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!

Just checking in.
Day 6 went well. I had a physically demanding day yesterday and would usually have killed for a glass of wine as a reward for hard work, especially on a Saturday night. Made do with pre-mixed Gordon's 0% gin and tonic which was really nice. I got some 0% Guinness for DP following recommendations here, and that went down well. So a good evening and fab to wake up this morning with no hangover. We were up early and off out for a good long walk.
Not expecting any issues today as Sunday is often a no drinking day.
Finding the thread really helpful for staying on track so thanks OP and everyone

My poor boy went downhill suddenly and I had to take him to the emergency vet to be put to sleep. I'm really going to struggle later - I think the rules of DJ do make allowance for deaths in the family (or at least mine might...).

So sorry Wellitywellness. Take care of yourself.

So sorry for your loss, @wellitywellness . You have done the best for him, though, by not letting him suffer.

I think if you want to cut yourself some slack tonight, that's perfectly understandable, although as I posted previously to @baggienat , a sad time is not the best time to drink, as you will just feel sadder. I do think loss can have a lot to do with why we are drawn to alcohol, even though it is a depressant - we just want something to numb our feelings. I was drinking moderately for years (in line with government guidelines), but it started to creep up after I lost my mum suddenly a couple of years ago.

BTW, as mentioned earlier, I tried the Goodrays, and found that they have a numbing effect equivalent to a couple of glasses of wine, if that helps.

I’m so sorry Wellitywellness.

**

@wellitywellness like others I have been reading your blog. Yes the health and liver one was particularly sobering/ interesting (and a bit scary but that's also a motivator) . I also love the way you write. Like a real person with swearing and funny observations which makes it very relatable. I shall keep on reading as long as you are writing. Thankyou!

I was drinking at least a bottle a day before DJ. At times last year that had tipped over into more, starting earlier in the day. I have 2 teens on my own and my DD is autistic. We have had a horrendous 3 years of school anxiety/ absence/ hospital admissions and in that time I had / have come to rely on alcohol Massively because of stress. No excuse but I just wanted to block out all of the worry and awfulness sometimes (and 'pass out' rather than laying there awake unable to sleep)

This is why I am doing dry jan. My parenting was slipping (too lassaiz faire with both) and hot health reasons - worrying about sticking around and watching them grow up.

Like some others on here I have tried moderation. Loved DJ last year and felt so much better. Carried on until mid feb then failed miserably at moderating!

What I'd like to get to is fairly black and white - out with friends / socialising - fine.

Sat at home on my own stress drinking my way through the week, feeling lonely and waking up every morning feeling shameful and awful - not fine so I don't want to do it any more. It's a completely different reason for drinking for me.

It sounds quite simple but not as easy as it sounds.

Anyway (sorry for the long post)

Positives for me so far are - skin definitely looks brighter and clearer. I love waking up and feeling clear headed. Spent more time with the DCs and spent 2 hours decluttering DSs bedroom with him earlier on and we had some nice chats. More than 40 quid saved on booze so far

Negatives - sleeping still not great but getting better. Life is a bit quiet / less sociable. But that's ok.

Many more positives than negatives.

@wellitywellness

So sorry to hear. That's very sad.

I have noticed I have so much more energy when AF. Couple of hours slashing away in the garden this afternoon will hopefully lead to a good night's sleep.
Big birthday next weekend . Will try the Kylie pink fizz that pp are recommending.

I posted yesterday about having one celebratory glass of wine with an anniversary meal out and was feeling quite pleased with myself at enjoying just one. However, today I feel slightly down and like I am missing out! Maybe it gave me a taste for wine again after 5 days of DJ. I don’t know. Still woke up with a clear head, which was nice, but today I can’t stop thinking about how I would really like to get stuck into a bottle! I won’t, am back on the wagon and have committed to at least another 10 days AF, but it is very interesting to see how this process works. If you are wavering and wondering about having ‘just a glass’ my advice would be don’t do it!! It helps to post. Well done everyone.

I'm finding the no drinking pleasingly easy but I'm tucking into cake a LOT more. So I guess I have some underlying issues to sort out there!!

@wellitywellness I'm so sorry

So sorry @wellitywellness go easy on yourself.

Sorry for your loss @wellitywellness Nobody would blame you if you had a hiccup.

Hi all, can I just say how amazing you are all doing, such a lovely, positive and inspiring thread. I am AF for almost 6 months, I had a very bad problem for a very long time and knew 100% that I would never be able to stop and could not live without alcohol (and didn’t really want to either) I don’t even think I had been AF for more than 2 weeks in my adult life, except for pregnancies, and have some shameful experiences to say the least. I will never drink again and I am amazed at myself every day. I have a million things I could say about it but have gone on long enough already! Just quickly though, I follow all the sober people on instagram which has really helped, but most of all I think reading as much as I could about the damage done by alcohol, specifically to the liver, petrified me in to not drinking. You do have to be ready though I think, to allow yourself to read and get scared by all the info. Thanks for listening and well done to everyone ❤

Sending hugs @wellitywellness thinking of you and sending strength

@lemonsaretheonlyfruit I relate to so much in your post. I have an older teen on the spectrum who is amazing but does not find life easy and whilst I haven't had to deal with anything like the stress you have, I have a definite tendency to try to block out the worry with wine. I can easily get to a stage where I'm drinking a bottle a day without really noticing it I have very similar goals to you, too. Let's do this

@Morelinesadded that's interesting, one of my DC has a January birthday and I had been contemplating a cheat day on that day but your post has made me think twice about it...

Checking in for day 7. Surprisingly I haven't had any wine cravings so far (and I'm well past my Sunday wine 'witching hour' which normally starts around 5pm). But I felt exhausted and quite dehydrated when I woke this morning, despite getting a decent sleep. Probably hormonal as I'm due on at some point this week. Early night tonight I think.

I'm loving the support on this thread, so many different experiences and longer term goals but everyone so positive and welcoming. Thank you all.

Still with you all

I have basically eaten practically all the bread, cheese, chocolate, alcohol free mulled wine and Horlicks in the house, and am now feeling decidedly sick, but still dry by the skin of my teeth.

I keep expecting my boy to pad regally into the room. His usual presence on the bed will be notable by its absence tonight.

I know all pet owners say this, but he truly was the goodest of good boys.

Oh, and thanks all for the best wishes - I genuinely appreciate them all.

@FlyingPandas

Good to hear from you. It's very hard isn't it? I feel like I have been there for her every step of the way the last 3 years, but sometimes not totally 'present' as I am hovering in the doorway of her bedroom chatting to her when she is down, rather than coming closer and spending more time in case she smells the wine or notices I have had 3 glasses.

In this short space of time I am already way more conscious of my engagement with both DC for the better. I was never falling over drunk in front of them- just a bottle down and probably slurring a bit - and as I say not fully present sometimes. This has been a guilt free change for the better!

@Morelinesadded

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm sorry it wasn't as rewarding as you had anticipated and I hope you get back on with DJ. But it's really helpful you posting this as a reminder of what many of us might feel like if we did the same. So thankyou

@happinesspersonified

Lovely and warming post. Thank you. Loving your name!

Day 7. Getting there. Went for a meal Friday and wanted a glass of wine so I had 0% wine. Tasted like shit and haven't had the urge since. Feel like I'm coming out the other end. It's great, especially waking up on a Sunday not being hungover.

Sipping a,r on and ginger kombucha this evening, which is rather pleasant

We've had the pub meal and I managed to stick to being AF. I think it helped as everyone else was also AF due to things like driving etc.

This afternoon I was really craving some wine so I bought and had a donut each with DC and managed no exercise - unless chewing while eating counts.....

I'm really not looking forward to going to work tomorrow.... this is a recurring theme haha!

Can't believe that's almost day 7 done! And how quickly this thread has almost reached 1,000 posts!

I very nearly caved earlier. The kids have been challenging to say the least, and I have been on the go all day. But I resisted, and dinner is all done and dusted now, so I think I'm over the hump. Talking to dh about DJ, the last time I did it it had a significant resetting impact on my drinking, so I'm hoping it will do the same this time. Very pleased to have (almost) made it through the weekend.

Evening all.

@wellitywellness I'm so sorry for your loss. 💐

@happinesspersonified what a inspiring post! What amazing strength you've shown to have managed 6 months after a very heavy habit. Thanks for posting 🙂

And have a good, dry evening everyone!