DRY JANUARY 2023! 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 sixth year of DJ and I swear it may have saved my life; 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. Everyone welcome 🙂☕️🧃

The DJ2022 Wagon creaks to a start in just 4 days, but always stops for latecomers 🙂

Day 2 here and I feel like shit. I ache all over, despite sleeping loads and loads last night. I'm not at all tempted to drink though, I'm committed to dry Jan.

Beating the mental urge for wine is just so, so hard.

Could it still be a physical craving? Or is it all in my head? It feels like it's a mental thing.

It's the dopamine apparently...

iamsober.com/addictions/alcohol/cravings/

Awful nights sleep here too. Awake till past 3am and then only really dozed till the alarm went off. Anxiety through the roof as well

I have arranged to take ds1 to a sports club on Friday evening which will involve driving till quite late so this will hopefully stop the end of the week wine cravings. Other than that though I feel rubbish!

Am sending positive vibes to all.

Yes I think the 'money saved' calculation is a really good idea.

Thanks for the %s @HPLikecraft - very encouraging.

I felt awful / bleak on NYD and I realise now that it was the anxiety and the down feelings that come with alcohol that was clouding my mood.

I was dreading my first day back at work today as it's really hard at the moment but It's not as bad as it would have been had I had 3/4 of a bottle of wine last night..

The percentage calculator is really motivating, thank you @HPLikecraft . I feel good today. The difference is definitely morning motivation - getting up and getting stuff done rather than sitting with a cup of tea and not really making a start on anything. My DCs are with grandparents for the night and DH is away for work so I know tonight will be a test as I tend to find it hard to sleep when I'm home alone. Will exercise early evening, then have dinner. I also find that if I clean my teeth after eating dinner, it stops me snacking/wanting wine - a bit random but it helps. Well done to everyone else who's doing this too, it's not easy but worth it I'm sure.

I'm feeling really good today, thought that could be because I've just come back from 3 days / 2 nights in a spa. Ask me again this time tomorrow!

Have moved on to the Blackout book and enjoying it, but not so much as the Catherine Gray one. In both cases, there is definite 'cross over', but I didn't start drinking as a child or ever do anything nearly as wild under the influence (blackouts, waking up with strangers, or in a police cell, etc...). I am that person more likely to nod off quietly in a corner early doors, before any real damage can be done! So on the one hand reassuring, but on the other there is recognition in terms of some of the thinking patterns they display and various mental gymnastics they go through - it's all a spectrum really.

I went out for lunch to a restaurant today and managed not to drink - a huge achievement for me. I felt a mix of emotions afterwards - extremely pleased with myself for resisting temptation, but miserable that I missed out on a glass of wine or two. I wonder if this feeling - that life is rather joyless without alcohol - will ever shift?

Struggling a bit today. Got to get through the next few hours....

It's worth repeating this comment by @Greatly from a few pages back, which really stuck with me. It made me feel proud of what myself and all of us doing DJ have achieved so far.

"Abstaining completely requires a huge level of commitment and determination."

Having lasagna tonight and as DH are drinking red wine I'm having McGuigan zero Shiraz it's really quite pleasant not like grape juice

I bought dd2 a bottle of wine today as she wanted a glass after work (she's 20 home from uni). Luckily she wanted rose which I dislike. Not even tempted so far 🤞🤞

evening all the day was so so stressful and it was as I was leaving work frazzled and rushing to pick up kids is when I thought this is always the trigger and the fuck it moment of I deserve wine, but then a series of events ended up me getting home later and later and then I have only now got as chance to sit down and its already what 540pm so for me the 'witching hour' was 5pm (sometimes after school p.m!) so I think well that's over now but the struggle is real. I ate lettuce and cucumber with balsamic vinegar but now will eat all my ferro rochers lets be honest! @freshstart2023 well done for not drinking when out! I also feel like that is this it without alcohol but I think eventually you will feel the 'joy'...don't know when though! Clare Pooley talks about the bunnies in the field if you have read her book...quite insightful and she is a very funny riter I liked that one but haven't read it since May! @Hedjwitch you got this!!! have you got a nice alternative? mine was always an Appletiser....

I have gone from drinking loads to barely drinking anything over the years. I can honestly say that I do find life quite tedious sadly. My social life has tanked and I just work a lot. You have so much time to fill without booze but that can actually be a poisoned chalice if you don’t have much to fill it with.

BUT! There are upsides. If you want better mental health (and I have got huge confidence now and motivation and energy that would put my younger self to shame), a better body (I am 8st 12 half a stone lighter and dint go anywhere near as much cardio), a better job (found my dream job last year and am quids in as a result) and total self acceptance (because you have to face your ‘demons’ sober as they come at you rather than drown them in wine and let them fester) … then crack on.

yes I had great times when I was drinking and I miss those days of letting down my hair and being totally ‘in the moment’. But booze is like a relationship that goes bad over time. It’s knowing when the time has come to get out.

im dying for a wine right now despite going for long spells without it. I just am used to it though and know that my craving will disappear as soon as I have eaten. So best start rattling the pots and pans!!!

freshstart2023 · Today 11:37
It's only 11.35, but the weather is miserable (yet again) and I'm already feeling really annoyed that I can't have a glass of wine later. That in turn makes my mood low.

Your comment @freshstart2023 made me smile! So relatable. How are you getting on now?

I think I have emotional dependency on alcohol rather than physical dependency, if that makes sense? Its the reward & the signalling relax time. Need to seriously break the habit.

I'm sure I'll get through the month, mainly to prove to myself I can as I'm on a diet too and wanting to shift a good 7lbs which no alcohol and consequently no associated snacking will help. No sugar either. But it's hard, and I'm miserable for it.

also one major upside is that you’ll start to manage stress much better too. So life becomes much, much easier. That’s an absolute promise.

I know exactly what you mean @buzzofthebumblebee. I think I have an emotional dependence on it too.

Sorry if this is TMI - but is anyone else constipated?

Absolutely but it does depend on your mindset. This book is absolutely brilliant for helping you change the way you see life without alcohol www.wob.com/en-gb/books/jason-vale/kick-the-drink-easily/9781845903909?gclid=Cj0KCQiA5NSdBhDfARIsALzs2EDZ15QmL8PrcgRmXW6g8DPLx7Gzz981IgdAewctEasNuAHdqKsV9OwaAp9bEALw_wcB#GOR003759340

I think I read this in a previous Dry Jan thread, or else one of the quit lit books, but I am sure I heard that cravings only last for 7 minutes. Now that I write it down, it seems a bit unscientific that they would all last the same length of time, but maybe that is an average or even maximum. Anyway, that knowledge has stood me in good stead the last few Dry Januarys. 7 minutes is nothing to wait - it's a short wait for a bus, it's the length of a good song. We can do it. cracks open a Beck's Blue

@freshstart2023 and others, when I have done it before and lasted until end of February, without ever really intending to, I think it's because I found I was happier. It is a different kind of joy I suppose, being much more on an even keel, things not bothering or annoying you so much, worrying less and just feeling calmer. Probably less exciting, but then all the quit lit reminds us that what we think of as exciting when drinking is not all it's cracked up to be.

Day 4 I'm feeling very calm. At the moment the unpleasantness of my hangover on Jan 1 is still with me - I didn't even drink all that much but I was fuzzy headed, tired and a bit depressed all day. I wouldn't say i am 'up' at the moment but I feel at peace and that's great.

Thanks for the insight @Mezmer - much appreciated.

@ColouringPencils "A different kind of joy" makes sense.

Thanks. I've had 3 lime and tonics with dinner to kill the craving and think am past the danger zone. Now just got a boring evening to while away while dh necks beer!
This is NOT easy

I agree - I'm finding it extremely tough. I suppose going from 70-90 units a week to 0 overnight was never going to be easy.

I'm still clinging on, just about.