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 🙂

Back to day 1 for me. I knew I'd struggle yesterday (long, stressy day). I need to learn how to not drink when I'm superstressed. I know the theory and the distractions, but my brain just goes into Wine, Now! mode.
I'm determined to beat this.

Sorry - thought my first post hadn't worked

IWanderedLonely, I haven't put myself back to day 1 for my slip-up, I've added another day on. Otherwise, I feel, I'd be setting myself up for failure!

I think what @mbosnz said is worth repeating and considering for the penguins who slipped on the ice and fell out of the huddle:

...But my slip up was a lot smaller than my achievement to that point

reiterated as:
...be proud of what you have achieved, and are achieving, because it means so much more than a momentary slip up.

Very true. Don't beat yourself up for having an off day. Well done for getting back on that dry horse again.

Well it's the 13th... hopefully strong resolve and no bad luck for anyone. The end of today sees us 41.9% through January. 🙂

@IWanderedLonely I slipped up too last weekend but got straight back on the dry horse.

I went to the gym today for the first time in years, I loved it.
Just had a long bath, I'm tired tonight probably because of the shock of exercise to my body 😂
One thing I love about not drinking is getting into bed early and sleeping properly, love waking up hangover free too.
Keep going guys! We've got this

I ‘slipped up’ last weekend too but have been dry since. It wasn’t really a slip up though. Just made the choice to have wine. Reframing it that way as a choice has made it easier for me not to feel guilty and just carry on drinking which I would have done in the past as I’d messed up anyway. I’m trying not to be too much of a perfectionist about it all. That never ends well for me!

So don’t beat yourself up @IWanderedLonely. Just keep on keeping on.

Good thing today for me got some sorting out done at my Dads house.

Bad news - still have a mouse. Which triggered a trap but didn’t get caught. Little sod. Now have two more traps.

Stayed dry though! Now at 10 days out of 13.

@Peridot1 when we had a mouse we ended up having a peanut to the trap. It kept stealing the food off the trap.

I've been to pilates this evening and my muscles have that good ache of exercise.

Can I join the bad skin group please? Think it must be a detox reaction? Between that and my weight gain I'm really depressed, feel as though I should be looking better by now. Also constipated and bloated despite drinking loads more water. V depressing.

But good thing today... doing my maths GCSE (trying to beat original C grade and better equip self to help kids when they are older). It is UNBELIEVABLY hard, as in, makes me cry kind of hard. But stuck at it today, did a chunk. And didn't even think about an accompanying glass of wine!

@Peridot1

I ‘slipped up’ last weekend too but have been dry since. It wasn’t really a slip up though. Just made the choice to have wine. Reframing it that way as a choice has made it easier for me not to feel guilty and just carry on drinking which I would have done in the past as I’d messed up anyway. I’m trying not to be too much of a perfectionist about it all. That never ends well for me!

So don’t beat yourself up @IWanderedLonely. Just keep on keeping on.

I feel like I failed tonight as had wine Hopefully I can reframe tomorrow. I want to be able to choose when I drink but then I worry drink brain is telling me it was OK to drink today...

Signing in for day 13. Can’t wait for the weekend, it’s been a long week already. Keep going everyone, don’t give up now!

Evening all - have made it to day 13. Have been having a few fleeting thoughts of drinking this evening as Friday is my day off so usually an excuse to open a bottle.

Gritted my teeth and watched The Apprentice instead.

Its going good for me really - honestly a few years ago I would have found it so much harder to get this far. For any penguins who have slipped - don't worry. Just get back on the 'berg & get into the huddle. We'll keep you warm.

I know the weekend can be tricky for some but once we get past Saturday its downhill all the way.

Evening lovelies
Just doing my daily check in. Day 13 and in the habit of NOT drinking which is marvellous. My new toothbrush arrived today. If made me smile watching the apprentice with their toothbrush challenge. Teeth feeling very shiny but lying in bed next to a loudly snoring partner. I just want to sleep!
Night dryers.

Oops!

Slight miscalculation on my part. It's midday Sunday that sees us 50% through, not Saturday! Sorry everyone.
Just one more day though and we're there.

@AdamRyan - yes I suppose depending on how your brain works it could go that way. It’s taken me years but for me I’ve realised I’ve spent years starting and stopping diets as if I don’t stick to it 100% I give up and next diet starts on Monday even though it may be only Tuesday. So for me it’s the same with Dry January. In the past I’d have had a drink one night and then thought sod it and carry.

Maybe figure out what triggered you to have a drink. I think most important thing is to not beat yourself up. We are all human. You could add an extra day on if that helps your mindset?

Nearly at the half way mark. It's only recently that I've really wanted a glass of wine, but I love having energy late into the evening.

I'd love to keep it up after Jan but DH will drink from Feb 1st and I have such poor willpower when temptation is under my nose. Any advice?

Thanks peridot. It was work stress and inability to relax - a glass of wine is almost a short cut to feeling relaxed. Of course, predictably I then slept badly and was awake at 3 in the horrors about being unable to give up drinking so although I did enjoy the relaxed feeling last night I'm not sure it was worth it.
I don't know what I can do as I have no time to relax in other ways at the moment due to stupidly busy life. I work FT in a highly pressured job, am single mum to 3 kids 50% of time and other 50% live with my partner and his 2 kids 50 miles away (where my work is also based). So lots of moving around. Also have a dog, who I love but walking him at this time of year is not relaxing cos its dark, muddy and cold.
Anyway. Onwards and upwards. I will add time on. I want to break the habit so I going to keep going til I feel like that has happened

Morning. Checking in for day 14. Still AF. Few wobbles but getting through them. Feeling positive for the weekend.

Checking in for day 5.
The weekend is always hard for me as I think to myself sod it it's the weekend. I have to be up at 5am Saturday abs Sunday for work though and that will be much easier without a bottle of wine down my neck the night before

Morning all. Still here. Discovered Corona AF. It's lush. Well on a scale of AF free it is.
Didn't really get the craving last night either

Just sharing and spreading the Lucky Saint love. Tried some last night and was very impressed.

I do find AF* beer has helped me so much with the wobbles.

*Lucky Saint is 0.5% alcohol, as are some other "AF" so be aware this. As your OP (Overlord Penguin) I give you permission to have 1 or 2 of these totally guilt free. 🐧

I don't drink beer and tend not to like soft drinks so haven't done well with substitution (basically I drink water, coffee, wine and gin ) And not found an AF gin that works either.

It's Day 14. We've done two weeks! Wow.

Apparently, 0.5% alcohol is roughly the same amount as you'd intake if you ate a ripe banana! (Or is it two ripe bananas?) Either way. . .

AF beer is a lifesaver, I'm not feeling deprived, I like the taste, and get a placebo relaxation effect.

You're in a bit of a pickle there AdamRyan, aren't you? I've tried one AF Sav Blanc, and while the bouquet wasn't bad, I found the taste akin to aversion therapy! Some people have reported good results with nosecco?

I made DH laugh yesterday, I said I might have a new addiction - being sober! I quickly said I wasn't saying I wasn't ever going to drink again - but going to bed relaxed and happy, kids happy, hubby happy, me happy as a result. . . it's good. I haven't been as sick as much either. Still getting zits at the same time as grey hair and wrinkles, and bloating, but I think an awful lot of that is hormones.