Things to Do Instead of Drinking
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When I first stopped drinking, I panicked a bit wondering what I’d do with all my time. That quickly took care of itself though, so it’s funny to look back and realize how silly it was to worry about that.
In fact, I was recently traveling for work, and when I mentioned I didn’t drink, he asked “but what do you do then?” Valid question, and I’m used to answering it.
See, this is always a question people ask before they take a break from or quit drinking. And it should be asked! But once you haven’t had any in awhile, you one day notice all the other stuff you do that you never got around to before. And it happened pretty seamlessly.
The first important thing to note is that your time actually spent drinking isn’t the totality of your investment. You’re hungover the next morning the next day, sometimes more, and even when are you forcing yourself to do things, you’re basically operating at 50%. That means whatever you’re doing takes twice as long.
Think about that. If you really stop to add up how much time you waste both drinking and recovering from drinking, you’ll notice it’s quite a lot.
This blog post is about all the things you can do for fun with your extra time. It’s time to try all the random things you’ve wanted to do but haven’t yet tried. Because an added bonus of giving up alcohol is an increase in confidence.
So whether you haven’t done these things because you didn’t have time or because you were afraid to, now is the perfect time to do it. You can try ju jitsu. You can take a Thai cooking class. You can join a tennis league. Really anything you’ve always wanted to try but never have.
First things first, you should focus on things you want to do and to which you’ll look forward.
That means don’t make it a goal to clean out a closet in your first week without alcohol. That will not be enjoyable and will send you right back to a bottle of wine.
Eventually yes, clean out that closet, but consider that part of your regular chores, not the extra time you have from not drinking.
I like to think of my extra time as “free” time – time that magically appeared out of nowhere because I wouldn’t have used it otherwise.
So anything you do with it would be better than spending it hungover and watching reruns of The Office on the couch without even enjoying it.
Long walks/workouts.
Here is something that you will find naturally goes with sobriety. Your first week you won’t necessarily be hitting the gym hard. And you probably shouldn’t. Don’t do too many things at once with too many lofty goals. Take one at a time.
But the point I’m making is that you’ll likely want to start working out.
The reason fitness stuff is a natural by-product of giving up alcohol is that you 1. feel a lot better, and 2. have more energy.
In particular, you’ll probably notice you want to go for long walks. (I love my morning walks listening to a podcast about Bravo shows). It’s a great de-stresser and takes your mind off boredom and the craving for alcohol it may bring.
Let me stress here that this shouldn’t be forced. It should be something you want to do, and that means finding a workout you like. That could mean walks or barre or Pilates or dancing. Whatever you enjoy.
Learn to cook. Even just a few recipes.
Cooking can feel overwhelming, but it’s really not. Think of your 5 favorite dishes, look up some recipes on Pinterest, and give them a shot.
As you get more comfortable with going off-recipe, I’d be willing to bet you get a little addicted.
An added bonus is that if you cook more, you eat out less. So not only are you learning something new, feeling kind of amazing that you finally did something that always seemed so difficult, but you’ll save money and eat much more healthily!
Here are a couple of my favorite healthy cookbooks great for beginners (easy recipes without a lot of complicated ingredients):
Volunteer.
Animals, veterans, a food kitchen, planting trees. Anything you’re passionate about will be a rewarding use of your time.
For me, volunteering used to feel like a huge time commitment. It’s actually easier than you think, especially with all this extra time!
Learn a new language.
I had always wanted to learn Italian, which was my nonna’s native language. I started learning it a few years ago but fell off the study train. After I stopped drinking I came back to it, and I love it.
Take a class.
Ballet? A foreign language (echo from the last point)? Glass blowing? (I think I’d be really terrible at this.)
Have you always been curious about economics or wanted to learn to cook Indian food (repetition from an earlier point)? Try googling whatever skill/thing you want to do and your general area, and you might find something that scratches your itch. Sometimes community colleges and city libraries offer these types of things (for cheap)!
Read a book.
I’m not suggesting you tackle Ulysses. (I’ve tried that at least 10 times).
Unfortunately too many adults haven’t read a book in awhile but have wanted to but “don’t have time.” Well now is the perfect time to dust off the pile that has collected from your sister-in-law/friend/mother. Or start a series that sounds good (so that when you finish the book, if you like the characters, you don’t have to say goodbye to them).
Join a book club.
A real one, not one just for the wine. There are all kinds around if you check Facebook – professional ones, ones for single women, religious ones – you’ll learn something new and probably make a few new friends!
Start a blog.
I mean, that’s what I did. After that horrible Christmas of 2020 in the hospital, when I recovered I started the website to help encourage others to be advocates for their own health, focus on nutrition, and pamper their livers. Find a niche you really like and just start writing.
I know this isn’t for everyone, but I mention it here because a lot of people are intimidated about doing it. You really shouldn’t be though – I’m a technology idiot, so if I can do it, anyone can!
Here’s a great blog to learn about getting started - she breaks things down into simple, achievable steps, and she’s also just a really lovely human: Blogging Archives - FinSavvy Panda
Plan a trip.
I’ve read at least 10 articles that mention that planning a vacation has many of the benefits of actually going on vacation. I can see this being true. I LOVE planning trips, even if I don’t plan on taking them for awhile.
And even better if I’m going on one soon. Sometimes the way I pick is by finding interesting excursions. It may be backward, but I often plan where I’m going based on something specific I want to do there as opposed to picking a place then planning what to do there. For example, I went to Taipei once just because I wanted to see the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, then figured out the other things to do there.
If you’re that kind of person too (or are curious as to what that’s like), I like to look at Viator.
They offer tons of excursions (I used them to book a one day private tour of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia…that wasn’t expensive at all) that might help you back into where you want to go.
And if you’re not drinking, you can put the extra cash toward actually booking that trip.
FYI, if you hate long flights, let’s change that!
Find a church.
If you’ve wanted to find a new church but haven’t really tried (been there – it can be daunting), recommit yourself to it!
Hopefully this gets you thinking about things you’d like to try but haven’t really considered because they don’t seem feasible with your current schedule.
I guarantee you’ll get more enjoyment and fulfillment out of these than you did with drinking instead.
Did I miss anything that you did to replace drinking? Let me know!
If you want an added boost for your liver, sign up for my free 3 day liver reset, filled with recipes I used to recover from two liver viruses that almost killed me!
