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 🙂

Still on it. The grapefruit juice is getting drunk so quickly, I think I'm going to start looking like one soon. Woke up with a thick head this morning but my period is due on Sunday so it could be that or a combination of detox and period which is nice, obviously.

Hi joining if I can. On day 5 of DJ. Been trying the non alcoholic wines but reckon they are as full of sugar as the real alcohol varieties- still more lucid during the day!

Woke up feeling more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed than have done in a long while. Then started work and already feeling deflated...

So glad I got through last night as finally slept better and feel more energised than I have in a long time. I am WFH today and decluttering at the same time. My God, decluttering is better than sex!!
the huge bag of clothes and the one of books are now in the Charity Shop, and my car boot refilled with bags of unused kitchen utensils and crockery. Have to do it when DH is out as he is a hoarder. A bonus was finding the boiler instructions and warranty papers!

hedjwitch we've recently downsized and decluttered massively. It truly is a glorious experience isn't it?!

On a somewhat related note, DH and I have spent time <ahem> together for the first time in ages. Nothing at all earth shattering (as there's nothing like a nomadic teen home for the Christmas holidays to put a dampener on things) but at least it passed the time 😆😆

I'm also on a big decluttering mission - it's a really good distraction from the alcohol (and not something I'd ever have the time or energy to do if I was drinking or hungover).

Day 5 for me and DJ is going well except my face has broken out in spots.... maybe it's just the shock of all the water, fruit & veg - my body doesn't know what's hit it

Mentally preparing myself for the weekend which will be the first real DJ challenge.

Have started decluttering myself - am now back at work which is putting this on hold. Understand the deflationary comment! Still we are gaining 2-3 mins of extra sunlight per day and the weather is getting warmer!

This is how we can all pass our evenings!
Only problem is it comes with the danger of a dry 9 months after

Here's some top tips from one of my favourite cartoonists: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2023/jan/05/how-to-ace-dry-january-the-stephen-collins-cartoon

I finally got a decent night's sleep last night! Still feeling quite tired though, which I remember from previous DJ attempts.

I didn't like to mention it, but now @Champagneforeveryone has lowered the tone... ;)

Since day 3 parts of me have started.... let's say decidedly roaring back into life too. I'm single but not without... errm... assistance to hand at least!

@Champagneforeveryone 😂

My sleep is still a mess, couldn't nod off last night for ages and I was stressing about all sorts, then the kids were both up in the middle of the night. That's very unlike them but ugh, I'm exhausted today. I've an exceptionally busy and stressful day at work tomorrow so I know I'm going to be dying for a drink....I can hear the Sauvignon Blanc calling me already...waaaah!

It's that time of day where I'm literally taking it half an hour at a time - and looking forward to getting safely into bed. I'm feeling more positive than I have done so far though. I'll be very happy to get 5 days under my belt - that sounds like a bit of a milestone.

Thursday is creeping into danger zone territory for me so I’ve booked a yoga class for tonight. It’ll be good to get out of the house anyway.

Then on to the true challenge for me that is the weekend!

Day 5 going ok. Thursday also a bit of a trigger for me as only work Mon to Thurs.

As far as sleep goes its ok - but have been feeling really really tired and a bit overwhelmed with the sheer volume of stuff in the house. DCs back to Uni tomorrow and Monday so am looking forward to an emptier house and a chance to catch up.

@Greatly - my DH does grumpy tidying as well. Its so annoying - he does far less house stuff than me and then gets in a disproportionate grump about a pair of trainers in the wrong place.

On a more cheery note I have booked a holiday for me and DH in March so something to look forward to.

My evening is going to consist of washing/ clearing up and slumping in front of Apprentice. Must make a start on that knitting too.

DH is drinking tonight, it’s the first time I’ve been exposed to alcohol so my first real test.
So far so good. I got through cooking/eating which is my main trigger. Im enjoying a glass of Trip drink and will move to herbal tea after.
Ive been invited to the theatre tomorrow, so although they’ll be drink available it’s not expected.

Good luck tonight everyone.

This is first day I've really thought seriously about a glass of wine as had a bad day at work.

Staying strong though!

Large glass AF g&t going down well. It perhaps helps that a G&T isn't my usual thing.

It’s already Friday in Oz, This will be my biggest challenge as Friday night is so strongly associated with end of week relaxing.And that means alcohol. Yesterday was okay. Feeling a bit flat. It’s not a physical withdrawal but a feeling of sadness that life isn’t the same. On a much brighter note though, weighed myself this morning and have lost over a pound, so that is making me feel it’s worth it and reminding myself that I DO want to be healthier!

Well done everyone else :)

This is my day 3, staying strong so far. Lovely AF corona beer yesterday.
Weekends are the danger zone for me as so many others have said. Think I'll get some nice AF red to try, and I do have some AF gin (although gin isn't my favourite).

Couple of curveballs in that I've been invited on a girls night out on Saturday- and I've weighed myself today and I have put weight on. Not happy about that as I have a holiday at the end of the month!! Will be planning some filling healthy meals next week 😊

Struggling here. Shit day at work which doesn't help and had some bad news about a work colleague which has made me really sad. I really want a glass of wine but determined not to.

Thursday is often even more of a trigger day for me than a weekend too if I'm honest, it's the point in the week where I feel I 'can' have a few glasses of wine (as opposed to Mon/Tue/Wed where I tell myself I really shouldn't but then have wine anyway).

Early night tonight as still not sleeping well.

Well done everyone for getting through another day!

I'm going to buy a pack of 0% Guinness tomorrow. They are really good.

I also had a stressful day and it made me crave a glass of wine or two to take the edge off. I'm determined to get to day 6 but my god it's hard at times. Does anyone else feel like they are literally drawing on every last shred of willpower they have in order to do this? It's mentally exhausting and I wonder if that's partly why I was so tired earlier this evening.

One thing I will say is that even though I was craving wine today, the cravings didn't feel as strong as they did a few days ago, so that's something.

I'm off to bed for an early night so I'm away from temptation.