Removing drinking from routine?

I'm a bit embarrassed about this. Long before I started drinking too much, I started working out to take better care of my body. At the same time I was going through a divorce with my ex spouse. I voluntarily left the bedroom in our one bedroom apartment and took the couch instead and that's where I slept for 2 years before moving out.

My ex was using me as a meal ticket. I was trying to save money to leave but then oh no, the rent wasn't paid and we are about to be evicted. We owe 3 months rent. My ex wasn't paying their part of the rent. There went my savings.. Twice. I ended up having to take over all the bills and still try to save, but I did end up moving out. We have a child together, who came with me and I have custody of, so that made things complicated.

My ex HATED seeing me do anything for myself. The only time I ever got alone was when I went for a walk late at night or when I would work out in the living room after our child was in bed. Over time, I started to drink to calm my nerves during my workouts. I wish I hadn't, but my ex would yell at me most days over pretty much nothing. At one point, my ex was absolutely determined to also take my workouts away and would refuse to let me be alone so I had to leave the house and work out at the local park. My nerves were constantly shot from the conflict and from just working as much as I had to in order to make ends meet.

When I moved out, I realized that not only did I no longer remember the last time I went a night without drinking but I also drank during every workout.. Which was every night (it's a simple one, nothing too crazy, and I've been doing it for 3 years at this point).

I am ready to stop the drinking. I'm out of the bad situation I was in and I am healing. But my workouts are still a very important part of my day to day. They stretch my stiff muscles that I tend to tighten when I'm anxious which is often, they let me mentally unwind, and they have done wonders to keep my body healthy. I had my first primary care Dr checkup in many years recently and while my triglycerides are a little high everything else is perfect. I can't give that up. But it also feels like my drinking is a part of it now. I tried to go without a few times recently and I found I was distracted and had a hard time staying on track.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has been through this in any way and if so, how do you break the two apart? I don't want to forever associate my workouts with drinking. I prefer to work out on my own as I have terrible ADHD and anxiety, so working out around others like at a gym is really difficult. So finding a way to maintain my routine but remove the alcohol from it would really be amazing. I tend not to drink much before or after it, but my workout is usually when I process my day and sort of recenter/calm myself.

Posted Dec 1, 2025, 4:11 AM UTC

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