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! 🙂☕️🧃

No Friday night quiz for me now, so no temptation or need to go and find something 'nice' to drink. Although thinking about it, I could have water in my glass and no-one would have known any different!

I ordered a Dry January mug and badge from the online shop and they've just arrived! Yay! Now I've got to go the distance!

Friday afternoon count down to another lock down weekend at home with two kids under 3. Tips for survival without hitting the wine very welcome!

Katmarie I hear you. This afternoon is the first time I’m desperate for a glass of wine. Home with 4 kids, Friday, not drunk all week. Need to reward myself. I Aeolus really really enjoy a glass!!! This is when all the thoughts start - why torture myself? Life is hard enough at tub moment. 2 glasses on a Friday is fair enough.

I know once I have dinner the craving will somewhat go. So we are all having spag Bol together as a family at about 5:30!! Rock on.

@buzzofthebumblebee - oh goodness what an awful situation for you but thank goodness for your DF sake that you had a test. I hope that you are not feeling too unwell.

@whaa - I actually feel less achy but agree that I have often put aches and pains down to general feeling unhealthy.

A big hug to anyone facing a weekend of lockdown with littles ones - hard going at the best of times and I totally empathise with the temptation to reach for the wine. Stay strong DJers - we can do this.

I have a click and collect supermarket shop booked for 7.30 tonight quite a drive away so something to a) stop me giving in to a moment of weekness and b) something to keep me busy for the evening - rock'n'roll.

Am gritting my teeth as I'm about to log off from work which would normally be the cue for a large beer. But I weighed myself this morning and have lost 3.5 pounds in a week which is a miracle as I seem to have replaced alcohol with cheese, so I will persevere.

After one fab night's sleep I'm back to the normal routine of waking at 3am and not dropping off until about 2 mins before the alarm.

Stay strong all and if you do drink, it's only one day. Back on it tomorrow. Looking forward to the percentage score of how we're doing!

Could go either way.

Kids have been angels, but it's still a long day locked down with small ones.

Going to try with a tonic and ice. Give it until at least 8pm and decide then.

Evening all. Anyone else noticed a lot of media pressure to abandon Dry January because apparently it’s too difficult in a lockdown? Several of the Instagrammers I follow have posted about this and there are also articles in the press about how we “need” wine to get us through this time.
I’m planning to carry on though. Anyone else? I might stop reading these media as I find them quite triggering.

I think telling myself I deserve it, rewarding myself with it, or telling myself I need it, is quite a dangerous rhetoric to fall into. I do agree that it's much harder in a global pandemic, but equally that's using alcohol as a coping mechanism and I'd personally like to break that connection.

Finding resisting wine very very hard this Eve. I do want to carry on as from friends who do dry periods I hear that you need at least 2 weeks to notice a "proper' difference. However I'm so so so bored and feel like I'm just counting the minutes until bedtime...

Day 9 here as I wasn’t well on NYE.
I’m actually finding it okay. Keep reminding myself how long I didn’t drink for in pregnancy.
Having an alcohol free beer a couple times a week. Also drinking much more water.

No not yet any health benefits yet.

I know what you mean, Raisins. My DH was reading to me yesterday about the % of people who have already given up and I could see he was thinking about it. I said we should use it as incentive to keep going and just think we are stronger than the 2.6 million people (or whatever) who have given up on it. Trying to put a positive spin on it (I apologise if it sounds smug though), because the reporting is really not helpful.

I think there is such a strong culture of alcohol on social media, lots of mum blogs with frazzled mums drinking buckets of gin, it's wine o'clock, etc etc. I've really started to notice it since I started dry January.

I have tried to reframe it more as - if I don’t drink I’ll be much better equipped the next day to deal with the stresses of life, the kids bickering, I’ll sleep better, I’ll have more patience etc. I find if I can get past the craving time I’m pleased as lunch I didn’t drink when I go to bed

Day 6 done. Had a Heineken Zero and didn't feel too deprived.

Good luck, everyone. Keep going!

We got a recipe box delivery this week of 3 meals. I've found that quite helpful yesterday and today - focusing on cooking a new meal for dinner and a treat of something we wouldn't usually eat. Today is definitely the most tempted I have been to give up and have a glass of wine (particularly after today's numbers were published) but DH persuaded me to keep going! Well done everyone.

@buzzofthebumblebee - hope you stay asymptomatic and good at least that the testing caught you.
Like others I’ve been noticing how much drinking I’m seeing on tv since doing dry jan: makes you realise how embedded alcohol is - a bit like watching black and white films where everyone is smoking.
Yesterday night was a rough one as we found out a close family member is going to have to start chemo. They had been hoping to avoid it so a bit of a blow :-( Cracked open our first AF wine to avoid the real stuff and managed to stay dry. Wishing myself luck for tonight....

Like many others in here am finding it difficult tonight..day 8.

Have felt great all week and so on top of things but just feeling bored and downbeat tonight and no enthusiasm for the weekend, or zoom party have tomorrow evening 🥳

I know I'll feel good in the morning, and that is spurring me on but I'm feeling a bit sad at realising just how much booze features in my life normally.
Have also noticed how much alcohol features on TV etc.. never really noticed it before!

Keep strong all x

I don't know how many times today I thought 'its Friday, I'll have some lovely wine later' before remembering I'm doing dry January. It's worrying how much i think about having a drink. I'm still sticking to my tonic water in a wine glass most evenings

8pm is here.
I'm sticking to the tonic and ice.
Running a lovely bath.

Strength to everyone who needs it tonight 💪

Doing OK so far this evening. Ds is looking a little under the weather so focusing on snuggling up with him for cuddles and making sure he's OK has kept my mind off drinking. He's just gone to bed but I want to be with it if he wakes in the night, so another good reason to stay sober.

And yes, the weekend will be less challenging if I don't feel sluggish and bloated tomorrow. So thats all motivating too. Just about to put my 8th tea cup on the app.

I haven't checked in to this thread since I said I'd join... But I came on here third evening to say what so many others have already said - I'm struggling tonight, I think probably for the first time since I started. I guess it's because it's been a hard week, it's Friday and I clearly have hard wired myself into a wine-based reward system. I feel deprived.

I won't cave, but I have opened a big box of biscuits (a spare Christmas present) to console myself with... So I'm probably jeopardising the carrot of weightloss too.

Finding no alcohol 'easy' but have developed such a sweet tooth. This happened last Jan too.

Have had to resort to an AF beer. Was doing ok but then read some rubbish kind of miserable Covid story online and had a kind of what's the point moment. Plus various other minor family disagreements and annoyingness has not helped.

Still at least have bought double pack of dishwasher cleaner in online shopping so am hoping that will finally set it back on the path to reliability.

@buzzofthebumblebee thanks, DH is doing ok he's just exhausted. I've never ever known him to be tired like this. All he's done all week is sleep.
Day 8 and I am still dry! Can't quite believe it. This thread is helping enormously. As is my newfound love of binge watching korean romantic comedy series when the kids are in bed . Havent caught up with the thread yet but well.done everyone!