Dry Another Day! February beckons. Dry January (and beyond?) Thread 2. All welcome.

[HPLikecraft]

Ah, there you are little dry pingywings. 🐧🐧🐧

Shiny new thread. I've swept the berg and we're good to go. Hop on.

30 days done. Pleased I started on the 1st after all!

I’m in for a Dryer Feb, but got a couple things planned where I know I’ll paddle. Fine with that- just don’t want to slip back into drinking alllll the wine alllll the time!

Thanks @TiffanyAchingsHatFullofSky I will get one of those for Feb half term.

Well I gave myself permission to have a couple of glasses of red wine tonight. DH said he was going to so I knew there would be a bottle open and figured it would be very hard to resist. But I didn’t bother in the end. Had a tonic water and then water and my usual bedtime tea and a couple of Celebrations.

Very pleased - I’ve now done my first 7 day stretch.

I have a Thriva blood test kit I want to do and it will be good to do it in the morning having not drunk the night before and having reduced so much over the last month. Will be interesting to see what it shows.

Ordered glorious rock bottom.
Haven’t made a decision about February yet but know I need to lose the January pounds I’ve put on! Can’t do the fasting diet as I eat with the kids at every meal but I will look at reducing what I eat in the evenings.

Goodnight all. See you tomorrow for our DJ graduation.

I'll raise a glass of sparkling water to you all

@Peridot1

Well I gave myself permission to have a couple of glasses of red wine tonight. DH said he was going to so I knew there would be a bottle open and figured it would be very hard to resist. But I didn’t bother in the end. Had a tonic water and then water and my usual bedtime tea and a couple of Celebrations.

Very pleased - I’ve now done my first 7 day stretch.

I have a Thriva blood test kit I want to do and it will be good to do it in the morning having not drunk the night before and having reduced so much over the last month. Will be interesting to see what it shows.

What's a thriva blood test kit for?

Day 31 Whoo hoo, feeling so much better for it. Quit Lit definitely helped. I'd also recommend Unexpected Joy of being Sober and Alcohol Explained.
I am struggling with Naked Mind though, very technical. But will look into Glorious Rock Bottom, thanks.
Well done everyone. Onwards and upwards 👍🏼

@TiffanyAchingsHatFullofSky

@Peridot1

I'd be interested to know too.

I'd like to know if my vitamin b and not drinking have increased my dopamine levels but I don't know how I'd find that out.

Thriva is a on online lab basically. You buy a kit and they send it to you and you fill the vials and post them off and they test and send you the results with some advice based on what the tests show. I did it back in 2018 but can’t say I acted on the results really. I know my cholesterol was high. Looking back my liver function was surprisingly ok. My Vit B12 was low.

It’s not cheap really but I found it good. You pick what you want them to test and you can do it every few months or yearly or as a one off.

With it being so hard to see GPs at the moment I thought I would do it again and actually follow the recommendations!

Thanks @Peridot1

31/31!

I’m treating today like the first of Feb and going to start my new eating plan. Going to do an exercise class later this evening and not eat right before bed. Reduce caffeine to one coffee a day and up my fruit and veg intake. Hope it will help to shift the 4lbs.

Another good night’s sleep. That’s what is helping me to resist the wine, I really value the improvement to my sleep.

Last day today.
Can hardly believe it.

Well done if you've done all or, indeed, any of DJ... any amount of cutting out or cutting down will have taken a lot of willpower. None of us who embark on DJ have total control of - or a healthy relationship with - alcohol; we wouldn't be here if we did, so well done however much of it you achieved.
I promise you that any further forays into dryness you take will be easier now that you have done this one. It does get easier.

No, no graduation today because we're not done until midnight, but do come back tomorrow for it. There will be fish.
And guess what, at midnight we'll be...

... drumroll...

100% of the way through! 💪🐧

Well done everyone!!
Things have been stressful here, so much that I only just realised it is 31 Jan. I don't think I have saved much money (trying out all those bloody AFs!) or lost any weight, but I do feel better able to handle the difficult times and that is the best thing I could ask for really. I know that alcohol makes me feel very anxious the next day, and it is a feeling I hate. Definitely carrying on for a bit of Feb at least. Maybe I will join some of you on a diet too.

Hi everyone,

Well done for making it through. I knocked off a day early (asked permission from King Pingwing on the previous thread) as it was a friend's big birthday today so we had champagne. But walking through London I saw this 6ft penguin and took a photo in honour of the lovely huddle that kept us going.

Well done to everyone who managed the full 31 days and well done to everyone who tried and is still trying.

For me I did 27/31 days. Could have been better, could have been worse. And I plan to continue. Indefinitely.

Feeling like I can manage not drinking at home. Don't fancy it at all.

It will be the going out / having visitors that will be my downfall. Not that I do much of either (go out or host)

Planning to continue without any end point. I won't be teetotal but I really don't want to be a regular drinker (every weekend felt like it needed a drink to mark it!)

I want better habits, a better mentality, and to not let one Thursday evening to become "fuck it I've failed this week, I'll go dry again from Monday"

I want wine to become an occasional treat and not something I do because it is Saturday night / I've had a hard week / I'm celebrating not having to get up etc. I was finding way too many reasons to open a bottle and I want that to stop.

31 days, I can't believe it!

@hivemindneeded I love that picture!

Well done everyone! I always find it tough. Still thinking about what to do in February. Will stay on the thread and update progress. You’ll see me under a new name because I change it regularly to avoid being spotted!

I finished the month with a mug of hot water and lemon.

Just celebrated with a bucks fizz...well orange juice and tonic 😁, then a cup of cocoa.

Well done everyone, we made it to the end of the month. I love that penguin @hivemindneeded

I'm proud I did it, but now I feel so unsettled about February. It's like I did this challenge because it's a 'real' thing whereas February is my own decision. I have an event on Friday, my first this year. I want to drink, then I don't, then I want to, then I don't. I hate the internal monologue has started again, already. I think realistically that tells me my drinking mind isn't normal so I should carry on being dry. But I don't suppose I'll ever be 'normal' regarding drinking so maybe it means I shouldn't ever again, which scares me. I want to be normal. Then I reason one night a month isn't anything at all to be ashamed of. I'm trying myself up in knots.

I'm annoying myself with it 😂

We made it!

Well done everyone.

I did 24 dry days out of 29 - I was always starting on the 3rd of January.

I didn’t give in to just drinking at home just because. And that was what I really wanted to tackle. DH and I drank every night. A lot. So the nights I did drink this month were social events or for a reason. It may have been a weak reason by some standards I admit!

But I feel I have broken the cycle I was in of drinking every night. It showed me I don’t have to drink just because DH is. I do have willpower. I didn’t lose it somewhere years ago!

Wine is my downfall. I started Dry January saying to DH I was giving up wine. It was easier for him as he could still have gin or beer. He was really good at not having wine which made it easier for me. And he had wine the last couple of nights and it didn’t really bother me.

It’s been great to realise that even if I am tempted or crave wine the craving goes away pretty quickly. And the feeling of pride at not giving is is much better than the taste of wine. Who knew?

I’m certainly carrying on into February. Maybe not completely dry but definitely not going back to drinking the way I was.

@Peridot1 a couple of years ago on a Dry Jan thread I'm sure someone said that a craving lasts for about 6 minutes. I don't know whether it is true, but I have held it close to me at all times!

Well done everyone! @lunklitdays that is very similar to my thinking. Confused.

Ha ha, check out my new username. So surprised this was available…
Might even keep me dry in February, who knows!

I started reading Glorious Rock Bottom. It’s hard hitting.

@lunklitdays same dilemma here for the weekend. I decided to take it off the table and not drink. Just because I’m a bit worried about my tolerance after a month off and don’t want to end up with the first drink ending in that feeling of shame. Which for me, inevitably it will.

Have a great week everyone!

Gosh, it's official! We did it. You're all brilliant to have managed any amount of this. Hopefully now your inner strength for controlling difficult or damaging things will be enhanced; your health certainly will have improved, hopefully your sleep, skin, weight, too!
I didn't want to say it too much on the thread because others were less fortunate, but I slept so well over the past month! That surely must be very beneficial. And I can practically feel my liver regenerating as I write! Didn't lose an ounce, however.

This is the beginnings of a better, healthier you!

Come and collect your gold fish trophy and B.A. (beater of alcohol) certificate, graduates! 🐧🐧🐧🎓🎓🎓

Thanks for this thread @HPLikecraft and thanks to everybody on it. It was great to have the support and encouragement and it definitely helped me to keep going.

Weight wise I lost 1.5 pounds the first week, put it back on mid month (while I was in Ireland I think - nightly peanuts and Cornettos ) and lost it again by yesterday.