One of the biggest fears we face when our addicted minds consider recovery is that we won’t have fun once we stop drinking or using. Being in recovery ourselves, we can tell you that fun absolutely does exist in recovery and in fact, it is a vital part of the success of our recovery.
Everyone has something they like to do for fun. If you don’t know what you consider to be fun, or you can’t remember what you used to do for fun, here are a few pointers for determining what your new sober hobbies can be.
1. Try everything.
If you are living in a sober living home or attending recovery meetings on a regular basis, then you are making new friends. As your relationships progress, you’ll be invited out to sober group outings and fun trips. When you’re invited, don’t say no. Make every effort to spend time with friends and go new places. Try new things, eat new foods – do everything you possibly can. Remember, your addiction stunted you. Essentially when you started drinking and using, you stopped learning and growing. You’ve got some catching up to do now, so take advantage of every opportunity you can and use it to learn as much about your sober self as you can.
2. Remember your best sober experiences and expand upon them.
You most likely remember what your life was like before you ever tried that first drink or drug. Perhaps you took family vacations, enjoyed sports, or had other hobbies. Most likely, you abandoned those memories or hobbies when your addiction took hold. Now that you’re in recovery and sober, you can begin seeking after those things again.
Perhaps you were abused as a child and spent your formative years living in fear. If that is the case, then you had a “safe space” that you went to or something that you did that gave you comfort. Now that you are older and always safe, you can explore that activity in greater detail in recovery. For example, one woman retreated to music with her headphones in a safe place when the fighting became too much in her house growing up. In adulthood when she achieved recovery, she began exploring her favorite musical instruments and took lessons learning how to play the violin. When things become difficult for her in life now, she finds comfort in closing her bedroom door and losing herself in her violin music.
3. Learn and develop a hobby.
It is said that idle hands are the devil’s workshop. While we’re sure that your hands are not evil, there is a subtle truth to this logic. When we keep ourselves occupied with positive, productive things, our minds gravitate toward positive, productive thoughts and behaviors. When we master certain skills, we become more confident in ourselves, hold ourselves in higher esteem, and have a greater sense of self-worth. A hobby is just that – an outlet of something we enjoy doing or learning about in a positive, growth-oriented manner. It helps us reduce stress while developing a skill. Cooking, sewing, painting, writing, and playing an instrument – these are all great hobbies and skills to develop that can be both fun and productive.
4. Talk to lots and lots of people in recovery.
If you’re still not sure what to do for fun in recovery, then begin talking to your friends, sponsor, and other people you look up to in recovery. Find out what they do for fun and how they developed their own interests and hobbies when they came into recovery. We learn the most about life through our relationships with others, and relationships are very important in recovery. Our spirituals selves need connection with others to thrive.
To sum it all up, we must learn how to have fun in recovery in order to be successful. We must build and maintain relationships with others. We must seek out situations that cause us to grow as individuals, things that boost our self-confidence and self-worth. The more we seek out these things and accomplish them successfully, the more successful and happy we’ll be in recovery. Yes, recovery is work, but so was addiction. We must put the effort into recovery that we put into our addictions.
A Work In Progress Sober Living for Women is all about personal growth and happiness in recovery. Our family seeks to build and maintain excellent relationships with each other and together we learn how to have fun in recovery. These two things are the foundational basis for success in recovery. To learn more, please call us at (818) 633-1719 or contact us using the email form on this page.