Many people choose to get a new hobby to fight addiction in an attempt to channel one's addictive energy into something positive as well as to get their mind off any lingering effects of withdrawal.  If you look at the hobbies that are the most successful for people, you'll notice that they all have three things in common: they are engaging, physically exerting and done gregariously.  If your hobby is something un-engaging and solitary like building model airplanes, then chances are you're going to have to start hitting the bottle again before you know it – but if it's engaging, physically exerting and done with the support of your friends, you have a recipe for a quick recovery.  Here are 3 types of those activities.

1. Play an Instrument

Picking up any instrument would suffice, but the most beneficial for a recovering alcoholic would probably be the drums.  Not only can it be done with one's friends that also play instruments, but is by far the most therapeutic instrument considering the fact that you have to bang them with sticks, which would be useful if you have any repressed negative emotions, which often plays a critical role in peoples' underlying causes of addiction.

2. Jiu-jitsu

Jiu-jitsu is by far the most physically exerting on this list, which is important because studies have shown that physical activities release endorphins that hit many of the same receptors in the brain as the substances that people were abusing.  Working out is probably one of the most effective "bait and switch" activities that one could use to channel their addictive energies into something positive, but because of its solitary nature and no structure (since you can go as much as you want, whenever) many people get addicted again, working out several times a day and even turning to steroids to fuel their new addiction.  Jiu-jitsu is not only done with the support of others, but can only be done at a designated time and place (unless you're talking about sparring with one of your friends in your living room).  This way there is a greatly reduced risk of becoming addicted to Jiu-jitsu compared to working out.

3. Skiing/Snowboarding

Skiing or snowboarding combines the physical exertion of jiu-jitsu with the group dynamic of playing an instrument, but without having another's man's sweaty crotch in your face or getting noise complaints from your neighbors.  The tranquility of skiing down a mountain can do wonders for many factors that contribute to addiction, like anxiety and depression.  Besides, you probably won't have any money left to spend on alcohol anyway at the rate that lift ticket prices are going up these days.