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Replacing Alcohol Works… If You Do It Right #alcoholaddiction #sobercurious

12 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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1:06

In this monologue Amber Hollingsworth addresses the question of whether it is unhealthy to replace alcohol with another activity, such as gaming. She explains that the healthiness of a substitution depends on what is being substituted. Replacing alcohol with another drug (e.g., Xanax) is discouraged because it merely swaps one substance for another and can lead to the same problems. Substituting alcohol with non‑problematic behaviors can be beneficial, provided the new behavior does not carry its own addiction risk. Amber outlines her strengths‑based coaching approach: identify personal strengths and “superpowers,” then channel obsessive energy into activities that boost self‑esteem rather than undermine it. She cautions that if a person has a history of gaming addiction or is prone to it, using gaming as a replacement could be counterproductive. Overall, she supports thoughtful substitution, emphasizing careful assessment of the replacement activity’s risk profile and leveraging personal strengths for healthier coping.

Chapters

Is it unhealthy to substitute one thing for another? For example, gaming to delay or replace drinking. This is a good question because it depends on what the replacement thing is. If you're replacing alcohol with Xanax, I'm going to say no because you're going to end up in the right spot. But replacing it with other behaviors that are not likely to end up super problematic for you, then I say yes. Replace it with something else. In our strengths-based coaching program, that's exactly what I teach people to do. I teach people, what are your strengths and how are you going to use your superpowers for the good instead of for the bad? If we're going to obsess about something, let's obsess about something that's going to work for you and make you feel good about yourself and not bad about it. Yeah, I think replacing something can be good, but you got to be careful if you're going to replace like one drug with another drug, or if you've had problems. On the surface, when you say gaming, delay or replace My overall thing is to say, yeah, I'm cool with that. Unless, like, you've had a problem with gaming in the past, like, unless you have gaming addiction or you think you could get gaming addiction.