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When you drink because you are bored...then (Original Post) angstlessk Jul 2014 OP
Becoming bored with drinking is a fantastic opportunity. enough Jul 2014 #1
Hell, never thought about it like that angstlessk Jul 2014 #3
Ya know, we moved to Detroit because of financial difficulties angstlessk Jul 2014 #5
It sounds like there is a lot more wrong than simply being bored. Tobin S. Jul 2014 #2
If I abstain from alcohol I would be bored with my life angstlessk Jul 2014 #4
That's probably not boredom. Tobin S. Jul 2014 #6
Can't boredom be a useful response of a well functioning brain? HereSince1628 Jul 2014 #7

enough

(13,256 posts)
1. Becoming bored with drinking is a fantastic opportunity.
Tue Jul 1, 2014, 08:03 PM
Jul 2014

Trying not too sound too boosterish, but I mean it. It means you still have your brain intact. What is left is just being bored till the next interesting thing comes along. No way to know how long it will be, but it's sure to come. Or if not, just be bored some more.

I've always liked the admonition from Walker Percy: pretend you have killed yourself.

angstlessk

(11,862 posts)
3. Hell, never thought about it like that
Tue Jul 1, 2014, 08:13 PM
Jul 2014

You may be jolly well right...(I love English TV and movies)

angstlessk

(11,862 posts)
5. Ya know, we moved to Detroit because of financial difficulties
Tue Jul 1, 2014, 08:22 PM
Jul 2014

At first it was wonderful...then the sig other became the total controller..(see the movie Boxing Helena)....my next interesting thing is to walk around the block...

He claims, because I am white, here in Detroit all men want to either have sex with me or murder me...hell, why not just walk around my block?

Tobin S.

(10,418 posts)
2. It sounds like there is a lot more wrong than simply being bored.
Tue Jul 1, 2014, 08:12 PM
Jul 2014

Boredom is easy to cure in an endless amount of ways considering you are a free citizen. Depression? Now that's more complex. A lot more complex. You can start by abstaining from alcohol. That would be an excellent first step.

Tobin S.

(10,418 posts)
6. That's probably not boredom.
Tue Jul 1, 2014, 08:37 PM
Jul 2014

You are probably just so depressed that you can't think of anything entertaining to do. There are a million things you could be doing right now, but you won't do any of them because you have lost the ability to experience happiness and pleasure in life. Nothing turns you on anymore. It's not because of a lack of interesting and entertaining things to do, it's because of a chemical imbalance in your brain. The reason you've been turning to alcohol is that you've been self-medicating to try to ease your depression. The problem with alcohol is that it's a fleeting fix and actually makes you feel worse in the long run.

In short, you need help. An anti-dpressant could work wonders.

HereSince1628

(36,063 posts)
7. Can't boredom be a useful response of a well functioning brain?
Sun Jul 6, 2014, 03:58 PM
Jul 2014

If I understand the sense of boredom correctly, and I may not, it's a way the brain signals that it's time to move on to behaviors/experiences of something more rewarding.

Alcohol works on the reward/pleasure/addiction centers of the brain, but a fake reward might subvert motivation to act in a way that resolves possible causes of the lack of motivation and boredom.

The factors you name to be at work in your life...finances, relocation, interpersonal can each present serious challenges separately. Together that puts in place stressors across much of your life with a variety of threats; I can imagine how the combination could make moving on any one problem seem to be a likely trigger for crises in the others.

The resulting need to reduce that risk and protect yourself could be shutting down your ability to be motivated to make a move on any problem. In other words, loss of motivation may be a classic symptom of depression and or anxiety/fear.

That's a possibility you might explore with the help of a professional. A person with expertise, who might offer both a referral to a prescriber and some help with unraveling the complex knot of problems you face.


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