How to Cut Down on Alcohol, Even If You Don’t Want to Quit Drinking

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just a result of having nothing to do. In fact, boredom is a genuine emotion, akin to happiness or sadness. When this emotion surfaces, it reveals our disconnection or lack of interest in our surroundings or activities. It searches for a spark, something to stimulate and captivate us. This might explain why, in such moments, we impulsively reach for distractions, like the remote or a social media scroll.

1. Originally from Nashville, TN, Jordan moved to Colorado with her family at age five.
2. To unpack some of the underlying reasons you feel bored right now, it helps to understand what alcohol does to your brain.
3. But you can get takeout and have a picnic in a beautiful park alone or with a group or with your family.
4. Volunteering is a great way to reconnect with your community.
5. We want to isolate and sit with our feelings.
6. If you ever sit down to do that math, you will shock yourself with how much time went towards drinking.

Let’s address another reason life without alcohol feels boring. If you’ve created an entire social life around drinking, it is natural to be afraid of life without it. Originally from Nashville, TN, Jordan drinking out of boredom moved to Colorado with her family at age five.

On average, members see a 30% reduction in alcohol consumption in 3 months, leading to improved sleep, diet, and overall wellbeing. Alcohol is probably not the only indulgence in your life. Once your downtime ends, and you’ve made progress on your hobby or taken a walk, enjoy a piece of chocolate before your next activity. And to stay motivated, take a moment to jot down in a journal how you feel after making progress in your hobby. When boredom strikes and you find it more difficult to muster the motivation to work on your hobby, read these journal entries.

Why do I turn to alcohol when stressed?

You have to understand what you’re feeling and WHY you’re feeling this way in order to change it. 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. But if you can’t or aren’t able to do a group class, at the very least, take a tech-free 30-minute walk every day. I promise it will do wonders for your mental health, which, in turn, will help you feel motivated to do more things. Staying busy is a great way to stave off boredom and create space for healing the parts of your brain that took a walloping from drinking.

There are various strategies available to help you overcome boredom drinking and maintain a sober lifestyle in 2024. Stress, anxiety, and loneliness can all be potential triggers for boredom drinking. People may turn to alcohol as a way to cope with these negative emotions, but in doing so, they may be putting their mental health at risk.

Drinking Out of Boredom Becomes a Self-Reinforcing Cycle

If you’re ready for a consultation, contact us now. Boredom is a natural state or emotion that’s part of the spectrum of things we feel as humans, and we all experience boredom in different forms and at different times. Facing your unhappy thoughts can be overwhelming, and it’s natural to need a break or a distraction from time to time.

Myth: Taking painkillers before bed can help you get ahead of hangover symptoms.

If this topic interests you, I highly recommend listening to this interview with Dr. Anna Lembke, the author of the best-selling book “Dopamine Nation” (also recommend reading). Our brains like efficiency, so it takes note of the experience. Normally, this helps us learn and survive by rewarding life-sustaining actions like eating or having sex. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in your brain, essentially acting like a “feel-good” signal. Download my pep talk for a dose of inspiration to keep you on track tonight.

Do People Like the Taste of Alcohol? A Controversial Take

When feeling bored, many people turn to drinking alcohol as a way to enhance their experience and provide an enjoyable sensation. However, this can often lead to overindulgence, resulting in numerous health risks. 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 fishing, camping, spin class, yoga, Pilates, CrossFit, Zumba, Bootcamp, and Class Pass.