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!

@GreyGardens88
@Notonthestairs

I’ve been having ginger tea, sometimes with a bit of honey if I fancy something sweet.

Ginger is supposed to be good for your digestive system and alcohol can inflame you’re digestive system. I think sometimes our bodies tell us what it needs.

*your

Wobbled at around 6pm but distracted myself with activity. Cooked a huge curry so yeah, strong flavours might be what I need!

I-can’t keep my eyes open tonight! Hope for a good nights sleep.

Another day done, well done everyone. Hoping for a better night's sleep tonight then last night.

Feeling more alert and more energy, did half an hour brisk walking today.

Exactly two weeks down and today was the day I really noticed some major benefits:

• clarity of thought and articulation at work
• massively reduced anxiety
• less procrastination.
• not sweating the small stuff

The irony is these are things that used to stress me out and had me reaching for the wine. I love it!

I think this is now the clincher for me. Of course improved liver function etc etc is a driver but you don't see the improvement. When it's so noticeable and improves my mental health and well-being I'm no longer waiting for the day I can drink but actually questioning why I'd ever go back to daily drinking!

Wishing you all similar epiphanies!

Minor and foreseen break yesterday - family birthday related. However there was no need at all to drink. That realisation was good and I plan no further such ‘breaks’ - no need for them !
I’m right back on the wagon if I may.
Support all.
Ridiculously the 9 days I did af up to Sunday is about the longest I’ve not had a drink for maybe a decade. Can’t believe how alcohol just became totally normalised for me.
Can feel a shift in my relationship with it.

When will I start sleeping better?! I’ve been awake since 4.20am, not helped by toddler needing a wee, but haven’t been back to sleep and now have a full on day at work including travelling to Gatwick later... ☹️

In the plus side I have been dry 12/13 days with a stretch of 8 days which is definitely the longest I have done in 25 years without a drink!

Hopefully good nights sleep will come soon Badger. It’s hard when you are exhausted. I’m sleeping better now, roughly 10 - 6, which works for me. Have noticed I want to drink more water. I have had a mild headache and dark pee for a few days. In my head, I’m imagining my fat liver detoxing. I do hope so.

Day 14: Here is Let Nidra, the Hindu goddess of sleep, sitting crossed legged on her water lilly.

2 weeks down, inclduing 2 weekends! The urge to reach for a drink when I get in is definitely lessening.

Hi everyone, have also been a bit of a lurker on here! I started the first week of the month with headaches every day, low blood pressure and physical shaking on the first Saturday. Have been using the dry January app since October and although I only drink between once and theee times per week, it tends to be a binge, at least a bottle of white wine so my units are really high.

Starting to feel better now! Am reading "this naked mind" by Annie Grace. My teeth have completely stopped blended when I brush, better sleep, clearer thoughts and memory, less anxiety but still tired.

Found last Saturday the hardest, was very bored but it's also January and I'm skint so that's also part of it. Am planning to occupy myself better on Saturdays now with cinema etc. Huband is doing it too which helps!

Another benefit is that I make childrens toys and hadn't made one for months but have finished as and sold one this weekend :)

I wish I could be sober full time really, wish the stuff had never been invented.

*stopped bleeding not blended!

Good morning all! Having completed 13 full days (if you have) that’s 41.9% over!
Sounds good, doesn’t it?

I think I’ve hit peak pollyanna in the morning today. Feeling really quite chirpy and annoying.

All hail Let Hindra! My sleep has started to get better on the whole but still waking up in the night for a wee I'm also doing Fast800 (yes glutton for punishment but it's really helping me because booze is so calorific it's just not worth it) so drinking a lot of water.

Client social last night, I really didn't want to go but had to show my face. I'd deliberately taken the car (don't usually drive) so had a ready made excuse to not drink and made my excuses early. Can't tell you how great it felt to be tucked up on the sofa under a blanket watching TV at 9pm rather than a bottle of red down talking bollocks with people who I really didn't want to be talking to beyond the first glass iyswim. Nice enough people but all a bit unnecessary. I would ordinarily have been one of the last to leave and often have another glass or even 2 at home .

Feeling bright(ish) and fairly breezy this morning rather than sick, tired and annoyed.

I think everyone's doing really well.

I spent yesterday driving to see my mum in hospital and realising that as she needs more care and support that not drinking and not having groggy mornings will give me more space.
When i stopped for over a year I achieved so much in my life.
Someone asked waaaay back how just not raising our glass to our mouth takes up so much of our time and how does stopping that give us more time. But it does! It gives headspace.

Loving Nidra the Goddess of sleep. (I'm a yoga teacher so very apt) Day 17 here and I am sleeping so well.

My DH is being annoying. I was saying how much better I felt for doing this and he said well, I feel much better for having this beer, drinking it in front of me.

I'm not letting him get to me, just going to see it as a challenge (I think he would like to drink less also to be honest). We can't change people, just how we respond to them!

Well done everyone. Keep it up, it's been easier than I thought after the initial few days have passed where I really did feel like having a drink. The whole DJ has helped massively as when I have wanted a drink I have been determined not to give in so quickly into DJ. I also let friends and family know I was doing DJ so that's helped keep going as I have been determined I don't want to admit failure early on. The thought of drinking vodka or gin actually turns my stomach now. Hoping to carry on past DJ but it's early days and I worry that the longing for a drink will come back and hit me massively. Will take it one day at a time. I don't miss the anxiety or the sleepless nights or the shit looking dried dehydrated skin. My concern was always what's it doing to the inside where I can't see the harm it's doing. Have been too afraid to google fatty liver. Sorry for the long essay but it's good to write it down and process how I feel. As an incentive I am also going to tot up any money I will have saved from not buying alcohol and buy myself a little treat with the money.

Morning all! I'm feeling quite Pollyanna-ish too, though not achieving as much as I want to (that's my normal brain state tbh). I am driving my son mad with all my 'you can do it' talk, he is visibly disgusted

I know I'm heading into my danger zone. It's been easy so far. My head will now start to tell me that because it's easy, it's not worth doing it, therefore I should have a drink. I WILL NOT BE FOOLED.

I wonder how our livers are. Mine will have been pretty fatty after decades of this nonsense. Hoping it's a bit skinnier, a bit floppier, and a bit more efficient.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/14/aas-rules-are-for-men-holly-whitaker-on-how-women-can-stop-drinking-and-get-happy?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Another interesting article, aimed at women.

Just checking in, I'm still here!

@SunshineAvenue how are you finding Fast800 - is it working? I'm thinking I'm going to have to do something similar - I was really hoping that Dry January was going to make me lose weight, but given that two weeks in I haven't lost even 0.25lbs, I think I'm going to have to face facts that it's not the magic bullet I need!

It's such a shame that I can't see my liver - I'm a bit like nibdedibble in that I'm not finding it too difficult, but all that's doing is convincing me that I haven't got a problem. And because I'm not seeing any tangible benefits on the outside, I can convince myself that my excessive drinking obviously wasn't causing me any damage either. Whereas if I had a window to my fatty liver, I think that's where I'd see the real benefits.

A bit scary when you think about it - there's so much damage we might be doing to ourselves, and yet we have no idea....

BettyJean that article is really interesting.
BookSkark and HisBetterHalf I just did some further reading on fatty liver and because I'm overweight as well - let's just say I am FULLY committed to stopping drinking and losing weight. The good news is that if your weight is within normal range it looks like you can reverse it quite quickly by having no more alcohol!