Oh well, there's always next year...
19 days sober. A friend decided to do “dry January” and I decided to join in and, wow, did not expect it to be this difficult whatsoever. I crave drinks all the time. I don’t know how I didn’t notice I was drinking every single night.
Having to learn how to actually manage stress and ignore cravings. Have been waking up without headaches, feeling more clear. Can drive to the store at night if I need to. Feeling happier. It is hard to resist sometimes but I’m glad I’m doing it.
Edit: thank you everyone for the support, advice, stories, and camaraderie. I’m not able to reply to every comment, but I do read all of them. Y’all are a really wonderful community of people and I feel really moved by this outpouring of kindness. ❤️ IWNDWYT
My boyfriends friend decided him and his wife wanted to do a dry January. I agreed, sure why not I drink every single day I could use a reset. I am now realizing I am having a way harder time with it cause I’m actually addicted to booze. Last night was my first night going to sleep with zero alcohol in my system. I fucking did not sleep at all and had cold sweats all night. To the point where I had to change my clothes 3 times. I don’t know if I can do this, I didn’t realize I have gotten this bad. Proud of every single one of you who are strong enough to overcome this addiction.
We're on Day 8 baby! IWNDWYT
- Haha, genau!
- Was, im Ernst?
- Aber warum?
- Bist alt geworden?
- Jetz' komm scho du M*uschi, nur einen!
Oh du mein Österreich ;)
Schönes Wochenende an Euch alle!
For all of the folks already on their sobriety journey, keep on trucking!
For the folks thinking about slowing down or stopping, this is for you.
Jan 1st is almost here. Now is a perfect time to do a little challenge and get a taste of some of the benefits of sobriety. I highly encourage you to pick up “This Naked Mind” by Annie Grace and read or listen to it (audio book) between now and the 1st. She even encourages you to continue to drink as you read/listen.
After the 30 days you can do whatever you want. But, you could just gain a completely new perspective, and at the very least, create a better relationship with alcohol.
Short challenges are how I got started and it’s made such a positive impact in my life. I hope this helps someone.
Here’s to leveling up in 2022!
Do you think it's useful to stop drinking alcohol for a month?
Why/not?
See you guys tomorrow.
Just venting here for a moment.
I quit in August, but my wife has kept drinking. This has been hard for me, but I had not really told my wife that I quit because I have a problem. I had been picking her up wine when I was out and she asked and that has been hard as hell on me, but I was t going to tell her that I could not do it. Shortly after Christmas I told her that I quit because I cannot moderate myself. I kind of got the feeling that she didn’t believe me when I told her.
Anyway she tells me she is going to do dry January, and I’m thinking this is great. I have a month with no alcohol in the house, and won’t be asked to get her wine from the grocery store. She’s been in a bad mood because she hasn’t slept well the last almost week.
Tonight I go and grab something from the store and she asks me to pick up some wine. I tell her I won’t do it because she said she’s was not drinking this month. Now she’s pissed at me! I’m sympathetic to her struggles but, come on. I tell her I have a problem and she still asks me to get wine. Seriously? I guess she really doesn’t believe I have a drinking problem.
Really pissed me off, so what am I to do? 6 months ago I would get black out and have a shouting match with her. New me is venting on Reddit and eating junk food in the grocery store parking lot sitting in my car.
Edit: we talked about it this morning and she thought it was okay because I had done it in the past. She agreed to not ask me any more to get her wine when I’m out. This whole open communication thing I’ve been doing recently is rad.
IWNDWYT
...hab' nicht gewusst dass es sowas gibt, würde mir aber als Gastronom sicherlich gut tun. Wie habt Ihr es so mit Verzicht bzw. bewusstem Konsum? An alle ein frohes neues Jahr.
I saw a fair few threads in December about the drink (not that awful WKD/Guinness combo, boke) and I thought I'd join ye in doing Dry January.
I know there's r/stopdrinking or whatever, but I thought it'd be nice to have a daily thread here for ussuns and themmuns to just shoot the shit over how bad/well our month is going.
I'll start first, NYE was blurry enough. I finished the night with a litre and a half bottle of prosecco (it was from Aldi, I'm not made of money) which I now thoroughly regret! Bingo later (family tradition), so wish me luck!
Are we going to be blue balled after a rather wet December ? I desperately refresh KSL hoping there would be a snow forecast but it’s all sunny.
Interpret however you'd like.
Alt theme: dripping
Theme posted by mathbender99 Tomorrow: Frantic
The plan was dry January but after 15 days with no hangovers, extra cash, glowing skin, lost weight, better sleep, thinking it might be a good idea to continue on. At 47 and a lifetime of social drinking (heavily), with a drink or two a night the norm at home, might be time for a change. It just became comfortable and easy. But after the last 15 days without it I realize how much alcohol has become a part of my life. I suddenly have so much more time and honestly I’m finding out who my true friends are. my boyfriend has done it with me and we both are amazed by our sleep quality and extra money, we both find ourselves talking and really engaging much more than we ever did drinking. So I’m wondering if anyone else here started out as just doing a dry January and continued with it and if so how did it work? My birthday is next month and we’ve been discussing what we’re going to do, and I realized I do not want to start drinking again and go back down that rabbit hole but not sure how to continue after the month ends. It’s weird everyone’s accepting of dry January but sobriety is a whole other thing. I can honestly say I feel at peace for the first time in many years and I know it’s not drinking….
Curses... guys I've been on a big slip up lately... I just drank 5days in a row... including yesterday which was supposed to start my Dry January! I was so excited to start dry january.... but yesterday when I woke up my period cramps were out of control , I didn't have the strength to deal with them AND make myself study... and then I slipped up and drank a bottle of wine.
Okay... so here's to badge reset number FIVE... hopefully I can be a little stronger today!
Anyone doing dry January? I was thinking of doing it, but it's sounds kinda miserable. However, I think it's worthwhile. Anyone want to join me?
EDIT: I created a subreddit for us so we can keep in touch during the month: r/DryJanuaryNOLA
Just needed a place to post that I did it. I didn't drink today. I'm proud of myself. I'm excited to hopefully double my streak tomorrow! Good luck and God speed to all the others who are doing it! I'm proud of you all!!! IWNDWYT.
Edit: just wanted to say how touched I am by everyone's support, encouragement, and camaraderie. What a wonderful community! I'm here for you if you need anything. I can't wait to celebrate day 2!
As a mid/late 20-something who moved here after college and has been into the brewery/going out scene for years, I’m doing dry January and am struggling with things to do.
I typically enjoy being outside/in nature but with January being cold and rainy that takes away a good bit of things to do.
Recommendations for sober activities? Besides museums, coffee and shopping (I’m regular at those).
Ah, that felt good to write. I love my daily evening cocktail or beer (or two). Last year I decided my daily drinking habit was probably not great for my health, so I did a Dry January. I completed the whole month, alcohol-free. It sucked! I had to find other things to do with my evenings, like a normal healthy person. I spent most of Dry January looking forward to Wet February. But fuck it, I'm going to do it again starting in a couple of days, like it or not. For all you people posting about how excited you are to enjoy Dry January and Sober October, good for you! Enjoy your healthy lifestyle! But is anyone else here dreading next month's alcohol-free health kick? I mean, let's do it, absolutely, but I don't have to like it, do I?
You’ve been quiet! Still there?
I made it to 7 days, but it hasn’t been easy. I sometimes get hit with cravings so intense they leave me exhausted and headachy when they finally pass. I’ve been eating a lot of pre-prepped meals because I just don’t the energy to think about dinner some days. I’ve never found it this hard to quit before and that’s a bit concerning.
I’ve done some online AA meetings and I have mixed feelings. On a positive note, I like the support and encouragement. It gives me something to do during the hour when I’d usually be getting my first drink. But I’m finding it hard to relate to the uniform story format of “I was a disgusting person, a liar and a cheater and a narcissist, yes I had past trauma but I can’t blame any of it for my character defects, I got clean when I surrendered to God.” I don’t feel that I’m struggling with a moral problem. I feel that I’m seeking help because of a physical dependency that kind of scares me. I don’t think that trashing myself to a group of strangers is really going to help me.
My therapist is very pro-AA so I’m looking for a group I like. So far, the secular AA people seem like my people. They’re like the Episcopalians of the 12 step world. They’re uplifting and positive and they don’t care about much as long as you’re sober.
My biggest fear was that I wouldn’t sleep, but chamomile and valerian are (as always) working wonders for me.
Thanks for being awesome, and good luck with your own recovery, whatever it looks like for you!
Day 7 (has the rest of the days links in there)
I'll add the links to the previous days in later when I fire up the laptop.
Our first Friday done and out of the way! I thought it would be a lot harder to be honest. I had a takeaway and then mainlined diet coke. Seems to have to have got me through it easy enough.
Had my booster this morning. Got some 0% beers for the rugby tonight. Anyone else think the 0% beers should be at least a wee bit cheaper than the normal stuff? Was in Aldi and 4 0% Hoegaardens were £3.99. I refused to pay it.
How's everyone else getting along? I'm sure the first hangover free Saturday morning for a lot of us has made a hell of a difference to your weekends.
As someone suggested yesterday, I'll start to include the previous threads.
Yesterday evening was tough going for myself. Had serious last day of the summer holidays before going back to school vibes about it. Got through it though.
That's the first book of the year read (Bob Mortimer's ...And Away, if you're interested). Definitely a positive of not going to bed half cut is being able to read a fair bit.
How's everyone else doing? I'd be amazed if I was the only one who struggled last night, considering I imagine a fair bit of ye would be going back to work today like myself.
Also, thanks to whichever Mod is pinning these threads every day!
How often do you consume alcohol?
At the start of 2020, I had an idea to do a "100 beer year": limiting myself to 100 alcoholic drinks over the course of the calendar year. This was about moderating my drinking, without committing to complete sobriety, and giving myself a few "outs" when big events came up. Getting down to two drinks a week (approx.) would've been a significant reduction for me and, I believe, would've allowed me to reset my relationship with alcohol. Good idea, right? (I appreciate some people advocate complete abstinence and that's fair enough too.)
Anyway, to get the whole idea off to a good start, I began with Dry January 2020. And then I just kept going. And then my daughter was born in April, and I didn't have a glass of champagne to celebrate. (Isn't it weird that life events are always accompanied by alcohol in many cultures?) And now, because I didn't drink on the happiest day of my life, there is no event that is "important" enough to break my streak. It's been two years now, and they've categorically been the best of my life.
So, if you're currently doing Dry January and feel better for it, consider rolling it over.
For me, I wouldn’t really consider myself an alcoholic, but I could sense the slippery slope into the addiction realm.
I struggle with a lot of anxiety and occasionally have been using alcohol as a stress reliever throughout my life. And over covid times (fyi, STILL working at home), I’ve been finding myself routinely drinking at home wayy more than usual. It was getting to the point where I was looking forward to drinking every weekend the get that euphoria back. Just something to do, y’know?
Then over the holidays I drank too much. When visiting family, we drank wine almost all day every day. I never got super drunk but my memory wasn’t as clear. Then by New Years I spent a few days with some close friends and my 5’3 self was out drinking my 200 lb 6 foot tall friend, I had a crazy tolerance. Every morning I would wake up with this sense of dread and doom after drinking like that (… maybe feelings of alcohol induced depression?).
Anyways, I felt like a literal toxin and I do NOT want to follow the path of my Dad (he’s an alcoholic with major depression issues), so I decided to do a dry Jan.
And let me tell you, I haven’t felt this great mentally in years. I quit coffee at the same time which honestly was more of a struggle for me, but I feel almost completely anxiety free 17 days later. I feel like a functional human again for the first time since lockdown… lol who knew it was all due to alcohol and caffeine!
Anyways, sorry for the long post. Would love to hear others stories and how they are doing so far.
This is my third go at Dry January. The past 2 years I only made it a week. This year I've made it 12 days (didn't drink on New Years Eve). Just curious, what were everyone's habits prior to DJ?
Speaking for myself, I would probably have 2 nights of the week (usually Wed & Sat) where I'd have 5 or 6 drinks and occasionally a day here or there where I'd pick up a beer and a shooter on my way home from work. I'm hoping to keep it to the weekend from here on out or when I go out go eat on a date.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Mostly a joke post because I have no one to chat with about it rn, but I’m finding dry January miserable and only because I have new whiskey from the holiday haul to try and I can’t open them. How do you take your mind off the (presumably) delicious stash from the holiday season just waiting in the cupboard?
For reference I managed to come away this year with the follow bottles: AnCnoc 24 Linkwood-glenlivet 22 (cadenhead) Deanston 18
You may expect a thorough review for the sub come February. Least I could do since I posted the bottles.
I’d also be willing to post a thorough account of my Glengoyne trip which is also scheduled for February, if interested.
And just like that we’re over the hump. If you are still with us. Give yourself a ‘well done’. What’s the plans for the week ahead everyone ? I’m hoping to get a bit of exercise in as that was last weeks plan and it didn’t really materialise. Keep er lit everyone.
40m w/ wife and 2 young kids. 6'2" approx 400lbs. Fat but strong and I don't look as fat as I am, which is good I guess! Well off financially so I no longer need to work. Sold business one year ago. After that unfortunately i went from weekend binge drinker (liter of whiskey on Fridays and Saturdays) to drinking most nights.
Some people may think money solves all your problems, but if you're not careful it can create new problems or exacerbate existing ones.
November and December averaged a liter of whiskey per day. Would wake up and feel the need to drink in morning. Had Shakey hands. Wouldn't feel good until I had a few happy hour drinks. Felt like I was on the verge of something very bad happening physically or mentally.
Dec 30 - Jan 1 I had two glasses of scotch per night. Jan 2 I had one. Monday Jan 3 I had none and none since. Also cut carbs to under 40 grams per day.
Did a dry January a couple times in last few years but kept smoking weed and occasional cigar. Taking break from those too for now.
Even at my worst (with the exception of a couple days) I was still swimming a mile per day. Now swimming two miles per day and feel like a million bucks.
Next Wednesday (1/19) I will be having drinks. It has already been decided. Then I will finish out the month sober.
My hope is to drink closer to that of a normal person after this month while continuing my current diet and continuing to add to my exercise regimen. Dry January in the past I didn't intend on changing drinking habits afterwards, just wanted to give body and mind a break. But the difference is I was just weekend binging then with occasional date night cocktail during week.
I've been reading plenty on this sub during the last couple weeks and many stories have been inspiring. Thank you to all who have shared previously.
Well, how we all doing? So far so good from myself. I discovered the other day that Pepsi Max Cherry is the nectar of the gods, so I have stocked the fridge full of that shit.
The DIY list was wrote up yesterday. 14 jobs of varying difficulty on there. Mrs BillHicksFan thinks it's an abomination to do any work on a Bank Holiday and I'm not one to argue with her. Therefore today's plans include me trying my best to complete Netflix.
Edit: According to local news the driest January on record was 0.7 inches. We are at .05 so far.
Had my booster yesterday. It's absolutely wiped me out. Other than that, had no drinks, so there's that!
How's everyone else's weekends gone?
