Dry January 2020. A new relationship with alcohol. Who’s joining me?

[ParanoidGynodroid]

It’s that time again!
I did my first dry January around 5 years ago, having seen it on here. It was a great thing to do: really helped my get control of my drinking. Since then I’ve done it every year, along with at least one or two other dry months.

DJ may help you:
Lose weight. ...
Get better skin. ...
Make healthier food choices. ...
Save money. ...
Sleep better. ...
Have more energy. ...
Improve your mood. ...
Improve your general health

and make you feel virtuous!

It’s not necessarily easy though, so it’s good to have support; especially if you’re feeling week and like you may give up. We can support each other here.

Join me!

I don't think I could do it😭 really impressed with the rest of you though I hope I can do it one day !

I'd like to join too. I like to sleep better and have a clearer head. 2020 is the year where i drink less, 18:6 fast and will run half a marathon

xmastreestar Come back!! Join us!

The first time I did DJ I found it very difficult as I was a habitual drinker, but I made it and you can, too.

The trick is (cliché alert!) to take it one day at a time: focus on getting through the evening, don’t think about the week or month. The days soon add up. If you fail one day you can start again the next. We can support you here.

I’m in too - I did it last year, wasn’t too bad and totally felt the benefits. 👍🏻

I'm going to kind of do it (I have 2 occasions where I will drink moderately). The rest of the month no alcohol. I'm going to dowkad the app and hope for a healthier 2020.

I’m in. I’ve done a couple and the ones I get in the penguin huddle have always been easier. I really need to (as I always do) but this year has to be re-set year for medical reasons I’ll bore you with during the long January ahead

What I really liked is the years when we’ve done something fun on the ‘tricky’ weekend nights. I love the haiku night we did one dry Jan when it was a particularly testing witching hour on a Friday. Can we do some stuff like that again?

Prep for me:
Purchase of my own body weight in Epsom salts to bath in (lots suggested it, no idea why it worked so well but it because a new evening ritual for me). Purchased 6 new kindle books - will read all 6 in January. Added specific drinks to the shop tomorrow - loads of fizzy water, lime, 0% beer (weekend treat) and cranberry juice. I also freeze ice and grapes to add to my soft drinks.

I’m aiming for feb 14th. Longest I will ever have done. I’m determined to do this. I pretty much have to.

Freeze ice? Freeze ice?? Freeze lemon!!!

I’m sort of in. Having two nights off as booked a weekend away. Apart from those two nights, I’m kind of aiming for half term as the end game. But actually want to drink much less this year (2018 I reset my relationship with booze and then got cocky with it in 2019

Count me in. I did it last year and need to do it again. At the moment I drink every night. This won’t be easy

Welcome newcomers 🙂

Nomorewineever - excellent idea about the quiz nights etc! I’ve been in the penguin huddles before, but not when they’d done that... what a good idea. I’ll see if I can come up with something to host.

Yes, the prep... what will everyone be drinking in the evenings? I don’t like sweet drinks, but I like light tonic with lemon, cucumber, cranberry or mint etc. Also various infusions: peppermint, chamomile and spearmint, lemon and ginger.

Most alcohol free drinks (that are meant to resemble alcoholic drinks) are foul and so sweet. I do like Becks Blue beer though... almost convincing!

I'm in. Looking forward to saving a few pounds and maybe losing a few too!

I'm in too! I need to kickstart healthier eating and binning the booze will be a massive help.

I want to read more books this year so hopefully that will help me. I need to sort this out as to relax I either drink wine or read a book. I need to choose book over wine.

No way. My birthday is in january and I intend to celebrate in style

@dementedma I remember your name from before. We’ve done it together I’ve name changed a few times. We can do it again.

I got some fancy hot chocolate for Christmas so will be substituting some evening drinks with that- doesn’t help with losing any pounds though 😐 other than that I tend to stick to tea or water.

Like the sound of quizzes to get through the tougher evenings. Fridays have become a bit of a habitual wine and pizza night- may have to become wine and coke instead!

I do have a few temptations left from end of term presents and Christmas gifts that I am determined to resist.

I'm in. I can't remember the last day I didn't have a drink, well since the 'festive period' has begun. I also rarely stop at one and it's become scary the amount of wine I can stick away.

It's lead to weight gain as I spend so much on takeaways after, my face looks dehydrated and my stomach whilst has never looked good, is now revolting. I can't stand the post night anxiety/memory blanks.

im deffo joining you its interacting wi my anxiety meds so no good.

Just here to wish you luck and to say I’ve done it twice and found it worthwhile. Both times it helped me reset how I drink alcohol, so much so that I don’t ever feel like I need to drink when I go out and a few years ago that would have been unthinkable. I now drink far less than I ever have. I don’t plan to do DJ this year but if ever my consumption creeps up, I know a month of abstinence at any time is a good thing.
Top tips: avoid social cues to drink the first couple of weekends; drink soft drinks from a really nice stemmed glass and use ice and fruit; enjoy your improved sleep!

I'm in. Have also done it several times with varying degrees of success. I'm actually going to start it tomorrow as have teens who are going out to parties and will need picking up later. We're having a little get together with some friends but they are not big drinkers so I won't feel out of place with a soft drink.

Did ok this year but after summer hols I kind of lost my way and have been looking forward to getting back on track.

The best things about it for me are feeling healthier, feeling livelier (especially Saturday mornings) and more upbeat. I've realised that alcohol makes me feel grumpy and pessimistic.

Have loved the penguin huddles of previous years, especially the Friday night games. See you all in 2020!

I'd like to do this too. I've had a difficult year and drunk far too much. I need to reset my relationship with alcohol completely.

I had a full term stillbirth in 2016 and used wine a lot to take the edge off. I desperately tried to moderate my drinking sometimes successfully and sometimes not. I then had DS3 which gave me a nice dry spell but my mums ill health in the last few months has lead me down the same path again I think. She is now super ill, diagnosed 4 weeks ago with cancer in her oesophagus which has spread to her bones so I believe we're on a fairly rapid downward spiral.

I am usually ok with 3 AF days a week but the days I drink I drink a lot and it scares me how much wine I can put away without really thinking about it. Since early December I've only managed a handful of AF days but I've drunk a huge amount.

It affects my sleep terribly (hence the 2.30am post) Mum was admitted to hospital today and I was with her all day - got home at 9pm and drank two thirds of a bottle of wine that was left in the fridge when really I just should have come to bed. Now as my 'punishment' I'm sat awake going over everything in my mind with a spell of reflux (ate late too)

I always feel and sleep so much better with no wine and I remember that all day until it gets to 6pm and I get that craving for a glass. If I can get to 8.00 ish then I'm fine but it's that time that really kills me! I need to work on ways to get me over that time and I'll be ok (ish)

I feel a storm brewing and I need to be in control of something so I'm going to take a stab at this and see how I go. Apologies for the long post but this will make me more accountable. I'm not good at posting regularly so I'm hoping being totally honest will help me lurk less and post more.

I hate sweet drinks so will be stocking up on tonic water too. When I've done DJ in the past I found it helpful having my evening tonic/Diet Coke in a wine glass. I think it felt like I'd swapped to an evening drink. I work from home so drink squash all day from a tumbler so this sort of marked a change if that makes sense. We had a new kitchen in 2017 and we had a wine fridge put in which has been great for drinks storage but terrible for my temptation. I try to keep it filled with soft drinks and not have lots of bottles of chilled wine shouting my name

Anyway, sorry again for the long post, I'll try to keep any others more succinct!

I'm in. Looking forward to the challenge. I'll be drinking clean gin (from the Clean Liquor Company) and Seedlip - both with Fever Tree Tonic. Will miss wine but I really do need to cut down.

I’ve downloaded the app but can’t get past the registration page

Impatientwino

I lost my dad 5 years ago and have definitely used alcohol to help. It helps getting me to sleep too. Thinking about it now though has made me realise that the unhappy relationship with alcohol was always there. I use it when stressed too (which is all the time ).

Here’s hoping for the reset

I’m in - have been self medicating with alcohol over the last few months and really need to rein it back. I need to lose weight (16:8, and keto), and get fit - and DJ will definitely help.