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 🙂

So so tired today. The insomnia is driving me insane. I did manage to make my 6am gym class though, so that’s a plus and will have hopefully worn me out a bit for the night.
My mind is already wandering to Friday night though. I’m going to need a strategy…

@freshstart2023 you're doing so well. Literally take a day at a time. Consider a treat for making it through. My little treat is a cup and Earl Grey and a slice of cake in bed each evening.
I've not seen a % update today from OP but if my maths is right we've done 16% (sorry if I missed an update and my maths is wrong)

Plenty of tonic water ordered for the weekend. I like it with ice and a slice in a nice glass. Also ordered Belvoir Ginger cordial to try with it. I'm wanting something to drink ceremonially in a nice glass to differentiate from Sunday to Thursdays. Apart from Xmas when I drank every night then I only usually have a drink on a Friday and Saturday at home but I do love that Friday feeling when I pour a GnT at 6!

Better day today as had to take mum.out to an elderly volunteers supper and was driving so no temptation. In bed now with herb tea. Day 5 done and dusted. I might have been imagining it but my jeans felt a wee bit looser....
This group is great for moral support. Well done all.

I haven't rtft it's hard to keep up, which is a good sign that there's lots of support here.

@flyingpandas sorry about your work colleague, you did well to resist the wine.

I'm surprised how easy I'm finding it, when other years I've found it so hard which is a bit of a gloat and so I apologise for that. Will probably eat my words at the weekend!

But I think the difference is this, my drinking was out of control big time, I felt ill every single day. I thought I'd need medical help detoxing.

But not feeling sick, ill, hot, anxious and so tired every day has been a breath of fresh air this week, it makes me wonder why I poisoned myself all this time.

I need to bottle those awful feelings so I never go back.

Also bought some high strength thiamine, magnesium and milk thistle too so maybe that helps? Listened to some sober podcasts.

Hope everyone can get through this weekend without the wine or poison of choice

Day 5 and into unchartered waters for me - not gone beyond 3 or 4 days on the trot without a glass of wine since... well, I couldn't say. Feeling remarkably chipper as it stands - but am really wary about work stress, which like for many on here is a trigger for me. One of my colleagues is my Dry Jan buddy though, so someone who 'knows the score' to hand to call on in a pinch.

Day 5 done for me. I took myself to bed at 9.15pm as it's been a more challenging day. DC1 has complex additional support needs and has been quite challenging behaviour wise tonight. Thankfully he is now asleep in bed and DH took dc2 out swimming tonight to get him away from dc1 who was taking it out on dc2 mainly. I really wanted a wine tonight but didn't have one. I realised it helps me chill after dc1 has a meltdown. He has ASD and ADHD and is very difficult to life with though I love him he is exhausting.

Evening all.

Sorry I've been a rubbish OP today; had a family situation to deal with. Luckily it didn't drive me to drink!

It's great how busy the thread is. Please keep commenting, sharing your progress, tips and giving encouragement to others. If you 'signed up' but have been a bit quiet, please let us know how you're doing.

Something to look forward to... at the end of today, i.e. midnight, we will be

16%

of the way through! Isn't that colossal?! Then by the time you get up tomorrow, of course, it will be more.

There will be an award at 25%!

It’s normally thirsty Thursday , instead it’s maltesers and sparkling water
I’m starting Bootcamp on Monday , my sugar withdrawal is going to be awful !

Have been lurking but wanted to join the thread. I’m on Day 3 - was pretty good last year & managed to not drink Sun - Thurs but towards December it crept up until I was drinking every day & massively over indulged. Hoping DJ will give me a reset. The big blip on the horizon is a week long work trip near the end of the month which is going to be a massive challenge to remain AF on 😬

Just watched the apprentice and now have a new book to start. Tired as had fitful sleeps and up earlier than normal. I’ve had loads of AF wine but think it’s playing havoc with my digestive system. Do AF drinks have sugar or sweeteners. Usually I drink wine or water? Anyway feeling too bleargh to think about wine. Have a good sleep everyone!

Hi all! Almost had a wine tonight but stayed strong and read my book in bed with a herbal tea!

Your body processes alcohol in the same way as sugar, AIUI, so if you are having sugar cravings it might be because you're missing that. A few jelly babies is going to be a lot less bad for you than a couple of glasses of wine (if you're not doing Bootcamp, at least!).

Hi everyone and well done for making it through another day! I had my first strong mmm wine urge this evening but powered through it, honestly by thinking of all of you and having a big slice of chocolate cake instead, then making a cup of tea to watch the apprentice. Sleep well all.

I had to use every ounce of willpower not to drink last night. But I got through it!

Morning! Start of day 6 for me. Well done to all us taking back control, whether that is being dry for January, 100 days or seriously moderating what you drink. I’m still not sleeping well. Also waiting for lovely skin. But I have lost weight without changing my eating, 2lb, so that’s a bonus. The weekend might be a challenge. I’ve got a couple of the books people have been recommending, so hoping some reading will help with any inner turmoil.

Morning everyone! I had an awful nights sleep last night, couldn't sleep until 1 then had vivid dreams all night until the toddler woke me at 6. Although I think that might have been more to do with the book I was reading than the lack of booze!

I'm still sleeping awfully too. This is really unusual for me and hoping it passes soon as I wouldn't have described myself as any kind of heavy drinker other than the Christmas period.

Me too - slept so badly last night. Bit gutted as had been sleeping pretty well up to now. Woke up at 4.30 with everything I could possibly worry about going round in my head.

Well done 👏👏👏👏

Well done everyone, hang in there!

Is anyone else still having really weird and stressful dreams? I keep waking up feeling anxious, which is not how this is supposed to go! Last night's dream was about my DH getting very drunk and being obnoxious at the theatre and spoiling the experience for 1000 people... Maybe it is my brain trying to tell me that alcohol is bad??

Well done to everyone for getting through another night.

DH was drinking yesterday. He drinks red wine and I drink white, so the open bottle itself wasn’t a temptation, but usually when I see DH open a bottle I open one guilt free too (he is better at having days off in the week than I am. I was a daily drinker who felt more self conscious when he wasn’t drinking but no guilt at all when he was). Anyway he drank a bottle during food prep/dinner and I found it ok. Once we’d eaten DD wanted to watch the football so DH set that up in our room and I ended up sitting in bed with her watching it from 8 whilst DH a went to the pub.

I finished ‘Alcohol Lied to Me’ and have started taking the vitamins he recommends in the book. If anyone who hasn’t read it is interested he says to take:
3 x omega 3
vit b complex
a good multi vit (with zinc and magnesium)
extra vit c
and at night 2x 5htp

I’ve also written a list of how content (or not) I am with different aspects of my life (including health, wealth, work, house, relationships & self improvement) and thinking about how much of a negative effect my excessive drinking is having on each area. It’s quite an eye opener!

I’m off to the theatre tonight with my best friend who id normally drink with. Looking forward to going out without the expectation of drinking, and also having the opportunity to tell her how serious I actually am about changing my relationship with alcohol. I kind of down played it when we spoke before.

Good luck today everyone.

Thank you @Greatly

It's made me realise how much I use excuses to drink wine.

The kids are stressing me out = wine.
I've had a busy day = wine.
I have perimenopause symptoms = wine.

Sorry to read about all the people having bad sleep. I hope that is temporary for you all and passes soon.

I reckon once this week is up it will get easier.

But not feeling sick, ill, hot, anxious and so tired every day has been a breath of fresh air this week, it makes me wonder why I poisoned myself all this time. I need to bottle those awful feelings so I never go back.

Thanks so much for this post and for reminding me how I felt pretty much every day too as a result of heavy drinking. It's a horrible, horrible feeling and I never want to feel like that again.

I’ve also written a list of how content (or not) I am with different aspects of my life (including health, wealth, work, house, relationships & self improvement) and thinking about how much of a negative effect my excessive drinking is having on each area. It’s quite an eye opener!

This is a great idea also, thank you - I will give it a try.

I'm absolutely chuffed to have made it to day six. I had a rubbish sleep again last night (was awake for ages in the early hours) but I can handle the tiredness thanks to not being hungover.

Thanks for the % update - 16% sounds brilliant. Soon we'll be at 20% then 25%.

Morning. So good to hear all of those on here who say they had cravings last night but resisted. The feeling of not having given in in the morning is really good isn't it? (Even if the sleep has been a bit crap)

Thursday nights are normally a real trigger for me as the DC go to my ex's. I always go for drinks after work or see friends locally for too much wine. Failing that I come home, open a bottle of wine and slump on the sofa in front of the TV.

Last night I had teen DDs parents eve (normally a reason for wine afterwards in itself) had dinner with my neighbour who is also doing dryish jan. Came home, tidied my room and changed the sheets and got into bed. Watched Emily in Paris and the apprentice and went to sleep. A first for a Thursday night for me in a long time!

Have a good day everyone.