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 🙂

@FanGirlX

Just finished Don't Look Up. Excellent recommendation.

Anything else I can watch this week. I've seen The Tourist.

People have been recommending Screw.

Day 8 done for me. Thanks to everyone who recommended the Boston AF and also the Brewdog too. Both are decent substitutes.

In two more days I'll be a third of the way through and then five days after that I'll be halfway

@100daysandBeyond I didn't enjoy don't look up either
Day 9 done and dusted and I've had such a productive weekend. Even cleaned out the drinks cupboard tonight!

Thank you. Have seen Screw. Recommended it on here earlier.

Looking forward to Afterlife 3 and Derry Girls 3 arriving soon.

Day 9 done and watching screw.

Need to get to bed!

Another day done. Back to work today - stress and tiredness are definitely triggers for wine so hopefully my resolve will continue

Morning all, sorry for the shameful lack of OP'ing yesterday, had some family stresses going on. Don't sack me!

I caved on the crisps last night (I'm supposed to be crisp- and chocolate-free Dry Veganuary!) but still vegan, dry and choc free! Crisps are obviously my biggest weakness although I can't find a support thread for that.

I watched A Very British Scandal (what an absolute wanker the Duke of Argyll was!) last night along with Beck's Blue.

This morning's percentage, then. So now, at 7.30 am on day 10, we are 30% done!

Well done everyone! 👍

Morning, hope the family stress has calmed down today.

I'm tackling the chocolate and crisps and other food issue this week. Last week was basically allowing myself anything other than alcohol, especially on Friday and Saturday night.

Now I'm through that, I'm going to look at diet and exercise this week.

Wow, almost a third of the way in . Well done all!

@HPLikecraft

I'm with you on Scandal. I finished it feeling very sorry for Margaret. She was taken advantage of and then discarded once he'd got what he wanted (money). He behaved just as badly as her, in terms of the affairs, she was torn apart in the press and courts because she was female and not a born aristocrat.

Made my way through a box of chocolates last night and then couldn’t sleep, probably because of the caffeine. A bit annoyed with myself as I have a busy day and I hardly slept at all.
Didn’t drink though so not all bad.
30% feels good but we still have 3 more weekends and I struggle so much on a Friday and Saturday night. I usually start Monday on a countdown to Friday!

Morning all.

Bless me penguins for I have sinned.

Had red wine. DH cooked beef Wellington and it felt like we should have wine with it. Unfortunately I way underestimated how long it would take him and opened the wine way too early. So we ended up drinking quite a bit.

Woke in the night feeling dreadful with bad heartburn and couldn’t get back to sleep.

Annoyed with myself but actually in a way it was a good lesson.

1 I have no off switch with wine.
2 I think I’m allergic as well as my face goes bright red and hot and that seems to be getting worse.
3 I feel crap when I drink too much.
4 my sleep is rubbish after wine
5 I’m an idiot!

So back at it today.

In good news I weighed this morning and am down almost 3 pounds.

@100daysandBeyond - I didn’t like Dont Look Up either. We watched it the first night it was on I think and didn’t know the background. Just thought it was a bit rubbish. Not sure if I’d feel differently knowing what is actually supposed to be about!

@HPLikecraft - you are a masochist giving up so much at once!

@Peridot1 you are granted full and unconditional absolution. Waddle back in and hopefully we'll keep you dry from here on in.
I'm the same with the alcohol off switch: I can manage not to drink, but if I start I want to keep going! It's a terrible drug.

Oh I'm no masochist... just had to take some decisive action to improve my health and lose weight. Gets to a stage where you feel you have no choice. I still haven't started my exercise program!

Isn't Don't Look Up supposed to be a parody of the reaction to climate change?

@FanGirlX - yes it is. It wasn’t obvious to me though! It came across as not serious enough to be a drama and not funny enough to be a comedy. Just odd. I fell asleep.

I did think Don't Look Now would be funnier than it was, but I also didn't expect it to be so sad. I found it thought-provoking.

Mark Rylance was excellent as Richard Branson 😂

@Peridot1

We slip and we falter and sometimes you need to fall off the wagon to strengthen the resolve.

I didn't start until 3rd so technically I have "failed" DJ but I don't see if that way. Every day I do not drink is a good day. Every day I feel happy with my choice not to drink is a good day!

Onwards and upwards

(and yes for some reason I really struggled yesterday? I felt like I needed a reward for doing the first week and sadly in my world, wine is a reward! I had a lot of cake instead)

Surprised at the "Meh" attitude to Don't Look Up and it's funniness level. We (aged 12-57) laughed like drains in the Likecraft household!

@FanGirlX

Mark Rylance was excellent as Richard Branson 😂

Oh was he Branson? I assumed he was Elon Musk!

I'm actually feeling good that we are not linking wine to every occasion right now. DS goes back to uni tomorrow. Usually we'd be giving him a goodbye dinner with wine but tonight the treat is a berry and apple crumble! Feels very wholesome of us..

I found the Tourist very meh. Partly bc of depressing scenery. But also not likeable characters. Apart from policewoman was very likeable. Felt like they were trying to do a Twin Peaks. I gave up at ep 3 and read the plot summary.

Anyway on the booze front, I caved at weekend - 😢😢 - but am back on board with drooping flippers. However, I have also given up bread, pasta, rice and potatoes in a desperate bid to lose weight. Slight caving on those now and then but mainly sticking to it. I’m feeling a lot better stomach-wise.

@hivemindneeded

I think he was a combination of Branson, Musk, Jobs, Bezos, Gates.

It was the Sir but that made me think Brandon but the Bash bit that made me think Jobs.

Probably a mix of all of them to avoid a libel claim 😂

No @SpangledShambles, drooping flippers are only for those who have given up completely. Yours are looking positively perky again.

Stay strong tonight, everyone. The end of today means 32% of the way through; though by getting up in the morning time it'll be a THIRD!!

Another film that you may like, it's a couple of years old but watched it over Christmas - Greed with Steve Coogan in. It's on Now TV.