I’ve drank like a b%$tard for a lot of 2018, going to do my first complete dry January as of tomorrow. Join me?

[Exisonfire]

As it says in the title.

2018 hasn’t been kind to me, and the drink has been relied upon far too much.

I’m fed up of moping, and want to kick start a better year with my first ever complete dry January tomorrow.

Who’s in?

Don’t beat yourself up namechange - focus on the great reduction you’ve already achieved and cut yourself some slack.

Half way and I am definitely thinking about wine less in the evenings.
Mostly drinking water or camomile tea but have had the odd sweet snack like a couple of biscuits that I wouldn't usually have. Still better than booze though!

Can’t read it without paying, have you got a free link?

Back at WW last night and have officially lost 4.5lbs so far, and I'm back in target range and only 5.5lbs above my goal weight.

Day 17 and I'm feeling good, another great nights sleep, almost 8 hours (I just have to accept that I need to go to bed around 10pm to be able to get a decent nights sleep in.

Hope everyone else is feeling positive, everyone has managed to cut down a huge amount on what they were drinking before, we should all be very proud of ourselves.

Good to see so many posters are still here!
The worst is probably over for most but in the past the last 2 week have been hardest for me - I am over the shininess of the whole idea, I am feeling good again, less bloated, less guilty about the excesses of the Christmas season and just ready to get stuck into drinking normally again! But this time I have been working hard at trying to retrain my subconscious brain to understand that I want to have a different relationship with alcohol.
It's tough to find support that isn't evangelical about the demon booze and I struggle with bullshit, people make stuff up about dependency to convince you that abstinence is the only solution, but the reality is we all have a unique relationship with alcohol and we all have an idea in our heads about how we'd like that relationship to look.
This is a learning process for some, an opportunity to try to reset your relationship with alcohol - for others this is a quick easy way and lose a few lbs - if you goal is the former - try to make a plan now regarding the new habits you'd like to establish because things won't change in Feb without some effort on your part...that effort will go some way to convincing your sub conscious (the source of all your cravings) you mean business.

I can’t read the article sadly Vixen - what does it say about a nice cold drink?

Congrats on the weigh loss Screamqueenz, dh has lost 3kg!!! I don't weigh myself - dieting and weighing myself messes with my head - so I don't do it anymore.
Dreadful night's sleep - no torturous guilty thoughts though, so it wasn't quite as annoying.

Still here - only lost 2 pounds so far but any loss is good for me
Struggled a bit last night as its so cold and a glass of wine would have warmed me up nicely but resisted and had a hot chocolate instead.

I can't join you in giving up for January as I have been off the booze for 16 years now. But I just wanted to chip in and give everyone a metaphorical pat on the back and make encouraging noises.

When I gave up it wasn't with the intention of not drinking forever. I just woke up one morning with the hangover from hell and had the intention of giving up for 'a while'... which became 'a year'... which became normality.

If you need another incentive, just think of all that money you're not handing over to the government in tax.

www.wsta.co.uk/resources/facts-figures

If you need another incentive, just think of all that money you're not handing over to the government in tax.
Somebody's got to pay tax - that's half the bloody problem in the country - nobody want to pay tax and Government services and been cut to the bone!

Somebody's got to pay tax - that's half the bloody problem in the country - nobody want to pay tax and Government services and been cut to the bone!

I have no problem paying tax but as drunks, drink-related illness and crime cost our society so much time, effort, upset and - yes - money to sort out - it only seems right that booze is taxed to the hilt to pay for the mess it makes.

I just choose not to pay that voluntary tax.

I hope you're not suggesting that it's somehow our civic duty to get blootered and that we should all get steamboats just to help Hammond balance the books?

I hope you're not suggesting that it's somehow our civic duty to get blootered and that we should all get steamboats just to help Hammond balance the books Now that would be a very unusual reason. I just don'r think about money I spend in terms of not paying taxes - I make a choice to buy something at the price it is sold...I give very ligttle consideration to how much goes in tax and how much funds fat cats -on balance I would prefer the fat cats weren't funded - I'd be more swayed by that argument if I'm honest!

I just don'r think about money I spend in terms of not paying taxes - I make a choice to buy something at the price it is sold...I give very ligttle consideration to how much goes in tax and how much funds fat cats

I do. Which is why I've never bought anything from a McDonald's, stopped even thinking about going into a Wetherpoon's after I found out what a dick the owner is, don't buy things from Amazon - unless I have no option etc. etc. etc.

(All of which is UTTERLY off topic and I apologise for diverting the thread.)

I am over the shininess of the whole idea, I am feeling good again, less bloated, less guilty about the excesses of the Christmas season and just ready to get stuck into drinking normally again! But this time I have been working hard at trying to retrain my subconscious brain to understand that I want to have a different relationship with alcohol.

^^This, right here!!

Just came across this thread. I usually post on the ‘Dryers and Tryers’ thread as I’m not doing DJ but am making an effort not to drink during the week. Just wanted to make a couple of comments:

@leavby10 - I found your post about our unique relationships with alcohol very helpful. I read so much about how difficult it is to moderate and how abstaining is really the only way forward and it almost makes me want to throw in the towel. However, for the last few weeks I have worked hard on building a different relationship with booze and I feel much calmer and more in control whilst still enjoying a drink at weekends. Obviously it’s early days but I’m hopeful ...

@namechange2117 - I read the article and in it Lee talked about meeting a friend after work for a drink. His friend ordered a pint of beer and Lee had a sprite. Lee was looking enviously on as his friend took the first few sips and then put his glass down, relaxed back and sighed ‘that’s better’. It struck Lee in that moment that the alcohol would not have had chance in those first couple of minutes to register with the brain and therefore it wasn’t the alcohol which was inducing the nice relaxing feeling. It was more the effects of having finished work, being in a nice pub, chatting to a friend and enjoying (any) cold drink.

@Sandman - you have only quoted part of what I said - which looks misleading - to be clear I said/meant that I am not worried about the tax that gets paid and if anything I'd more worried about the amount that goes to the fat cats (hence we drink in local pubs and buy from small breweries) ...so paying tax on alcohol would never cause me to stop drinking, unless I couldn't afford it and then it would be the overall price, not annoyance at the tax that would be my motivation.

Anyway - back to Dry Jan.

I found your post about our unique relationships with alcohol very helpful. I read so much about how difficult it is to moderate and how abstaining is really the only way forward and it almost makes me want to throw in the towel.
The thing I've realised is that reformed drinkers can be as evangelical as reformed smokers, they have seen the light and they can't let it lie at that - I have a knee jerk reaction to someone telling me I can't do something because they couldn't do it, we all have to find out for ourselves what we are and what we're not capable of.
The new thing among dh's colleagues is weekend drinking actually more like weekend binging - but at least they spend 5 nights alcohol free and they no longer binge 7 nights a week - it's progress, might not be AA approved but it's progress.
I'm reading a booking at the moment Mindful Drinking: How Cutting Down Can Change Your Life by Rosamund Dean.
I'm thinking about my reasons for drinking and which of these reasonas I find it acceptable to me and when I don't, this helps me not drink on the nights where I don't find the reason acceptable.
For example: I drink when I am lonely and bored - this is mostly when dh is away working and now I am completely aware of it, I can plan and find other stuff to do - I don't need alcohol to keep me company and I will stop relying on it for this.
I like meeting my friends for dinner and drinks - I would still like to do this ...

Thanks for posting the summary Canshop - that’s the bit I was meaning.

Leaveby you have hit the nail on the head as far as I am concerned. I had got into the habit of drinking and it’s feeling good to break that habit and in the long term I’d like to approach alcohol in a completely different way. For me I think that will involve not drinking at home as that is just too easy but I can see a time when I would be happy to drink “mindfully” out to dinner or at a friend’s house. I find it easy to moderate on those occasions anyway whereas at home, not so much...!

Thanks Leavby - you make a lot of sense. I’ll have a look at that book.

Another thing I have noticed this year is the amount of booze that gets consumed on a frequent basis on boxsets. That glamorous lifestyle, that lovely big glass, that big sigh as the beautiful people take their first sip and all their problems melt away - and I want some of that - I want a piece of that bliss and I can have it easily - it's in my cupboard. I am probably watching more American Netflix type things - so maybe when dh is working away from home - reading would be a better activity for me - less triggering.
Anyone else feel tempted when they watch characters on tv drink?

That’s fab ScreamAre you missing the booze?

My problem is I want to drink. I have no intention of giving up permanently. But I am indulgent by nature ie I clear my plate, can’t just have one piece of choc etc. And it’s the same with alcohol.I don’t think I’m addicted but I just enjoy it too much.So reigning in the enjoyment feels so miserable.

Hate to say this on this thread but this is my 3rd DJ and it hasn’t reset my relationship with alcohol yet.

Evening all.

17 days in, I feel terrific but ,fuck me, January is a bloody long month.

Lol, holy, amen to that!

I am finding it difficult, however, we do have booze in the house, including a bottle of red wine on the side which DH hasn't managed to hide from me (I asked if he would so I wouldn't get tempted). I haven't felt that a really wanted to open it, but I am very stubborn, and it's more important to me to prove I can do this than it is to have the release of a drink.

Leave thanks for the book recommendation, I'll check that out, it sounds perfect for me.

Dh and I have really been enjoying alcohol free beers - they have improved enormously, previously I tried them but they were just so awful, so I ordered another mixed case from wisebartender.co.uk...I think we are going to continue to drink them in February. Dh gets more out of them than me - he'll have a couple a night.

leave I’m going to order from wisebartender, not wine but a decent fake beer or spirit. I’ve also enjoyed Nanny State ale which tastes pretty good but needs to be icy cold to hit the spot.