DRY JANUARY 2021! This way please... all welcome

[HPLikecraft]

It’s that time of year again... the late Christmas present to our livers!

You may be thinking of doing Dry January to:

*detox a little after seasonal overindulgence, or
*help you cut down a bit generally, or
*help you start to get out of a harmful alcohol habit, or
*just be a bit healthier for a month...

It’s good for all of those things!

I find the MN DJ threads excellent for support, encouragement, sharing info,‘we’re in this together’ camaraderie, suggestions for grown up drinks, aversion techniques and just fun.

This is my fourth year of DJ and I swear it has made all the difference to me; it was so hard first time, but having succeeded I did dry June and October after that, and do so every year. It has broken my habit, banished the craving and reset my relationship with booze.

I won’t be finding DJ too difficult this year, but some will. Hopefully this thread will help.

Come climb aboard the wagon! 🙂☕️🧃

Another day in the bag. Today was hard. DH has cpvid. He's ill in bed so I had to do day 1 of homeschool plus WFH and it was shit. I was craving wine so much by 8pm. But I resisted, had a peppermint tea. And now I'm tucked up in bed, missing DH (he's been banished to the spare room) but feeling proud that I made it without an alcoholic crutch. and and a big gold to everyone managing through this chappy lockdown!

@LarryUnderwood hope DH recovers swiftly . I found today ridiculously hard too for all the same reasons (except DH). I didn't drink...
But that was more to do with DP not going to the shop and me having a bath to distract.
Day 7 begins...good luck to all today.

Day 7 here. It's interesting that work and yesterday's US news created temptation. I sat through the emotions.

I like the ideas of counting up missed calories. I doubt I've had any weight loss though because I've not been able to curtail sweets as I'd hoped.

To the poster who had gin, hey it happens, just step back up. You don't have to add on any time in order to rejoin, it's an interesting idea and you can consider it but there are no punishments for stepping off. I think I did it once or twice last DJ. It was my first time and it was really hard work. I still considered myself to have achieved DJ I spent the month engaged with three concept and because it taught me so much and did reset my relationship with alcohol such that I went in to have dry weeks and this DJ is so much easier as ac result. Don't punish yourself, just step back on!

Does anyone have any tips for getting to sleep. I was so tired last night but couldn't drop off to sleep. A lot of light & REM sleep according to my Fitbit & very little deep sleep. Really didn't want to get up this morning (though I never do , in fairness)

Waking up to day 7... Sleep a bit patchy and a bit sweaty again...
Re sleep I find being physically exhausted helps so doing some fairly intense cardio earlier in the day, and in the evening a banana, camomile or valerian root tea, a sleep spray on your pillow (this works has a good one) and night sleep rescue remedy. Im a crap sleeper regardless but this helps with the racing thoughts and agitation. Plus no caffeine after 3pm...

Slept like a log, some very weird dreams though. I wondered if they were prompted by events last night.

@Therainisback I only found my sleep gas been better the last few nights. I'm but sure if it's the body getting used to no alcohol or the fact that I'm now going for a walk after dinner which isn't something I would have done before. I've also started yoga so maybe a little exercise might help get better sleep?

Sorry about the typos

I don't know about you guys, but I wasn't the "vodka bottle under the bed" kind of girl in December! Yes, I drank every day. Yes, I drank more than was healthy. But not only a few days I drank before 7pm. And mostly after 8pm. So, I think it's telling in some way about the effects of alcohol on our bodies that I've felt so crap for the last 7 days. Who'd have thought that the effects of "normal heavy drinking" would take so long to leave our bodies.

Hmm. A bit deep for 830 in lockdown. But there you go.

Night sweats nearly gone for me I think. Had grotty dreams instead.

Morning all

Last night I dreamt I broke my dry January. I woke up so disappointed but such a relief when I realised it was a dream.

I feel more energetic but still having trouble falling asleep. Hoping that will right itself soon.

@BrassicaBabe I think you're right. I had 3 nights "off" per week but drank about 3/4 bottle of wine on other days... When not in work maybe more.... However I'm a bit gutted that work was what restrained me, was really unfair on my DC's to be honest. Once they stopped being little I think I went a bit wild as was very restrained throughout my 30s...

I have friends who share a bottle of wine every night with their partners. No judgement at all that they do that, but think of they stopped for more than a couple of days they'd be surprised at the unpleasant reaction of their bodies even though they don't consider themselves heavy or dependent drinkers!

@CrystalE - Glad it worked! I don't know what the "quirk" in ours is, and googling hasn't been helpful. It just randomly declares there's a jam or a blockage somewhere, despite us very thoroughly checking and cleaning everything, and there definitely isn't. It gets through the whole program about 50% of the time, but thankfully often when it doesn't it's already got the dishes clean enough for my standards.

@LarryUnderwood I hope your DH recovers soon, and the rest of you stay well.

Day 7 here. Still have a bad headache. I got my covid test results, which were negative, thankfully! Just some other virus and an asthma flare up it is, and I can stop self-isolating. (Not that I'm planning on going anywhere right now to cough at people, but I'll need to get my usual meds at some point, and the pharmacy isn't delivering anymore.) I had a moment of "ooh, let's celebrate!" when the results came, but easy to resist, especially with no booze in the house.

Day 6 here.

Last night I went to bed early and read my book till about midnight and then went to sleep. Woke up early and was straight out of bed, which is very unlike me. May have been the lack of booze for a few days and also not looking at a screen for a few hours, last thing before sleep.

Anyway, I did a lovely online yoga class this morning. Feeling quite smug actually . Have to say that last night at dinner time I was a bit fed up with lack of wine, but really glad I didn't crack.

Good luck today everyone. A week for most of you I think .

@Therainisback I listen to BBC sounds: my brain is too noisy otherwise and I spend the nights reorganizing my thoughts. I'm not that tidy girl so stuff doing it in my sleep.
It usually works: I can tell if I've nodded off by how much of a plot line I've missed

Day 7, and I woke up to the dog having messed all over the living room carpet. I think it's going to be one of those days...

Hello- I have been lurking on this thread! DH and I are doing DJ this year. Have been drinking a bit too much and want to reset. Now DH has done dry months before when he had a problem with his kidney in 2019 and found Nanny State which he really enjoys. However he questioned whether this was cheating during dry January as it has 0.5% alcohol ( so wouldned to drink around 10 cans for the same alcohol content as one normal beer.)

I also enjoy the odd Haymans "Small gin" where you would have to drink 5 Gand Ts ( made up as instructed) for the equivalent of just 1 unit of alcohol. Is this cheating to have drinks that are this low in alcohol?

I personally wouldn't say that alcohol free beer, even though there is vvv little alcohol in it, is cheating.
Really dry Jan is about cutting back for our own livers and any progress is progress in my mind. I have the Try Dry app and even it has an option to enter in a 'planned' drinking day!

Good luck!

Good day today, and I can confirm an improvement in my rosacea. I've cut down on sugar as well so not sure if it's that or DJ, but my skin is definitely starting to look better.

Thanks all for the sleeping tips. I do run (slowly) but don 't have time on child-minding days. I must note if I sleep better on running days.

Good Afternoon, Day 7 for me.

Bloody well done, everyone, for getting this far, even if you've had a blip.
The withdrawal symptoms should start to diminish now, things should be slowly getting better!
I definitely had a better night last night.

I've been absent for a couple of days so I'll look back on everything that I've missed, there are so many more replies!

In the UK the government puts duty on beer with alcohol content above 1.2% ABV (so they clearly aren't bothered about Nanny State). For my perspective DJ is about cutting down the amount of booze we drink longer term; I still want to enjoy a glass of wine or two a week (just not every day).

DH and I were wondering aloud today why all the AF drinks seem to be about the same price as regular cans/bottles?

Doing ok here. Not tempted at all. But I haven't been anywhere, no temptation, so I guess that makes it easier.

@LostaraYil good news about your skin. Mine still not great... Oh how I used to bemoan my pale skin! In actual fact is was porcelain and pretty...!! Mine doesn't look great today. In fact I've felt peculiar and spaced out. I hope to turn a corner tomorrow... Not craving but not feeling great either after the initial euphoria!

I'm finding it okay. I think it would be harder in a normal year if I had events on, but then part of the reason I'm doing it is because I was drinking through boredom. So who knows...

I don't know if it's still available, but Annie Grace's 30 day quit thingy was free a couple of months ago.

It's good - you get lots of videos and motivational blogs every day.
However, you will get bombarded with "buy this book" stuff - so either use another email account or just delete those.
It might be worth doing alongside dry January?
I'm doing ok - feel a bit 'meh' but I always do when I first quit.
Take care all
Soph