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 🙂

Only day 12 for me but I'm feeling happier and calmer (albeit a bit bored. I've been keeping things very simple!)

Unfortunately my chronic illness is flaring so health wise I feel like crap. I'm under no illusion that wine would make things any better - the amount I put away over Xmas is probably half the reason I'm flaring.

The weekend should be fine as i'm in the mindset of not drinking now so hopefully nothing will set me off piste.

I haven't posted for ages, I'm on day 15.

I started off 11stone12lb

I'm now 11stone3lb - Ive done DJ along side 5:2 as an extra boost.

My knees no longer hurt, my wrists don't hurt as much, I'm sleeping better and the sun is shining!!

@AdamRyan - I get it that having a glass of wine is a shortcut to relaxation and switching off. But for me it's never just one and I began to realise that I was spending a lot of time "relaxing" with quite a few more than one glass of wine. This would result in going to bed late, sleeping badly and then feeling grumpy and headachy the next day and battling on through everything feeling under par.

Sounds stupid but it was a real revelation to me that when I didn't drink, I could just say to myself, actually I feel tired and fed up so I'm just going to sit down and rest/ watch some rubbish TV, without feeling guilty that it was because of overindulging.

I definately feel that less wine = less feeling stressed, so don't give up.

I've bought some AF beer for the weekend to celebrate the halfway point. I'm still feeling pretty good but I know from attempting and failing dry several times in previous years that I'm heading into the danger zone. I forget the Christmas excess and think only of the association with pleasure/ritual of relaxing. Not this time, I'm prepared and ready for the cravings.

For AF gin - I love Seedlip garden (don't like the other kinds), with toni, preferably Fevertree mediterranean, and a few slices of cucumber. I do love that but may be because I'm not a big gin drinker.

@AdamRyan - completely get that feeling of wine and relaxation. Am same. I wouldn’t mind if I could stop at one or two. It’s a bugger isn’t it?

Oh I would love a glass of wine tonight. My strongest feeling of temptation so far. I have got AF beer in the fridge for later. Trying to remind myself that just this morning I was reflecting on how much better I felt, how much more alert, and also a better parent. My kids are old enough to go to bed at the same time as me now, which means they have seen me after a few drinks too many times. It's nice to think we can stay up tonight watching a film and just being relaxed. If only I could stop thinking about wine!

We are 44% through! Day 13 for me today and really want wine but dh is making me lime and soda instead

davorg.dev/january/?fbclid=IwAR07Uo1T8-TiySS5pq6NksMKVMHO1WfK_lFc2jcWtAe4hVdbWJVV71JGgmo

I spoke too soon, as punishment for posting about my weigh loss, my knee went and I twisted my weak and pathetic wrist 😂

Maybe we could do a MN Mocktail party tomorrow evening.

Make a delicious mocktail plus snacks/ canapé. Upload photo. Enjoy drinking whilst viewing everyone else mocktails. (Dress code: Casual)

Anyone care to join me?

Checking in. Day 14!
I also went to the gym yesterday and I felt it this morning. It didn’t help me sleep but I think I went too late.
Usually Friday night would see me rushing to get the kids to bed so I can open some wine. Not tonight. It felt good actually.
Made it through the night. DH is sitting next to me, just finished a whole bottle of red. I can even smell it!
I had a glass of elderflower fizz. It was nice.

Looking forward to waking up tomorrow headache free.

D14 of Dry January. I'm not really missing alcohol but boy am I craving sugar!

Evening lovelies
Strongest craving for a glass of wine tonight. Shit week - work and family member ongoing illness. It's funny isn't it how we feel we deserve this delicious tasting poison. It's now 10:45 and I'm glad I resisted. Temptation lasted about an hour and then, just like that, it was gone. I'm bloody proud of myself!

So we're through another Friday, well done all. I'm shattered and hoping I'll sleep well tonight.

Just realised - I got through a Friday night without even thinking about a drink, Just didn't occur to me. I am developing an addiction to tea though. I think I drank about eight mugs of it today.

Checking in for dat 14. Exhausted and in bed about to fall asleep!

No wine last night and I felt fine about it, not tempted at all. I've put Thursday behind me and am taking away from that, I need to learn better ways to relax

Lovely to wake up on a Saturday feeling fresh with no hangover/ 3am insomnia.
Back on day 3 or 14 of 15

Checking in for day 14. Yesterday was my wobbliest day yet as I went out for dinner with a friend. She doesn't drink so that made it easier but I really wanted a wine. Anyway managed with a soft drink and then a coffee. Am so pleased I managed to resist the very strong urge and I had a lovely evening!

I've found my wine brain saying things like 'you've done 2 weeks - that's brilliant - now have a wine to celebrate' - hoping today is easier .

Morning all, I woke up at 3 with horrendous period pains. So definitely not feeling energetic 🙁. But at least I'm not hungover as well.

Morning all! I hope Day 14 went OK for everyone, though after all this time the ice is getting a bit slippy. Dig your claws in (yes, I checked, they do) and don't slip off this lovely healthy berg!

So it's day 15 now. As I clarified before, tomorrow (Sunday) at midday is the halfway point. Keep focussing on that. As I write we've done (at 9am Saturday) 46.3%! Woop!

@ItsAllAboutTheLighting that was a good update from you yesterday about your weight loss, better joints and good sleep! Pleased to hear it (and hope to he wrist gets better soon!)

Lots of mention of temptation from everyone. Remember to set up mini goals and rewards, and take it a step at a time.

So today is day 15 and another Saturday. Good luck everyone, whatever stage you're at.

Morning!
Friday evenings are hard!!!! But that's 2 done without giving in. The vodka in the freezer was calling out to me after a really long day at work and a bit of a stupid row with my DH.
I resisted. And I do feel proud of that. However I really thought I'd be leaping out of bed by now full of the joys but I actually feel really low.
I've realised how much wine has been making up for how lonely I feel at the mo.
Me and DH are both spread a bit thin and we need to do some more stuff together rather than just pass on the stairs.
We kind of forced the evening last night after the row and played a silly board game with the kids and ate nice food. It kind of worked!
Today IS a new day!!

Woken up with a massive headache today, which seems really unfair since I didn't drink and really wanted to.

I was drinking about 14-16 unites a week, all on a Friday and Saturday night. So about what the NHS recommends.

I've been reading up on what alcohol does to your body and even at the NHS recommended amount, alcohol strips away dopamine and serotonin.

I'm trying to replace the dopamine and serotonin in my body. So I'm following BBC Good Food's dopamine diet which is basically lean protein, fruit and veg, nuts and seeds, legumes, unrefined grains. I'm going outside to get some light each day, I'm taking a vitamin B complex each day, I'm exercising daily (even if it's just a 30 minute walk) and I'm going to book in a monthly massage (the £60 I'll have saved from Dry January will pay for the massage).

It's fascinating reading. I just thought I'd share in case anyone is struggling with mood and energy and wants to look into it further for themselves.

Day 15 here, honestly still not feeling the wonderful benefits of living AF.

However, I've realised that my ongoing headaches are likely a result of my eyesight changing, I've had an eye test and need new glasses so hopefully this should resolve that particular problem.

I am reading the unexpected joy of being sober, and I dont feel I can really relate. My alcohol use is nowhere near as problematic as the author, and is very much more about a feeling of what I 'should' be doing. I whip myself into this crazy self improvement frenzy where I'm always trying to be better, healthier, more productive, when actually I probably just need to step off that train, slow down and be kinder to myself.

Fridays have been hard. I'm looking forward to being able to have a glass of wine on a Friday night again, and will absolutely aim to be AF during the week when I am finished with DJ. I think I will aim for another dry month, maybe June time, where there will be more pleasant distractions and life will generally be a bit less shit. I know why the DJ works as a concept, and how we all need a reset after Christmas, and are all over our resolutions. However, being dry when I can have a lovely evening walk, potter in the garden, enjoy an iced drink would feel much nicer than this.