DRY JANUARY 2024! 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!

DJ threads are 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 7th year of DJ and I swear it has made all the difference to me. It was so hard first time, but it has definitely 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. 🙂☕🧃

The DJ2024 Wagon creaks to a start in just 5 days! Join us!

Ready for Day 4 - I'm commuting to the office today - usually a trigger to come home and have a drink to relax in the evening.

What's motivating me today is that DC don't always need to see me with a drink in hand in the evenings. If anything, it's healthy to see the moderation and having AF days too.

Sleep was ok, woke up a couple of times in the night (no need to pee or anything) but I guess I woke up not feeling as bleary eyed as I normally would.

This evening I'll enjoy my AF beer and book and get ready for bed early.

Morning all!

Day 6 for me today. Have found getting out after finishing work helps with the cravings, but I'm feeling a bit of trepidation for that Friday feeling and the weekend. Hoping the weather stays nice and we can get out and about to keep me distracted.

I feel a bit sluggish today, like I do when I've had a drink.
Taking dd to the park today, the fresh air will do me good

3 nights down :) Drank Asda's diet lilt knock off last night instead.. probably not that good for me but it's not alcohol so yay.
Today is my birthday so we are off to London to a show, and I'm feeling quite positive that my 50-somethingth birthday is going to be a wine free one :)

Morning all, hope you've all sleep at least adequately and are feeling refreshed today.

A little quick boost. We've gone beyond the 10% mark now!

You've taken a good bite out of this bitter, but hugely healthy and beneficial, apple.

Dry January, now 10% off! Yay!

How is it going for you?

Morning @HPLikecraft and everyone else.

i slept much better last night and found it easy to get up and out for a dog walk this morning. Didn’t groan and roll over when my alarm went off!

Thanks for all the drink, podcast and blog recommendations, everyone.

I've been surprised by receiving a "thanks" on some of my posts by people I've not seen posting. There are quite a few followers of this thread lurking quietly in the shadows, so all the posts are getting a bigger audience than you may think, and making a bigger difference than you may have realised.

Special wave to the quiet lurkers! Hope DJ is going well for you, too! 🧋🧃👍💪

I LOVE this idea. I'm doing this.

Felt a bit groggy this morning for the first time despite not drinking.
Feel much better now so I've got the radio on and I'm starting the housework. The sun's shining here so will make the most of it and go to the park with my daughter then take the dogs for a nice long walk

“But you’re right, when you see the big bulk buy deals that especially the major retailers push on us, you really have to question their motive. Much of what they’re selling isn’t even very nice, so why are they pushing it so hard. What are the profit margins on alcohol, are they high or do they have to sell in bulk to do well? Maybe I do need to start thinking of everything, no matter the price or producer, as part of the big machine akin to tobacco industry which… as a fellow ex smoker I detest.”

It’s part of the addiction industry. Like the nicotine industry. Like the high fat/ high salt / high sugar food substances industry. Like the opiates industry. Like the online gaming / scrolling industry.

In a time of economic downturn, the commercial enterprises most likely to survive and thrive are those selling addictive substances that seem like they offer temporary relief from stress.

I agree with you that “much of what they’re selling isn’t even very nice”. DP just buys whatever wine is on offer. Pretty much every week I’ll take a sip, think ‘ugh this is horrible’, and also ‘why am I even doing this’ but then drink it anyway because once the alcohol has got into my system I can overlook the taste.

Her reaction is telling you something about her own relationship with alcohol.

It’s not telling you something about what she thinks about you.

You could approach it in a low key way and say something like: but what if I didn’t live walking distance from your house and had to drive there, would you expect me to drink and drive?

Or it could be something like a connection of pizza = wine. So perhaps try a different takeaway?

Good perspective, it’s easy to overlook this isn’t it. I wonder if there is some marvel type battle going on in the corporate-verse between the addiction industry, and the fitness / health and wellbeing industry ..?

I’ve done myself no favours switching to the more expensive stuff (ie £20 a bottle of wine rather than £8.50 a bottle)… as I had expected it to mean I drank less, in reality that hasn’t really happened, I just spend more! It is one of the reasons I enjoy it though as I actually genuinely like the wines we drink.

Can I join ( again) I want to not drink this Jan, or at all, but am somehow guzzling booze as a sort of rebellion to myself .
actu, thinking about it, never drinking again frightens me, it seems so unobtainable, and dry Jan frightens me because I’m scared I’m more dependent than I think and I won’t be able to do it. So I’m drinking! Warped logic.
Hope today will be day 1.

My morning check in….

I had LOADS of sleep last night. As a poor sleeper, this is amazing for me.

I went to bed early as I was bored and thought I’d do a sudoku in bed until I felt tired. Felt sleepy really quickly, was probably asleep by 10.30, woke up a couple of times in the night but went back to sleep no problem (unusual for me as I’m used to spending two or three hours awake in the night) and then woke up at 8am. That amount of sleep is practically unheard of for me.

I had a bit of an anxious moment last night as DP suggested takeaway burgers and I usually have cider with that. But the takeaway was closed. He asked me if I wanted a glass of wine with the meal he cooked and I said no. It’s a meal where we would end up drinking a bottle of wine, often on a Tuesday evening. He drank half a bottle. So there’s half a bottle and another bottle in the fridge.

Saturday night will be tricky as that’s bottle of wine night as a firmly established routine. I haven’t said I’m doing DJ. But he’ll probably work it out. I had a cold over Christmas and wine tasted weird so I can use that as an excuse.

welcome and good luck, what you said totally resonates with me. I’ve tried so many things before where the goal is so huge that it’s felt unachievable, meaning that I use its unachievability to excuse a slip up, meaning that then I think I have “failed” as the whole goal is shot. Instead, I’m just going day by day and I’m telling myself “today will not be the day I cave in”… in the hopes that the days then add up and become easier. Also means that if I do slip up on one day, I haven’t failed at the whole goal?
For that reason I haven’t actually told anyone I’m doing DJ, my goal is to feel better, and if I can do DJ it will feel like an achievement but even if I don’t stick to it 100% then I will feel better which is what it’s really all about. Good luck

All good here, however I am overeating/ snacking even when I'm not hungry..I seem to have swapped one bad habit for another.
However, my focus is to stay away from alcohol. I am away this weekend and have told my friend that I am doing Dry January as I think I would be too tempted if she got the wine out as usual ( she's not a big drinker at all and I suspect she only buys it when guests stay.
I signed up for Dry January emails but haven't been receiving them so am re-reading the ones from last year.
Well done to everyone so far and thanks for starting the thread .

Like Parsnip, I can really empathise with this too.

I don’t see your reaction as warped logic. I can recognise your reaction in myself in previous years too.

I haven’t managed to fully unpick what is behind it, tbh. But I think feeling negative or judgemental about yourself can create more negative behaviours rather than more positive behaviours. Sort of: “I’m rubbish / failing so I’ll self sabotage myself just to prove to myself that I’m right about being rubbish.”

It helps to remember that we are all human beings, that human beings are susceptible to the physical and psychological effects of alcohol, that human beings have been fighting this battle with alcohol for centuries (there was a reason for the temperance movement in the 1880s or whenever it was), that in UK the whole of society is set up to normalise regular drinking, and that breaking an established habit isn’t easy or there wouldn’t be so many programmes and support groups out there trying to help us with this.

Welcome to the thread, you’re amongst understanding comrades.

Quick check in this morning. Haven't caught up in detail. Managed to complete day 3 with a catch up binge of Mr Bates v The Post Office. I have followed the reporting for years and felt the drama is doing a great job of bringing this dreadful story to a wider audience and that in shining a light there may be some improvement on how the situation is being resolved.
Sleep was hour by hour. Anyone getting the 'did I drink' dreams and that waking anxiety? I did last DJ but not this year so far.
Day 4 - I am ready for now.

Happy birthday @Sonolanona and welcome, @Christmaswrap !

One thing I’m enjoying is seeing those yellow squares mount up on the Try Dry app calendar. It’s very satisfying.

After my blip yesterday I'm back on it today and feeling more positive!

So, day 1 take 2

Well done @fatandhappy47

Glad you're persevering!

“I wonder if there is some marvel type battle going on in the corporate-verse between the addiction industry, and the fitness / health and wellbeing industry ..?”

lol. Like between the angel and the demon in Good Omens? 😁

I slept really well last night, which is unusual as I haven't slept well for many years. 2 nights AF isn't unusual for me, so I suspect it was just a bit of a catch-up night, which I have now and again.
Got through Wine Wednesday OK. Weekends are harder for me.
Sadly, AF drinks are no good for me. I really only drink red wine, and the AF stuff is terrible. I hate gin, tonic, and I'm not a fan of fizzy drinks, so water it is 💧

Sadly I haven’t been sleeping well since I started and last night was worse than ever so I feel dreadful today. I’m sure I’ll be fine tonight and tomorrow but the weekend will be a challenge as a family event each day, but from the posts most of you are also feeling the weekend will be difficult. We can do this.

If you’re substituting wine/beer/gin with sugary or caffeine high alternatives, especially after dinner time reminder it could really effect your sleep pattern as well…

My daughter offered me a cup of tea last night around 9pm and I almost said yes and decided against it as I’m really sensitive to caffeine.

Is anyone else rethinking what they are making for dinner? There are meals that just go hand in hand with a glass of wine for me and others that are quick in from work/school/clubs needs must type dinners and I’m definitely sticking to those for the 1st week to cut down the temptation…

Unfortunately I found a stowaway bottle of Malbec which had been put into the fridge by one of my girls in the chaos of Christmas, I won’t have any temptation to drink it tonight but I think it’s going to be on my mind over the weekend!