserve so much more in life! I did that ALL weekend! Keep posting and reading. It has really, really helped me! I almost had a heart attack when this site went down yesterday... So glad it is up and I can read all of the inspirational posts here again. I may be substituting one addiction for another, but as far as I am concerned this is a healthier alternative to the drink. Especially for the first while!