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!

Just polished off the last of the AF lagers I bought on Friday night. Looking forward to getting over the half way point next week

Thank you @SylviaC and @7Days for the bucking up.

Have just eaten some of the leftover Bendicks mints hidden in cupboard and am going to have a hot bath and take @SylviaC suggestion and have a fire and snuggle with ddog.

I appreciate the solidarity-I admit to feeling so nostalgic about the Sunday nights that are probably annoying the rest of you-the thought of ironing uniform reminds me how lovely and fleeting that time of life really is.
I always miss DC the most when they first go back to Uni and am feeling a bit self indulgent and weepy but am proud that I have not reached for the wine!!

Had an unexpected plus to not drinking today.

My mum has a degenerative disease and I got a phone call a few hours ago to say she has been taken into the local hospital. She's a few hours away and it turns out this time I don't need to run up there (other family are there) and it may not be as bad as we thought so she might get home tonight.

But it made me realise that had it been more serious (and that won't be in the too far future to be honest) then I could have jumped in the car and headed up.

It seems odd to look at the positive but being over the limit would have stopped me being able to do that had it been necessary.

And I will have a clear head for driving up tomorrow.

@mumsiedarlingrevolta

Oh I do remember that feeling when they go, I have 2 that have left home. I'm glad you've found other comforting activities.

@Breathmiller DD sob my last to go.

I am def feeling very sorry for myself this evening and I'm sure will be brighter tomorrow but usually when I feel this way I crack open a lovely bottle of wine and am determined not to today!!

Nearly at the half way point, though my birthday is the 14th which has tripped me up before. Then have DS’s 18th on the 28th!

Struggling tonight.....anyone else. It even crossed my mind to have a gin because that's not wine! I'm not going to let myself down though...

mumsie, my eldest has just gone back and the house feels very strange. Things were a bit tense while he was here, due to attempts to assert independence, but I miss him terribly nonetheless.

No trouble not drinking today. DH had a shocking night's sleep after alcohol, again, and decided he's done with it for good. I'm going to retain the option at the end of this, but still stay mostly dry. I always drank less than him anyway.

Try Dry has awarded me several shiny badges today and I am ridiculously pleased!

@myhandsareverycold can you do something that keeps your hands busy? Sewing, knitting, drawing, playing the piano... Anything that needs mindful concentration in the moment? Colouring, stickers, crosswords, logic problems, jigsaws?

I have a roaring fire, a choc chip cookie and a mug of hot chocolate. Normally id add a dash of rum or whiskey, but tonight I improvised with espresso martini mix, which turned out quite tasty!

We could do a quiz to pass an hour or so?

Where does the name “ Pilates” come from.

It made me laugh when I realised that everytime I feel like I'm in any danger of longing for a drink (or eating ALL the crap instead) that I keep thinking to myself "I'll just go have a bath" .

And whenever anyone says they are struggling I want to suggest to them to "just go have a bath with candles"
Reminds me of that saying " how to love a child...if they're crabby put them in water"
That's me at the moment.

My very old fashioned granny who didnt drink used to say there's no problem that can't be helped by a good cup of tea.
We all look for our cruxes don't we? We've just gotten into the habit of that being a drink.
So we just need to find other comforts.

Oooh @SegregateMumBev

A quiz.
Erm...was the person who started pilates called Mr Somebody Pilate?
I can only think of Pontious Pilate though and I'm sure it wasn't him

Pilates? All sounds Greek to me

I’m off to sort out my clothes for tomorrow, and Then into bed to start a new book

Here. Sober. Into the week stretch and therefore feeling ‘safe’

@Iwillwear

Binged a couple of episodes of the crown. That did the trick. Great suggestions though.

Yay!! We made it through the weekend.
Who was doing percentages? im rubbish at working out %. What are we on?

Joseph Pilates

Mmm...
Maybe 38.7%? Does that sound right?

Another day done. mumsie - glad the fireside with ddog helped. You should also feel proud that you have weathered the storms of parenting and launched your DCs into the world.

I'm hoping that this time next year I might have launched at least one of mine although not sure that the guinea pigs will be such good fireside companions.

Made it through day 12.

Hmm going ok here in terms of alcohol free however seem to be replacing it with hot choc and too many biscuits. Fine one or two but not when it's hard to stop eating them. It's the nice ones left over from Christmas. When they are gone maybe this will be easier as we don't usually have that many in

My sleep is worse now, kept waking up last night. Anyone else?

Day 13: Here is a beautiful black cat with piercng blue eyes. You can stroke him if you need something comforting, or he may bring you good luck. Guaranteed not to shed cat hairs on your clothes. His name is Lorenzo and he appeared in my dreams last night.

I think it's roughly 3% each day, so today we will pass 40%.

Lorenzo love it

Day 12 and I am feeling more cheerful than I normally do on a Monday morning when I have to face the week with a fuzzy head from a couple of g&ts and half a bottle of wine with Sunday dinner. Much prefer waking up clearheaded.

I am really getting a lot out of the Alcohol Experiment, I feel like my thoughts and beliefs around alcohol are changing. What a lie we’ve been sold about it!

Feeling good about being AF here today, but back on the LCHF eating today. Not sure if that will help or not! Back in the school week, so pretty safe until Thursday / Friday now I think.

@Natsku, with the sleep - when I'm not disguising it with alcohol, I do find where I am in my cycle affects my sleep. Even post-hysterectomy, so no actual periods, the night before I'm "on" I'm way too hot and wake up what feels like every 20 minutes (I kept my ovaries, before anyone thinks I'm hallucinating). Could that be part of it for you?

(Or possibly I'm over thinking).
@myhandsareverycold, glad you found something to get through the moment!