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!

Also, thinking about the dehydration thing… I haven’t been drinking a huge amount of liquids even though I’ve been AF. Perhaps that’s why I’m feeling tired? I will make an effort to drink more water tomorrow. Night all.

Could the thirst have something to do with needing salt somehow in a backhand way? I did Dry January and got the thirst. Miso soup helped.

Sending moral support to everyone here!

Dry January here some years ago helped me start to break a bad drink habit. It was so hard and the encouragement helped. I started again but the month without booze was the beginning of trying to quit. Took some years to manage, but I've been 10 months dry completely now, day by day.

Day 5 done ✔️
Try Dry app.tells me 29 units not drunk, £36 saved and almost 2000 calories less (it doesn't know about the munchies)
That's pretty encouraging
Well done everyone 👏

Day 4 done! DD is feeling poorly & woke us up at 2am with a fever so I was quite relieved to be sober & able to handle it better. Took DS for a walk & play frisbee today which was lovely- normally I’d be suffering from a low level hangover & not in the mood which made me realise how nice it was to be AF. That in turn made it easier not to drink tonight - I’m reminded of how nice it is not to be getting through the weekends feeling hungover.

Day 6 done!
Tucked up in bed, I can't remember the last time I had an AF Friday and Saturday night. So pleased with myself though.
We've got this!

Day 6 done.

I tried the Goodrays CBD drinks, which arrived today. They have no added sugar, but they still taste sweet compared to wine. I'm not a huge fan of fruity drinks, so for me it's about whether the effect is worth the expense, which I don't think it is. An hour or so later, I'm feeling quite flat and tired and a bit foggy / desensitised. I can see how drinking these might help with anxiety or insomnia, but I think I'll be back on the herbal tea tomorrow. If I'm going to give up alcohol for a month, I might as well enjoy feeling clear-headed! (I also read that CBD affects liver enzymes, which I'm thinking might undo some of the benefits of DJ.)

One week done after tomorrow 😊

It's so heartening to read all these messages of continued successful avoidance and evasion (this is booze, not tax, so both are good!) especially from the sometime heavy drinkers. If you've gotten through the first Friday and Saturday nights of January then that's a huge achievement. Be proud of yourselves - I'm proud of you 🥰

AF beer, homemade pizza and a crap film got me through the evening.

As I said previously, we'll hit the

20%

mark overnight. What a positive and virtuous way to start Sunday. Good night, everyone 💪

Day 6 done here and found it relatively easy not to drink - even when having lunch out somewhere where I’d typically have a glass of wine with my meal. Productive day too, all Christmas decorations packed away, various chores accomplished, had a nice evening just watching TV with DH which we haven’t done for ages.So I should feel really good but instead Im
just flat and low. Don’t know what that’s all about but I hope I feel a bit more positive tomorrow.

Well done to all for staying dry so far 👏

Went out this evening to a really lovely French restaurant with DH for our anniversary and decided to have just one planned glass of good wine with the meal. Much less than I would normally have and I really savoured it, so seeing that as part of the learning process and back to DJ tomorrow! I have tried AF wine for the first time at home (yesterday). Found it a bit weird and not sure I will bother with it again but it is ok.
Finding the blog from one of the posters here really interesting. Sleep well everyone!

Hi all, first week nearly done - that’s amazing to get this far - my first check in on the thread this year. I’ve done it every year since 2002, like every says first year was the hardest. I’ve been enjoying Leffe 0.0% this January - can’t tell the difference. Dh is on the Guinness 0.0% We also like Brewdog . Jane And the Beavertown low alcohol. The AF beer really helps in the first week, helps to break the habit, it’s like a hand hold.

I vape when I drink too. I thought vaping would have decreased not drinking.....I'm vaping while sober now FFS...

I’ve been enjoying Leffe 0.0% this January

Ooh, I didn't know there was a Leffe 0.0%! I'll be looking out for that 😁

Day 6 done and safely tucked up in bed!!

Had one little twitch when I phoned my folks for our weekly catch up, they were in good spirits after a nice meal with wine and good music on and my evening seemed so sad in comparison when in fact, once I gave my head a wobble, it wasn’t…

Had a lovely hot bath after coming back from the yard, Made steak and salad for dinner, caught up with my DD’s and then we all snuggled down to watch Harry Potter with chocolate, candles, blankets etc, as nights go it was really lovely, accept I will have a fresh head tomorrow…

So tempted tonight but no, just finished my sleepy tea and dtayed AF. Woo hoo!

Well done everyone. Great to hear all the positive stories on here. I don't know if this was mentioned earlier on in the week but I also signed up the the Facebook Dry jan group. Anyone else? It's full of people infighting, flouncing off and arguing (amongst lots of support obviously) .. I much prefer this group. I have only lurked on there.

They also talk about the Kylie 0% rosé on there too and everyone raves about it.

I like many others haven't bothered with any of the wines after trying a few of them in DJ last year but tempted to try the kylie one.

My favourite AF beer is Erdinger (blue label) .. I know everyone likes different ones but for me that's the one that tastes most like real lager.

One of the arguments on the Dry Jan group was people saying that many of the AF beers are 0.5 % alcohol - them so if you have one you should leave the group as you are not doing DJ properly. Then someone else pointed out that even if there is the tiniest trace of alcohol in a drink - legally they have to say 0.5% on the label - but in reality Bananas and bread have similar amounts of alcohol in.

Sorry if this has already been pointed out on here - the thread moves so quickly (in a good way) I may have missed it - but I thought it was interesting!

I hope everyone has a good night's sleep and well done on the first AF weekend of the year

Morning all!
Well I was wide awake at 4.30 this morning 🙄 I think I'm going to bed a bit too early if I'm honest but at least I'm not awake early with a hangover and beer fear.
Today will be spend doing some cleaning and getting ready for tomorrow. Kids are back at school tomorrow and I'm back to work properly.
Tonight will be AF, I plan on having a long soak and some pamper time

@lemonsaretheonlyfruit I joined the Facebook group, although I've noticed there are a lot of them. I don't post in it I just read the posts

Day 6 done for me. I bought wine in for MIL as it was our turn to cook dinner, but wasn't tempted at all!

Day 6 wasn't too bad. Exciting to think that after today that will be a whole week down. Though DH has just informed me that we've run out of coffee beans which is mildly terrifying 😱 so I'm savouring this one!

We started watching Mr Bates last night and like a PP appreciated it far more sober - it's horrifying, though. Those poor people.

That FB group sounds hilarious lemons. I swear some people join these things purely as an opportunity to tell other people off and make themselves feel superior. Telling someone who has a 0.5% beer to leave the group is totally missing the wider point of DJ. I had a couple of liqueur chocolates on Wednesday which I imagine would send them into apoplexy.

Have a great Sunday all!

Well done to everyone who got through yesterday and night. We had our grandchildren last night, hardly had time to pee let alone think about a drink.
Early night and now early morning.

To anyone who didn't manage then today is a new day.

Everyone is doing so well! I am going to really try to cut down on the AF alternative drinks during the week ahead and try and stick to water, herbal tea etc.

Earlier on in the thread someone recommended a book “especially for those with children”. I have tried to find the post again but no luck - can anyone recall?

So- the vivid dreams. Anyone got some good ones to share?
last night I dreamt that a young Ralph Fiennes was my new boyfriend. It was very explicit. I was sad when it ended 😂😉

@Megs83 I think it was the Sober Diaries.

6 nights Af... made it through the Fri/Sat night 'Oh I can have even more'
Absolutely dreadful dreams though... I was being hunted by the police for trashing the local petrol station and I was glad to wake up.
Many hours of Granny care with my 2 year old Grandson this week (37 hours worth before I go to my actual job!) and we are off swimming this morning, so hopefully I'll be shattered by tonight!

Morning all. Had six hours uninterrupted sleep last night.

Drank two big glasses of water whilst DP was preparing food, and had no cravings for wine.

Getting to the end of a Saturday evening in front of the Telly without feeling brain-addled by booze felt like a whole new experience for me. Ditto waking up on a Sunday not feeling shattered.

I’m feeling really positive about stopping drinking. I feel like I’m taking back control of my life. At the moment I’m feeling optimistic about getting to the end of the month but I’ll be keeping a careful lookout for any sabotage that might come over the horizon.

Being in this group is really helpful. Not feeling isolated makes such a difference.