Old habits DRY hard! It's DRY JANUARY thread #2... newcomers always welcome!

[HPLikecraft]

Here we are, a shiny new thread to help us stay dry.

Thread one has been great and supportive; and thread two will take us through further challenges and milestones. Hop aboard; you're all doing brilliantly!

Well done everyone!

This is only day 29 for us as we didn’t start until the 3rd. We are going to keep going until Thursday and on Friday we’re going out for lunch. With wine!

We’ve both found it really easy so we’ve decided to keep going after our one day off until we go away towards the end of Feb.

Even though I was drinking every day, I can’t say I feel or look better. I’ve never had a bad head in the morning or anything. I’m sure my liver looks happier though.

Thanks @HPLikecraft for your inspirational posts.

I made it. Got my shiny badge! Have done it before and found it fairly easy barring the last weekend. Going to stick with staying dry in the week and just drinking (moderately) at weekends.

Well done everyone!

Aww, thanks for all your kind words, everyone, I'm blushing! I am so glad you enjoyed and appreciated the thread and found it helpful.

It has been amazing listening to your experiences, successes and setbacks and watching everyone support each other: giving advice, offering tips, helping each other back on the wagon without judgement when the odd slip up has happened.

Some say they don't feel too different, but you will have benefited greatly from this month, mentally and physically... even you @Oblomov22 !

It's important to me that there's a DJ thread in chat (other DJ threads are available, though strangely I didn't see one in the alcohol section this year) because people will see it who didn't go looking for it. I love it when people stumble upon us and decide to take part. I love it when regular DJers come along for their usual ride. I love it when someone who was DJing alone finds us and joins in. The very best, though, is the heavy drinker who sees the thread and decides to take part, not having considered it before... and then gets to the end! The reason it's so important to me is for statements like this one from @WaxingGibbon

"I can't believe what I've achieved. I actually think this thread might have saved my life"

That made me well up, and believe me I am a stone who cries at nothing. You may or not recall that I wrote something similar at the beginning of thread one, that stumbling upon a DJ thread on MN 6 years ago may have saved my life.

I've also really loved seeing the lurkers shuffle out shyly from behind their bushes to say hi in the last day or two...glad you were with with us.

When I didn't see a DJ thread 4 years ago in late December I thought I better start one, and so have OP'ed it each year since (think I had a different username first time) but you lovely people have been my favourite cohort so far though, and I love you all.

Well I'll be in bed at the end of DJ in just over three hours time, so please come back tomorrow for your gold award and certificate. We're open all day. One last thing....

Midnight tonight sees us

100%

of the way through!

💯 🥇👏🎉💪😘🏆😃

How amazing are YOU!!!!

Made it to the end! Thanks for the thread @HPLikecraft . I'm ploughing on to Dry February and the aim is to stay dry until my holiday in mid March.

If anyone else is carrying on next month, good luck!

Another thanking OP for starting the DJ thread and keeping us on track with % completed updates and interesting info about alcohol, and thanking fellow travellers for your candour, wit, encouragement and honesty.

Will continue on to a DF and see where I get to, maybe see some along the way.

Hurray !!! Delurking - again - to say a HUGE thanks @HPLikecraft and raising my ginger & diet tonic to you, and to everyone else who have made it ! Such an achievement. Well done all of us. I'm def hanging on until Friday.

Ok 1/31 slipped up - made it!!

Made it! In bed with a hot chocolate. Was nearly derailed by dinner with friends but I was so determined to see it through, even though they both had wine.
I'll be back for my badge in the morning

Wow - made it!

I have also made it - hurrah! I’m tucked up in bed and cannot quite believe that I’ve managed 31 days sober. Before DJ the thought of not drinking for a whole month was simply incomprehensible to me. It just felt so daunting and wasn’t something I thought I had any chance of achieving. I wouldn’t have crossed the finish line without this thread so thanks to all of you for your support. It’s been a very difficult journey at times but I’m so proud of myself for reaching the end.

I’m feeling excited but also a little nervous about having a drink tomorrow.

Slipped up in 1/31 made it to day 25, still feeling like it's a win.
Well done everyone, you're awesome!

I mean, made it to day 28! Got my dates wrong

.

.

Getting caught up in the celebrations of last night... I forgot I started on the 2nd. I shall save the party poppers for myself until tomorrow. I do plan do carry on another week or so but it's really completing dry jan that feels like the big achievement.

I have blood tests today including liver enzymes. Results in 2 days

@HPLikecraft

I missed your midnight posts. Brilliant! Did you have to stay awake on purpose to do this or are you a night owl?

My reset is going to be aiming to drink only Friday and Saturday if I want to.

Welcome to February, everyone! We did it! Whether fully dry or far more dry than usual, we did it🎉🏆

I’m definitely up for taking part in a ‘drinking in moderation’ thread going forwards. I’m seriously contemplating trying to do as near to dry February as I can- I’m not sure how successful I will be but I have felt SO much better these past few days, and can see/feel the positive effect of zero alcohol on my skin. I’ve realised that perhaps for me it takes a full four weeks to really see the benefits.

I might try doing an ‘only drink alcohol when out socialising’ approach. I don’t go out a huge amount (if that doesn’t make me sound too sad!) and I am much more of an ‘at home’ wine drinker. I’ve broken so many wine associations this month and am hoping this can continue. So if I stick to ‘only when out’ I could probably cut down to two or three drinking days a month. Hmm. Something to muse about anyway.

@HPLikecraft thank you so much! This is the first thread I've followed on here and it's been fun & inspirational - can't ask for more. I'm going to try to reduce my drinking this year and will see you all next Jan

Congratulations everyone who made it! I cracked last week so I only managed 3 weeks. When I did drink I didn't even enjoy it definitely easier to moderate after doing DJ even if I didn't finish.

@FlyingPandas

I relate to this. My drinking when going out isn't more than anyone else's (though I am known as a faster drinker than sone friends) - but by far my biggest area of concern is at home every night on my own, mainly through stress of parenting my autistic DD. Well to be fair it's always been too much but it never used to every night and sometimes in excess of a bottle.

I think/ hope I have broken this (at least temporarily- hopefully for longer) for now and I can see how bad it was getting.

Extremely grateful to this thread for making me see what a slippery slope I was on. Def up for staying on this thread or some of us doing a moderation one.

Well done to everyone who made DJ and to those who reduced your drinking massively also well done. I am going to continue to cut back as I feel better when I drink less alcohol

Well done everyone!! We all broke some difficult habits and associations. I know my relationship with wine in particular is vastly different to what it was on the 1st December and it was sorely needed. I never had the bad hangovers or the guilty feeling the next day from drinking, but I know it wasn't great for my body.

So I had a couple of glasses of red wine last night with DH, for 2 reasons - 1. mini-celebration, had my first proper months pay in my new role - which is a huge increase and 2. I am planning to do Dry Feb, so now I'm really looking forward to hitting 4 full weeks clean and dry, its nice that its the same day.

Thanks so much @HPLikecraft for the thread, I have found it so helpful.

Hey 2023 graduates (1st class for the completely dry all January; I'll let the damp ones decide their own classification!) here is your gold award trophy, a specially commissioned depiction of "Dry MNer, profering the Nosecco" . You'll note the smooth skin and svelte figure of a booze free woman.

Take a certificate too...