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I have recently joined Oracle and got a mail from medi-assist for enrollment of dependent under GMC medi coverage. But I have ended up with login issue in medibuddy. Please help me with the further step, the window will be closed on 24th Oct. Amazon Tata Consultancy Infosys Cognizant Oracle Capgemini Wipro HCL Technologies
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Additional Posts in Addiction & Sobriety
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Super hard. I think that's the hardest part is figuring out what to replace your addiction with, especially because for a lot of us, our addictions are so tied to our relationships and social interactions. I had to work really hard to find friends who weren't drinkers (or drunks) and I replaced my drinking with rock climbing. It actually worked really well because it's a pretty fit crowd. People obviously drink while they're out climbing sometimes, but I've found a good sober crew and the physical challenge definitely helps get my mind off of my alcoholism
I had a really hard time. My dad started forcing me out of the house to golf with him I didn’t want to for the first few months but then I started getting hooked. I spent the next five years completely addicted to it but it got me out of the house in the sun and walking a lot it was the best thing for my sobriety. I don’t get to do it anymore but weirdly I look back and think it saved my life.
Thank you!
Bowl Leader
Welcome!
Here’s my experience; after getting sober, it took a while to figure out what I actually liked to do and what my motivations for doing those things were. I used to work out a lot while drinking, but it turns out my motivation to work out was driven by some form of sick “self-punishment” for the drinking, or to “sweat out the hangover”. It took like 6-9 months to get back into lifting, and even now, it’s quite infrequent.
I’ve noticed 3 categories when it comes to replacing drinking and drinking habits:
1) Distraction: We can get obsessed with something random and just pour our time and brains (and often money) into whatever the new obsession is. For me, it was luxury and vintage watches. Watches probably kept me sober for most of my first year of sobriety.
2) Replacement: A lot of folks can end up pointing their addiction away from drinking but right away at something else (this can overlap with 1 above). This can be tricky; a lot of folks (myself included) turn to shopping or eating or sex or cigars or doom scrolling or sometimes, we can take a healthy thing and take it to an unhealthy place. Working out is a good example of that for some people.
3) Self-Care: This is the healthiest outlet, but it can be difficult to sustain over long periods of time. It’s for this reason that it was important for me to learn what “healthy” actually was, and then learn to forgive myself (and go easy on myself) when I failed to do those healthy things perfectly. Some healthy things to focus on, would be meditation, fellowship, and anything that I can do that adds balance to my life.
In the end, we either want to ignore/cover/hide/distract/ or change our feelings, and that’s what numbers 1 and 2 above do. What I’m working on now is “feeling my feelings”, which is what 3 is about. I didn’t get here over night, and I’m in a second 12-step program, as well as see a therapist every other week. It’s one step and one day at a time, and we’re never on this journey alone. :)
That’s a well thought out perspective and response, thank you, D2, appreciate it!
While I appreciate and did / do all of the above shifting more toward (3) over time, I have a strange problem.
I’m 1 year in and came to spiritual awakening very early in my journey. Since then I have been pre-occupied with it. An unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Books, podcasts, forums, all that. Feels like the awakening process resembles birthing actually, with all the writhing and the moaning getting to a state of “emergence”. And that’s been a lot of my first year!
Anyone else faced with this?
I've lifted weights since I was a late teen, and it has monumentally shaped who I am, both figuratively and literally. It's been a double-edged sword of sorts, a playground flr my ego, and at the same time provides structure, goals, and the obvious health benefits.
I've come to understand that in sobriety the specif hobby is less important than how we use it in our program.
With that said, finding and growing my connection with a higher power that I still don't understand is what got and keeps me sober, the hobbies I've had along the way were merely distractions, places where I could relatively safely let a few character defects run amok, and also places for me to apply the new principles that I've learned to live by. Anyone looking to people places, thimgs, and hobbies to exend their sobriety are on shaky ground.
Thank you for sharing!
How much sobriety do you have?
When I first got sober, the first 3-4 months were a void. I didn't know wtf to do with myself. The days were SO LONG and I had nothing to do. I went to meetings. Around two months in I hired a trainer and decided to try lifting, which I had never done before in my life. That was only good for an hour a day. But slowly, somehow, and I don't know how I just kept saying "yes" to new things, or putting on my brave pants and just trying new things that I'd always wanted to try. And now at 17 months my days and social life are so full it's almost unmanageable. But it's only because I started putting myself out there, inviting people to try things I wanted to try, or if no one wanted to do it with me I just went and did it alone. The stakes are so low. Who cares? My main hobbies rn are lifting, hiking, sailing, and aa/fellowship.
I tried so many hobbies early in sobriety. From painting to building Lego, to crystals (I don’t know why that’s such a thing in early sobriety). I think you eventually find things that you like to do naturally, for me I like to follow sports. And I appreciate the additional mental capacity and effort I have to put forth into my relationships and skills / talents.
Yea you are in good company OP because it definitely took me some time to find hobbies and healthy outlets. I ended up having to try different things and just kind of figure out what was going to stick. There were definitely some growing pains there in the beginning.
It may sound crazy cuz I went my whole life and didn't know this when I got saved two years ago I would wake up to a shot of fentanyl mixed with meth mixed with crack and drink a 40 oz that's how I woke up everyday but when I turn to God everything changed. He knows it's better than we know ourselves if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart he puts the holy Spirit in you. He led me to a beautiful area where I got a family pool membership a gym membership a mountain bike there's tennis courts and Parks everywhere. The Lord made my housing better my transportation better and got my family back in my life. He showed me love that no one on this Earth has ever done or could. When you realize that spirit's in you he sees what you see here's what you hear and feels what you feel. He knows what you need when you need it and what you need. Six rehabs didn't work for me turning to God work the first time. I was a 40-year addict one of the worst now I'm sober happy for the first time as an adult and look forward to each day praise the Lord!!!
This is sort of hard to answer for me. I’ve always had a ton of hobbies so on one hand, no it was very easy to lean into them. However, the reality was early on I was using them as more of a bandaid for avoiding drinking. As I’ve done more things to work on more root cause stuff, hobbies are just that now. They aren’t a bandaid or solving for something. They are just part of a fulfilled life.
I didn’t use AA to do that internal work but it’s really necessary. Hobbies as a time filler are a great near term strategy, but don’t think they truly “solve” for anything.