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

Someone do the maths again - 300 days equates to what per week? 1 day?

Hmm.

I might have to do my own 261 day challenge 😂

I was going to suggest small bottles. It’s something to do with ‘finishing’ the bottle. So when I’m strictly sticking to 15 units that’s about 1.5 bottle. Decant the half for DH and leave the 1.5 in the fridge door. Then that IS IT all weekend. I like a drink both weekend nights so I can look at that and make my own choice and to be honest if I drank all that in one go I’d feel wretched and not want a second night. So I can drink half a bottle, then ‘save’ visually for the next night. And that is that.

How you cope with social and being out is another matter. Alcodroid is a good app. You log drinks as you go along (when out) and it’s actually a bit scary as it also explains when you’d be safe to drive and it’s always a lot later than you’d think the next day. It also counts units, calories etc and helps you see patterns in your drinking.

Reminding yourself of ‘incidents’ isn’t always a bad thing. I’ve got one myself from last summer I would rather forget

Also if anyone is also trying to lose weight do yourself a favour and avoid these. I thought I’d found some miracle food. The smell when you cut the packet open is akin to a 20 year old decomposing fish finger. Which for a veggie is less than pleasant. The taste is like chewing ageing knicker elastic. £2 in the bin!!

@Breathmiller
Basically, I would like nothing better than to be someone who can take or leave alcohol. A glass of something now and again but being able to stop after a glass
Me too. My worry is that if I have a drink after DJ I will just totally revert back to my old drinking habits which I dont want.

Oh. 300 days alcohol free sounds so good but when you do that sums that's having alcohol once a week plus a few extra which is more regularly than I drink now (binge drinking is my issue rather than frequency).

I like the sound of the app that tells you about driving etc.

Just spend the equivalent of 6 bottles of wine on a massage. Feel dreamy! I recommend it!

(Still haven’t lost any bastard weight although DH has just told me he’snlost 3lb this week - and he’s a long thin drink of water as it is )

Long thin drink of water

@IWillWearTheGreenWillow

😀 I too am childishly excited about the badges on Try Dry.

I wonder about the anxiety. I think I’m anxious and I drink to mask it but then the withdrawals from the alcohol make the anxiety worse.

Looking back, it started as a teenager, I was painfully shy and alcohol gave me confidence.

It’s carried on, work networking events etc. I tend not to get mega drunk. I always book a taxi for 9 ish to get me home before I’m drunk. But my reaction to a stressful day at work is also to drink when I get home. Dry jan is great but I think I also need to do some work on my anxiety.

Day 20, almost 3 weeks off the booze. It's seemed longer than 3 weeks, but that's January for you!

I'm planning to have a drink on the 1st as it's DD's birthday, not sure what my plan is after that, maybe try to stick to only one day a week.

Just spent half an hour putting books I fancy reading in my amazon basket - stopped at 7. Also had a rake around the bookcase and found another 10 I have bought but never got round to reading. I never read whilst boozing and I have now realised how much I miss it.

I'm getting into the habit of not drinking and my mindset is shifting from what I'm missing to what I'm gaining.

Just checking in!

Love the idea of the 300 thing as I feel I need something 'app-wise' to grab on to after DJ.

There's also 200 days which I think I'll go for - I know it might not be that amazing but it means I can have a drink 2 days a week then save a few days for holidays?!

So pleased to have got this far but it's my birthday in early Feb and I have a celebration this Thursday with a group of friends. I can't properly celebrate on my actual birthday (long story involving DH and hospital app) and it would be a bit weird to not drink this Thursday but I do think it's such a shame to get this far and then on 23rd jan have some wine! Seeing the 300/200 day challenge has made me feel better about it anyway

No cravings this evening as was so tired went to bed at 7.

Almost 2/3 of way through. Seems to be going quite fast. Also pondering post Jan. I'm another one who did a long dry period and then slid backwards. I think I might carry on for a bit longer just because it makes life a lot simpler.

Day 20 done. So far have survived New year, my birthday, family dinner out with relative visiting from overseas, supper with boozy friends...and now face 3 nights in London with my sister and then Ds’s 18th birthday.
Talk about a month of temptations!

A month of temptations ! Indeed. Really well done demetedma. And well done everyone whether there was a slip or not.
I too am going to sign up for 300 days I think but my maths keeps suggesting 200 might be the better bet. I’m gonna keep af well into feb I think and then just kind of see.
What does anyone think of ‘one day at a time’ ? Kinda catchy?

@myhandsareverycold I've been reading more also, I'd missed it. I also mostly gave up Twitter and Facebook in January too to try and stop mindlessly scrolling and obsessing about things I can't change!

I'm feeling ill at the moment so no temptation anyway, but definitely starting to have more evenings where it just doesn't even occur to me to drink which is exactly what I wanted.

Day 21. Time. Time to read, to choose and enjoy books, and remember where you'd got to last time. Time to knit, sew, crochet. To create and make something tangible and useful and beautiful. Time to appreciate the moment and activity you are in, rather than wondering if the sun is over the yard-arm yet.

So true, Bev. The extra time is glorious, although I seem to be sleeping for most of it! Well done DementedMa that's some proper dedication through temptation.

I slept really well last night after a cup of rooibos tea and no fake wine. So clearly, it is sulphites or possibly yeast that upsets my sleep (I have a problem with yeast generally) and I should factor that into my bargaining - yes, wine tastes lovely, but do I want a bad night's sleep and an uncomfortable digestion? Probably not.

Spent some time yesterday pondering the points when I could drink going forward - not to cling on to them, but to work out if I actually need to. No need this month at all. My brother's birthday is 24 Feb and we often go out for a family meal. DH and I can "fight" over the driving then both have not drunk "by accident". Oops. DS2's 17th birthday at the end of March - unlikely to need wine. He may like a celebratory beer.

The only thing I might drink at is my uncle and aunt's Diamond Wedding at the beginning of April. 60 years of marriage seems worthy of a small glass as a toast. My sister will be there so I won't have more than a glass, as she watches to get me tipsy (bit of a strange dynamic there).

Truly, I don't want to drink more than that. I don't want alcohol to be a focus in my life. It's expensive and pointless and makes me sad and probably stops my ADs working. Although remind me of all this on Friday, when I'm stamping my foot because "I'm a grown up and I'll have a drink when I want one".

Fell off the Dry Jan van in spectacular style yesterday. We had some very good news that required a glass of celebratory fizz. True to form, instead of having one glass I opened a second bottle. Had a terrible nights sleep and feel rather delicate this morning. Back on Dry Jan for the rest of the month.

Hi Also thinking about going forward. What I really want to do is drink like a grown-up, e.g. a glass or two when out with friends and the very occasional glass when at home at weekends. I thought that was what I was doing, until I started tracking my units in the autumn - turned out I was close to 30 units a week most weeks. Which would explain why I've been gradually putting weight on over the last couple of years... So I'd like to go through February, and March just having a drink or two with friends and maybe the occasional drink at weekends, and use the app to honestly track this. Hopefully after a couple of months it will become my new normal. There's a "reducer" badge you can go for on the Try Dry App, apparently, so I'll go for that.

Time!! That's an interesting one for me at the moment.

My mum is still in hospital (an hour and a half drive away), my business premises had a leak that turned into a flood. And I haven't had a proper day off in over 2 weeks it feels due to the leak/flood situation needing dealt with. Long stressful days.
Yesterday I got home lateish again from flood damage limitation/dealing with home schooled children/visit to mum/ car trouble. I felt weepy last night and could have easily fallen into a vat of wine. But I didn't! Trying to hold in to the fact that it wouldn't have helped (?! Someone remind me of this please?)

Thank you for the suggestion of smaller bottles, it makes sense. In fact I had gotten into half bottles. Luckily the wine I like comes in half bottles. But it still has that idea that i need to curb myself by force. And I can always buy two half bottles, 1 for today and 1 for tomorrow, except I don't always wait til tomorrow.

It would be great to get to the situation of having wine in the house but if I have had a small glass or even two then I can leave the rest. Which in truth I had to a certain extent. I'm probably imagining it as bad as it was a decade ago and I wasn't that bad anymore. I'm just having a difficult time at the moment so focusing on the negative.

I'm not great at that with food either. Bag of sweets, or box of chocolates then I struggle not to keep going til its finished.

Maybe staying dry, although useful for my health, is really a mask of the bigger picture of the fact I have no willpower or self control.

I can kind of see this pattern in my youngest. My older son will see food or be offered treats and will be able to say "no thanks, I'm full" or "nah, i dont fancy it just now" he's a quieter, gentler, slower paced lad in general. My younger son is more vivacious, outgoing and fun but has a scattered energy a bit more, and can't stop himself if chocolate or sweets are in front of him. If he knows there are treats in the cupboard then he struggles to think of anything else until its gone. Does that make sense, or resonate with anyone?

I am aware that I'm stress/comfort eating, which really is just an extension of my attitude to stress/comfort drinking. How I address that, I imagine, is the bigger picture.

Morning all - just posted on old thread and then found the new one

Day 27 for me but v tempted last night as DH had made a chilli so opened red wine for cooking
I need to freeze it!

Been job searching @BettyJean and had to laugh when top matches for my skills came up - first one is working at Bacardi!

I have a bottomless gin & prosecco brunch booked for Feb 1st and am actually feeling a bit nervous about it - weird...

Definitely interested in the 300 days challenge, going to look at that and the alcodroid app

My skin is still really dry so would like that to change but I am generally feeling calmer

Keep going everyone. Even if you've fallen off the wagon, concentrate on how many days you've stayed on it - much more that usual!

Also - fatty liver!

Well if I could harness some of this amazing dry willpower I've somehow conjured up and turn it into dieting and/or exercising willpower I'd be very happy, but my joining the gym in the first week of January intention has still not materialised.
Maybe I'll do a "Fit February" instead. I only have so much self discipline!

Anyway, 20 full days down is 64.5% which I think sounds bloody marvellous!

@jackstini

I strangely have dry skin and lips, despite the amount of water and herbal tea I am drinking each day.

Surprised by this as I thought I would be less dehydrated after 21 days no booze.