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!

Just pulled the raw data from my Fitbit, ran some analysis, and apparently my REM sleep is up 15% from the first 12 days of December. That's good!

Me too. My husband has bought AF wine for us to try tonight (only has beer so far), so that will have to do!

Oh dear. There's a lot of wishing for a glass of wine this evening. Banish such thoughts!
Don't forget wine is a poison. It's a substance we consume that we never evolved to be able to process. It's ridiculous. It's a poison ☠️

Distract yourself on a Friday night with:

1. Talking to someone - someone nice and fun preferably!
2. Reading or writing - read a good book, send a message/email to a neglected friend.
3. Play a game - an app on iPad, board game, crossword, jigsaw, logic puzzle, video game etc.
4. Exercise - not easy on a Friday night maybe, but a few sit ups or walk up and down stairs 20 times.
5. Eat or drink - healthy snacks, unhealthy snacks, nice AF drinks.
6. Watch telly, preferably something gripping.
7. Listen to the radio or a podcast.
8. Have a nice long bath, with bath bomb, candles, MN on your phone etc.
9. Craft - knitting, crochet whatever

10. Listen to some lively uplifting music...

Share your other ideas. If you like.
But most of all don't touch that poison ☠️

I had a minor craving but have swerved it. We've just been asked out for a drink with friends tomorrow. Interesting in that my initial thought was no as it means driving, but now of course it's far easier as I don't have to worry about it! Makes me think how often I put drinking first

Hang in there everyone. Think how good you will feel tomorrow.
One AF beer here and its going to be early bed for me

Oh and if it helps, the end of today means we are 42% of the way through.

Edging ever closer to the 50% mark. 💪

Thanks OP. I'm planning to watch some TV to distract myself, then have a bath and early bed around 9ish.

I'm thinking of AF beer . Is that cheating or is it ok? I think others are doing that. It's just I need a different taste to tea/coffee/ fizzy water/ Fanta !

I did an online yoga & am now in bed with anAF beer watching my favourite program whilst DH & DS watch the Hobbit. After my earlier craving, I’m now actually feeling alright. It helps when I remind myself how nice it will be to wake up on the w/e without a hangover!

Early evening is definitely the witching hour for me. But I don't feel too bad tonight, which surprises me, as Friday night definitely = wine night in my eyes and last weekend I was very much feeling flat and that there was no point to a weekend without wine. I definitely don't feel that today. I'm also taking DS1 to a sports activity which means I'll need to be on the road till 9:30pm, so that will help avoid any temptation.

Agree with whoever was laughing about doctors chiding patients about alcohol intake. We have family members who are doctors and I would agree that there are many medics out there who drink a LOT! Do as I say and not as I do, as the saying goes...

Can I just add that I am in awe of anyone who is trying to combine DJ with any other kind of dietary restriction? I am finding it reasonably easy to ditch the white wine, and no other alcohol appeals to me anyway, but no way could I cut out carbs, caffeine or sweet stuff. Whilst DS1 is at his sports club tonight I'm off to McDonalds

Well done everyone on nudging over the 40% mark!

We had fajitas for dinner and always have a beer with that meal for some reason. DP was like, it’s fine (he very rarely drinks in the house) but he had a beer and I had an AF gin and tonic tin which must have been kicking about the fridge from summer. (It tasted nothing like G&T!)

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/-dry-january-challenge-2023-drinking-meaning-benefits/672695/

Interesting article about dry January

I'm so proud of myself, my DH had a glass and a half of red wine with dinner and I had a Coke Zero. Boom! I even had a sniff of his wine to see if it smelled nice! If I'm truthful, I bought the wine for DH because I wanted to test myself 😜 I'm off to shine my halo now 😇.

Well done Spirini! I'm off to bed now, a bit later than planned, but I can safely say that day 13 is out of the way. Hurrah!

I didn’t drink and it was fine! Well done everyone

Well done to the abstainers 🎖️!

We're home, I remained AF and am pleased I did. DH had 3 pints and is now asleep next to me on the sofa. Probably for the best as he was very annoying when he was awake 😉

Well done from me also! Found it easy - I tried a slightly odd AF and gluten free stout - and now I'm silently judging DH as he cracks on with his third drink of the evening while I go to bed.

Definitely not cheating!

I have also silently judged DH 😆

I don't think AF is cheating at all. First year I was a purist but no longer. AF beers so much better now than when I was pregnant! St Étienne from Aldi is good! And all the Brewdog ones.

I didn't think so just wasn't sure if it was a slippery soap! In the end I went to bed early with my Prince Harry book 😂

BAck from night out which was great. Have been feeling a bit below par all day but without the self punishing thoughts that accompany alcohol induced below par.

Sympathies for everyone who has found today difficult. Its easy to let your guard down at this point in the month but stay strong. We can do it!

Can I just thank the person who suggested the book on why motivating people doesn't work? Nothing to do with DJ whatsoever, but a good read for my next career move, and I'm getting stuck in it.

Though I have noticed that this is the first book I've been reading in over a year, and it's taking some time to get back into the focus I used to have. I just haven't had the time last year at all to read - post-divorce feet-finding, then bought my first place, struggles at work with a new role dumped on me that I resented (but have slowly come to like), then finding a new job, coming off SSRIs for the first time in over 3 years, all while working full-time and raising my kids - 2022 was a whirlwind. No wonder, in a way, that I'd turned to alcohol to cope, though that began while I realised just how unhappy I was in my marriage.

My new bag should arrive today - the reward for saving so much money on not buying alcohol; I should be on £63 by today, which is amazing. Besides more work, I'm also continuing on home improvements today, and will carry on reading more. Waiting for it to stop pissing it down, too, so that the washing can go out, and giving the house a general clean and tidy, which I had to pause last week due to working up to 13h/day and then coming home to sort the kids out.

I slept really well again last night - honestly, there are no words to describe how good it is to not be waking up every night for hours with my mind racing.

I'm noticing that I do tend to get quite tired around 9pm - I'm sure I always have done, but drinking alcohol totally masked those cues and I'd carry on drinking until 10.30/11 before calling it a night. It's so nice to be more in tune with what my body is trying to tell me now.

Day 14 now - I can't believe we've come this far! Really looking forward to midday on Monday when we'll officially be halfway.

Today is also the first time I've felt like I'm starting to see the bigger picture - the real benefits that not drinking for a prolonged period can bring. This is why I think DJ is so helpful - speaking from experience, you just don't get that perspective by simply cutting down. I really hope this is the beginning of a new way of thinking around alcohol for me, that will help me moderate and inform my choices around drinking in the months to come.

Sorry if that sounds a bit word salad - I hope it makes some sort of sense.