Quitting alcohol gives you hours back every day — what are you going to do with them?

I quit drinking alcohol and caffeine 17 days ago, and I have run into an unexpected challenge.

I have many, many more hours to fill in my day.

I’m not just talking about the hours you piss away drunk on the couch in front of the TV or the internet doing, well, nothing much.

For a lot of people, myself included, drinking was a way to kill boredom or, as an ADHD person, slow my brain down and “relax” during my waking hours.

The relaxation lie

This is all a scam, of course. While you might consider yourself to be “relaxing”, you are in fact pouring gasoline on the embers of any anxiety or dissatisfaction you may have crackling under the surface. You’re just delaying those feelings, knowing they’re going to hit even harder when you sober up.

The main reason for this, outside of the neurochemical addiction and anxiety you’ll feel as you start craving the drug again, is that your sleep is going to be 10x improved.

I wrote a bit about my caffeine addiction’s contribution to this and how much better things are now, but you all know how much alcohol disrupts your sleep. You go to bed too late, you wake up all night as your digestion and liver and kidneys struggle with processing the drug, your sleep is light and unsatisfying, and you often wake up earlier than you intended to for the day.

In the morning, you’re left feeling tired, annoyed, anxious and filled with regret.

Moments after waking up, you’re already looking forward to going back to bed that night.

Better sleep means more free time

Since quitting, not only is my sleep deeper, more restorative and more consistent — I need less of it to actually feel rested.

When I was drinking, I’d be in bed for probably 8 hours a night of total garbage sleep.

Now, I find myself sleeping for 6–7 hours a night, yet I wake up feeling energized and have consistent energy throughout the day.

I sure has hell wouldn’t have written a dozen Medium articles over the past week if I were drinking alcohol at night and putting my brain on the fritz with caffeine during the day.

Here’s the challenge for the newly sober: those idle hours now need to be filled with some (positive) activity.

Time to kill

As I’ve stated on numerous occasions, I’m not good with sitting still. A few days ago, I wrote about what the musician James Taylor taught me about sobriety and accepting myself.

I think what he says bears repeating here for those of you who, like me, are simply uncomfortable doing what most people consider “relaxing.”

From James:

“The way I felt about it was that, the way I’ve come to feel about it, is that I was probably, like, rowing some Viking boat across the seas in a former life. And when you sit me down in a sort of suburban context, my nervous system and my body and my entire wiring is just not ready for it.

“I’m ready for something else. I’m ready for war, I’m ready to battle the elements or to raid villages or defend villages. But I’m not comfortable on the couch watching baseball.”

Like James Taylor, I got really into exercising to get that natural boost of feel-good chemicals and pass the time. I also started writing here on Medium a lot. I find it fun and rewarding.

Find your passion

The good news is you’ll now have a lot more energy to use these newfound hours for something that’s actually productive.

The point is, if you’re still drinking and want to quit, or are in the early stanges of quitting and are finding yourself at loose ends, you need to start thinking about what you’re going to do with your newfound freedom that isn’t destructive.

Will you go to the gym? Go for long walks and listen to audiobooks and podcasts? Take up music or art? Get a part-time job? Fix up your house?

Try to think of something rewarding to do. I don’t think planning to binge-watch Netflix and play video games is a plan, to be honest.

Have you quit alcohol and had to find ways to fill your idle hours so you stay out of trouble? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

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