Dry January 2020 thread 2... keeping it dry!

[ParanoidGynodroid]

Thread two to help us continue to share the love (and dryness)

Keep going, everyone... good luck

I'm still here, had quite strong cravings last night but kept busy building ikea flat pack, kind of needed it more after that! Actually enjoying the break though and feeling good although I feel extra tired, anyone else?

Success! I did not buy beer in the welly shop!

I'm feeling really tired funnyoldonion - something to do with our livers cleansing I think!
I noticed when my DCs were arguing this morning I was much calmer and didn't shout at them (which only makes them worse!). Even my DH mentioned that perhaps my lack of hangover is leading to better parenting - he actually said I deserved some sort of peace prize for helping them sort out their argument. I haven't lost any weight (which I was hoping for) and I look horribly pale so I am taking better parenting as a benefit from this month.

natsku bloody brilliant. I was worried (and also intrigued by Wellie/alcohol combo.
I did not buy beer when I went on very high risk 6pm Waitrose shop on my way home last night.
I saw beer. I saw other people buying beer next to me. I picked up water right next to champagne.
I looked away.

Thanks for starting a new thread @ParanoidGynodroid

I keep thinking 'it's having no effect on me at all.' I definitely haven't lost weight. I'm not sleeping better either. But I do have much more energy in the evenings. And that really is lovely. It's like having an extra day in the week if you are up for doing stuff at night instead of just slobbing in front of the TV. I've done loads of arty projects and some DIY and read a couple of novels. So though I am finding it hard, it's good.

Well done for not caving in the welly shop @Natsku! I am picturing a very odd shop 😄

I am doing okay. Would like a glass or two of white wine but not desperate for it. I did have a couple of Heineken 0% last night - fiRst AF sustitute. It was fine; a bit thin and definitely not real beer but nice with fajitas and made it feel a bit more Friday. Was still in bed at 9.30

I think I am coming down with a sinus infection though. Which is very unfair. I am taking decongestants and painkillers and sinus rinsing and everything else I can throw at it. Am hoping not being constantly dehydrated and hungover will mean I can shift it faster. Sometimes it goes on for three weeks 😬😬😬.

Still fat but doing plenty of exercise so I at least feel fit (even if scales and tummy aren’t really showing much difference).

Oh also my gums seem to be in better shape. Less bleeding when I floss. Maybe because I don’t drunkenly forget to clean them so often

Thank you for the new thread. I’m still here & dry. Have lost 7lbs, but that’s down to much healthier eating as well as no alcohol. I find it much easier to make good food choices without drinking or having a hangover!

Sleep is better, but I still wake up during the night. I think it’s the weird dreams that wake me. I do find it easier to go back to sleep though.

I’ve had fleeting thoughts of having a drink, then just as quickly actively dismiss them. I’m determined this is the time I reset my habits. I’m not sure what my aim will be come February, so I’m using this time to really look at what I’d like it to be.

Whatever it is, it will not be drinking every evening again!

Gripping on again. Been invited to a significant event next sat night so 25 days may be the end for me. However it’s back on the wagon after and no drinks sun-thurs every single week.

However I’m still struggling at the moment, or in the moment anyway. Not sure why - yet again not a craving but more a petulance I can’t have something I want.

I’m going to make a tonic and bitters while I cook and hope that takes the edge off. 7pm and I’ll be fine.

Hah, it's one of those shops that sells a bit of everything!

Having a strong craving now, eating some frozen grapes to try and suppress it.

I'm gripping on as well. it suddenly seems such a long way to go...

I have ordered some gorgeous white on offer from Ocado for after and somehow buying it and hiding in the cellar had cheered me a bit-although it didn't last long.

I would really really love a glass of wine right now.
I'm going to have a bath and an early night instead but I do feel a bit like I am hiding from temptation and in hibernation mode to avoid falling off the precipice.

@Nomorewineever I think that may be the answer for me as well. I genuinely don't mind not drinking Sunday - Thursday - the morning starts alone are enough of a deterrent. But I would still like to retain the weekend mentality, and if that's all I do, then I should be within the healthy limits.

This is the first time I've done Dry January and I have to say that it's been really enlightening and made me think about my drinking. Maybe not to the extent of keeping it going, but definitely thinking about when I drink and why.

The poster above nails it with “feeling petulant that I can’t have what i want”. That’s exactly how I feel tonight. It’s so ridiculous; I know I feel brighter and more positive, sleep and skin improving, tummy less bloated and lost a couple of pounds...all good, so why do I want the damn stuff!!!

Just need to get through this weekend, it's the last full week next week and no way am I going to give up on the last weekend

I've just bought some pomegranate and rose cordial and some sloe and juniper cordial too. Weirdly I wasn't at all tempted to go into the wine aisle at my nearby Waitrose. Still glugging lots of fruit tea as well.

@dementedma it was me and exactly!!! I had SUCH blissful sleep last night. 8 hours of uninterrupted refreshing loveliness. And something stressy happened at home first thing with a poorly relative and I’d usually be not hungover as such on a Saturday morning but woolly to say the least, and would have been grouchy to deal with it. But I was calm and gathered and okay. But instead of spending a good couple of hours considering that (and counting the positives) I’ve spent a good couple of hours considering why I can’t ‘not want’ something I know does me no favours except for in the immediate short lived minute. And wanting it.

I KNOW that if I eat the entire tin of Xmas chocolate I will feel sick, sleep horribly, feel horrible tomorrow and feel stupid and guilty. So as a result I won’t eat the chocolate or even consider eating it because of the things it would so. Why would I consider being so self destructive with wine? it’s madness? But I’d still rip the hand off a passing person with a cold glass of Pinot Grigio.

When you think about it, it’s utterly ridiculous!!

Sorry folks, I'm a goner.

DH has been an arse all day. I ended up in tears this afternoon. Now. I'm usually in tears at some point on a Saturday, but I blame the drink. So today I realised how miserable I am, and that the alcohol has been helping me mask that.

I had planned to go out dancing (driving so no booze), but he just about insisted that I stay in to keep an eye on him. (to be fair, health issues, and he's had a few funny turns this week).

So I'm having a scotch. Will be back with you tomorrow. Muchos respect to all of you who are stronger that I.

Segregate I am so sorry to hear that you are so unhappy in your marriage. I hope that having done Dry Jan will give you the clarity you need to realise you don't have to stay married. Meanwhile be kind to yourself.

segregate sorry you’ve had that ‘epiphany’. No matter a whiskey, bloody well done for the af days you’ve done and some clear thinking ! Support.

I've just found the new thread, I'm hanging in there not finding it too bad but I have fancied it this weekend. Interesting reading some people who have had some wine not feeling it was worth it, I'm sure I'd feel like this.

Book Skark I could've written your post. I feel exactly the same and feel that I need a strategy for after Jan and only drinking on Friday and Saturdays would probably do it. December was ridiculous for me and I was congratulating myself just for having the odd day without a drink!

I nearly caved tonight as we have loads of booze in the house but my DH isn't that fussed by drinking at home (crazy!) so that dry white in the garage was not getting opened by me just because I fancied a glass. Why tonight and not the last two weekends I don't know. Maybe because I've had a busy active day and I feel like I deserve it.

Biggest benefit for me is not a single migraine since 1st Jan. It's not my only trigger (or so I thought) but just not had one since the early hours of 1st which was definitely booze-related.

Anyway it's a fab learning curve

Good morning and here’s a hot cup of tea/coffee to help everyone start their day.

Bev, you’re a star. Big hug.

Bev

Sorry to hear some are struggling. I really wanted to crack on Friday as I found out I might have glaucoma. Somehow managed to stay on the wagon after spending ages obsessively googling it and realising that alcohol wouldn't help my eyes.

Bev, Blaziken, so sorry that things are so stressful. Bev that must have been a hard realisation, and 1 whisky isn't a failure, we get back up and carry on. to you both.

Nomorewine I totally get the footstamping thing. On Friday I really did want to stomp round the house shouting "I am a grown up and I will have wine if I want to" which is actually just a demonstration that I am not a grown up, and am more addicted to it than I thought. Fake fizz filled the gap, but next weekend I'd like it to be tea.

One thing I have discovered is that it's not wine sending me to sleep early. I appear to naturally sleep about 9.30pm to 6am. Finding this interesting because it sort of chimes with what were saying on the last thread about media portrayals of alcohol - successful women are beautiful, together, intelligent with top jobs and loving families / friends and drink volumes of wine til late every evening as a matter of course with no ill-effects; until they tip a drink too far, then they are pasty, fat, neglect their children, sleep too much and are morally unfit for society.

Likewise, I naturally get up early which makes me a thrusting go-getter with a zest for life, healthy, focussed, driven, organised etc; but I also go to bed early which makes me dull, boring, a party-pooper, straight-laced, no fun and probably antisocial to boot. When I do drink, I get sad very quickly, so I can't even hold my alcohol!

I can't be all of these things at once, so I am putting all of those tropes down to just be me. Without alcohol to cloud things.