DRY JANUARY 2022! Been overindulging? Drinking crept up? Want to begin a healthy new you? 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 fifth 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 most years. It has broken my habit, banished much of the craving and reset my relationship with booze. I imagine it's added years to my life.

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

Throw your hat in the ring, pull up a chair and let's do this together. 🙂☕️🧃

The DJ2022 Wagon creaks to a start in just 5 days, but always stops for latecomers 🙂

Morning all
Went to bed early last night, woke up at 5.30 and dozed off again until 7.30, usually I'd have got up at 5.30 so I'm definitely getting more sleep.
Bring on day 3

I couldn’t get to sleep last night. Was still awake after 3. Then the dog had me up before 7 although I went back to bed for a bit.

Feel ok though.

I assume it’s my system sorting itself out.

Morning all! Struggled to get to sleep again last night literally 3 o'clock and I'm wide awake but made myself get up quite early this morning so hopefully I'll be shattered tonight and fall fast asleep 🤣🙄
Have got to make a start on the healthy eating and a bit of exercise tho as I'm feeling really uncomfortable!! Feeling good though mentally and doing Dry January and beyond always makes me feel so much calmer in my life which I think can only benefit the whole family dynamic x

Hello, thinking of joining if that's okay? Last had a drink on Monday (3rd Jan). I've been through a lot in the last 6 months and am feeling quite vulnerable. Have suffered with poor sleep for years. Thinking maybe cutting out booze for a while will help me sleep better and feel stronger.

The more the merrier @ArtemisFlop!

Just been shopping and stocked up on more nice soft drinks. Ginger ale, ginger cordial a damson and sloe berry tonic and a bottle of alcohol free McGuigans Shiraz to try. Bet it will be horrible. I’ve tried others in the past but not this one I don’t think.

DH is astounded at himself going 3 nights dry. He can’t remember the last time he did that. Maybe not since he was a teen. He’s now 61.

It’s always been just what we do. Our relationship is built around alcohol sadly. Always has been.

Hi all, checking in from the office. Real life has returned and thanks to the power company cutting off our power for works today I've had to commute to work. I have Pilates tonight which I'm very much looking forward to. Just need to ignore rhe cravings after as dh and I had slipped into a habit of Thursday drinks. I don't normally work on Fridays.

@spellingtest the tourist is on the BBC, I think all episodes are on Iplayer already

Checking in for day 6 (wow!!). I did 4 days dry in the run up to NYE so was thinking yesterday that I've only had a drink one night out of the last 9 (now nearly 10). It's been a long time since I managed that as the frequent glasses of wine have crept up on me over the past year or so.

I'm liking waking up knowing I'm alcohol free but I'm getting quite bad headaches. I've also already noticed that I'm not doing as much shopping - sounds daft but after a glass of wine I'm way more likely to go online and shop for clothes or whatever. Hoping that'll mean I'll save some money as well as feeling better health wise.

Facing in to the weekend now which I know will see many of us feel a bit wobbly. Sending positive vibes to all.

Day 5 here and feeling fine!

Day 6 here - slept awfully last night like a few have mentioned, was awake till around 3 I think then slept in till around 7.45. Running later which will help for a good nights sleep tonight.

This is my 3rd year doing DJ. I don't drink much really but like to do this once a year!

We've been watching The Tourist and think it's brilliant. One of the best things I've seen in ages - drama, thrills and belly laughs!!

I've got in loads of interesting soft drinks - my DD2 makes me a mocktail every night and I tell her to just chuck in anything non alcoholic. In a posh glass with a slice of lemon and a straw - feels v. sophisticated and I haven't missed alcohol one bit until I went to DD1's restaurant where she works and she showed me the different flavours of gin they have - one being pear drops, then I had to remind myself I can't have it but definitely going back to sample a few in Feb!

Afternoon all! Good to see so many checking in and continuing to do well.

I've managed OK so far (bit of a craving for wine last night but I chased it away) but had a strange visual disturbance today... hope it wasn't related to detoxifying!

Still picking up a few newcomers here and there... good to see you.

Will post again later.

Day 6 - first wine temptation tonight so checking in to commit to not drinking.

Oh my life. The bickering of my children is sorely testing me this afternoon. Arghh. I'm hiding in bed with mumsnet to regain my composure for 5 minutes.

@mbosnz

My Mr Fitz has just shipped, really looking forward to trying them. Hoping they'll arrive tomorrow but will probably be Saturday.

Checking in on the evening of day 5
Struggling tonight more than the first 4 days.. someone who has done it before, when does it get easier?
AF brewdog and nice bedtime tea lined up but I am missing the feeling from the first glass. Not missing the feeling from the 4th glass though, guess I should remind myself of that. Not to mention the feeling in the morning.

[quote FanGirlX]@mbosnz

My Mr Fitz has just shipped, really looking forward to trying them. Hoping they'll arrive tomorrow but will probably be Saturday.[/quote]
Ours arrived today, two days ahead of earliest scheduled, in two boxes. Unfortunately, one had smashed in transit, and had gone all over the poor delivery guy and all his other parcels! So we're still waiting on that one, but we've got a lovely choice of them, all good to go!

@AdamRyan you will NOT drink tonight!

You can resist 💪

Had a bit of a stressful day today so came home and had my first AF beer. (Brooklyn, which I think are very like the real thing.) Try not to drink AF booze substitutes very often as I want to break out of the cycle of wanting alcohol in the first place, so prefer drinks that are proper soft drinks. But today it hit the spot after a few worries.

Good on you hivemind, you reached for the AF, rather than the demon drink. We laid in a few AF beers and an AF sav' blanc, that I'm both interested, and slightly terrified, about trying.

@mbosnz - I've never yet tasted a drinkable AF wine but there are a few bearable lagers out there. I like Brooklyn best but there are a few others that are passable.

On sofa post dinner with a cup of tea so safe for tonight - day 3 done. Tomorrow will be harder I am sure but I am determined. No white wine in the house and I intend to keep it that way.

Finding it hard tonight, first day back at school, loads of work to do, organising everything for the morning, bedtimes...argh. all easier with a glass of red. Got to remember though that waking up is s much harder as is the rest of the day, as I can't just stop at 1. Also craving fags.

Friday and Saturday night are the real test, I will line up lots to do tomorrow night and Saturday night we are out at the theatre, I'll be fine not drinking as long as my partner doesn't, going to be really hard if he does drink though..he's definitely been buying less beers, which is great.

I've also lost 3lb, all water no doubt but at nearly 11st and very overweight, I'll take it!

Still not sleeping well..hoping that'll kick in for the weekend.

It has taken me 6 days to realise that AF does not mean As F*%k.
Happy to report I am 6 days AF, and despite a small wobble tonight am not missing it too much.

Well done everyone, especially if you've struggled.
My day 6 done, no cravings tonight, I'm too tired.

Thanks all and thanks @Peridot1 - going to browse non-alcoholic drinks for my next online shop

Today's percentage...

If you manage to reach midnight then, assuming a 1st January start, you'll have completed a whopping 19.3% of DJ! As good as darned a fifth of it!
I guess if you'd like that fifth to be a bit more concrete and official we can say that'll be approx 6 am, which is sort of the same if you're in bed anyway!

A fifth!! Woop woop!