DRY HARD 2: DRY HARDER! Dry January 2024, Thread#2 🧃🧋

[HPLikecraft]

Thread#2...

Let's keep going!

Today's post is all about alcohol-free drinks - in particular the joys of Sentia. Cheers!

https://wordpress.com/post/wellitywellness.com/4789

Still here , still Af ... though I feel hungover as had my 2 yr old grandson overnight and it's like sleeping with an octopus .
I've been drinking fizzy orange so far but last night decided to try Gordon's AF gin... and it was really nice! Enough like the real thing to feel like a treat, so wil probably get some more.
Still can't believe I'm on day 16 with no wine!

Thanks @wellitywellness . I had the same experience as you with the Goodrays the first time I tried them, but I think that's because I thought it wasn't having much of an effect so had a second one. I just have the one now and find it has a nice relaxing effect with good sleep afterwards.

For those interested, you can do a subscription order on Amazon and save up to 15%. Also it's a lot cheaper to order packs of the same flavour (works out at about £1.28 per can).

I liked the Sentia black, but like you I probably had a bit too much! It's quite hard to work out how much to pour... Do you know if it causes the brain to produce glutamate, after stimulating GABA receptors (like alcohol), or do you get the GABA effects only without the rebound? I ask because I woke up with an elevated heart rate the other day, and I'd had the Sentia the night before.

Day 13 for me and on the AF beer. Its been really helpful. I dont really drink juice or fizzy pop,so its been this and herb tea so far.

🎉🎉🎉50% thanks @HPLikecraft
Still AF. Still missing a lovely, comforting, glass (bottle 😬) of red wine, but determined to finish the challenge.

Day 20 for me. Evening everybody.

I went to a big supermarket today and had a look at the alcohol free drinks section. Against my better judgement I've ended up with a bottle of Kylie rose! It's currently chilling in the fridge and I'll have some when I cook. I bought all sorts of unusual and slightly pricey treat food in the supermarket too but justified it to myself because I must have saved about £80 or £90 by not buying wine for 3 weeks ...

Struggling tonight. Trying to help student DS with cutting down word count on an assignment he is really struggling with (which is due in tomorrow) and I badly want wine!

Luckily I don't have any of my favourite wine in the house at the moment or I think I'd be falling off the wagon with a hefty bump.

My tip for this is cut eg ten percent out of every paragraph, dont necessarily cut out entire paragraphs

then if in doubt, read from the end first and you’ll see where content is not relevant to the flow of conclusions

Today is done, AF, yay. Work is AWFUL, the only good thing about it is the money that it brings in!

Trickier evening this evening, I finished a big piece of work and wanted to celebrate. I had a herbal tea instead...

Day 16 going strong! More than halfway through now!
Did cheat on my clean eating today though after having to trudge through snow to the bus for work, no regrets though.

Checking in for today - still AF
But did have a fleeting thought that oh gosh wine would be nice tonight.

I'm really struggling at work. I'm so over it and how it's all take and no acknowledgment or support - that I'm struggling to get motivated and be productive. I know it's time to move on somewhere else but equally I need to remember they still pay my pay check till then. But man, it's hard to get motivated to log on every day.

Just checking in: only day 2 for me as joined halfway through. Have set a target of 28 days AF starting 15 Jan, using the TryDry app. So far so good. Got a new delivery of CO2 for the sodastream so enjoying apple juice mixed with fizzy water for now. Night all!

Day 16 finished for me. Mostly OK. Productive work wise but more to do tomorrow before main meeting of the month. AF and no twinge today, so that is good, but chocolate consumption through the roof. Still, one thing at a time.

I'm still in! I'm surprised actually, I thought I would have had the odd glass and thought 'that's good enough' but I'm completely af and no cravings last night. I've had a really though week too.

I tried the kylie, I found it pleasant actually, a little sweet but something I'd enjoy on a summers day. I'd buy it again to shake things up. I mostly prefer cold cans of Perrier or Evian. I can only find them on Amazon at the moment. White nozeco was a no from me. Off to catch up with @wellitywellness's blog now!

Thinking of all of you who are going through a hard time at the moment - it must be doubly hard to stick to DJ.
Different story for me this year - first DJ (and this must be my 20th now) that I'm pretty relaxed about not drinking. Previously I was counting down the days and dreaming of when it would end. The AF beers have improved and that is really helping - it's giving me the switch/crutch I need (I always feel more relaxed the minute I pour a drink, it's not really the alcohol - it's the permission to chill) and I think down last year has helped too - I no longer feel like I need a glass of wine whilst I'm relaxing on the sofa - the association has been diluted. Hoping I can continue to feel this way in Feb and beyond.

Hi everyone. Only day 14 for me but still here. I really feel for those going through a bad time. Stress drinking when things are hard accounts for a lot of my drinking - you know, the times when you are not out with friends having fun, or just relaxing on the sofa with a nice glass of red/ white and stopping at 1 glass. I'm talking about knowing that a drink won't solve anything and ultimately make you feel worse but feeling it's the only thing that will block out the stress and sadness in the moment. It's absolutely no fun and the relief is fleeting.. then comes the anxiety 😟.

I am most definitely not missing that. My ex (DCs dad) has been awful to me this week and it has made me feel stressed but my thought was 'if I reach for some wine then HE has managed to obliterate my DJ - and I am not going to let him do that'

I watched a programme last night that I'm sure some of you on here will have seen. I hope that no one on here is close to being at the stage that any of the people in the documentary were. It was so sad and a hard watch - but if anyone needs a reminder of the perils of alcohol then watch this

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00793zq#:~:text=2006)-,This%20powerful%20documentary%20from%20fly%2Don%2Dthe%2Dwall%20pioneer,bottles%20of%20vodka%20per%20day.

On a separate note...

Sleeping so much better, have become better at a nighttime skincare routine so that's all good, but under my eyes seems darker than normal! It's odd. Maybe it's because the rest of my skin is liking brighter so the circles are now more pronounced?! I don't know. Not something I was anticipating. Anyone else? (I suspect but!)

I watched a programme last night that I'm sure some of you on here will have seen. I hope that no one on here is close to being at the stage that any of the people in the documentary were. It was so sad and a hard watch - but if anyone needs a reminder of the perils of alcohol then watch this

My mother was a functioning alcoholic (except she'd have vehemently denied that because she didn't start drinking until the evening 🙄) and I knew it would have been very very easy to have gone down that route with the amount I was drinking years ago. What stopped me was being made redundant - I was temping and because the income is variable to non-existent I couldn't afford the nightly bottle of wine. It took a few years but one morning I looked in the mirror and thought 'You feel shit and you look shit - do you want to look like all bleary eyed and pasty skinned and reeking of booze in your 60s and 70s? no, you don't.' So I worked on tapering it back and before DJ I was down to a couple of beers a week - actually got a nod of approval from the nurse during my annual check up when I said that.

I like a drink. AsI said to the nurse, the difference now is like a switch has been thrown and I don't need it anymore - if I do it's A drink. One or two glasses. I don't crave it and I don't panic if it isn't in the house and I don't go out at night looking for a late night off licence. And I'm very proud of myself that I did that. I'm doing DJ because I'm still aware that I do like a drink and I need to prove to myself that I'm the one in charge here and I'm never going back to what I was.

I know how bloody hard it is, though. DB is dry for 30 years and he still checks in with AA.

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain

That's fantastic. Well done. I think I am close to where you are / were. The more I read (alcohol explained was a brilliant eye opener) , see, and learn - the more I see the detrimental effects of the poison that is alcohol. And that's a good thing. My DF was also an alcoholic (gin with a dash of orange juice in the morning to make it look ok but we knew). In and out of rehab, prison for 2 weeks for driving way over the limit, lost his job and put my DM and us through a nightmare for years. It did kill him in the end when I was in my final year of uni.

I think it's having a more profound effect on me now as I am at the age now (50) that he was as he entered his last few awful years. And my DCs are at the age that I was when we really noticed it and suffered from it.

I have always been adamant that I would never inflict that on my DC, plus that I want to be there to watch them grow up, but also be as fully present as I can in their lives, unlike my DF.

I had a really stressful period last year (my DD is autistic and she went through a very difficult 3 years of MH issues) when I felt I couldn't cope alone. I started opening a bottle in the morning to help me deal with life.

This went on for a couple of months until I realised what path I was beginning to take and I never want to go back to that. My DCs deserve so much more than that and so do I.

Anyway sorry it's turned into a ramble - suffice to say that thank you for your post as it really resonated with me.

I still don't know what happens at the end of DJ but I can conclude that life feels better without booze in it. I would really like to her to where you are, but I also know that the general message is that moderation doesn't work - which makes your achievement particularly impressive!

I feel in a much better place at my halfway point (day 16 for me) than I have ever done in DJ before.
We didn't do it last year as we had the worst start to the year possible.

Usually, by this point, I'm counting down the days until I'm "allowed" to drink again. I really feel that I'm ready to make changes to my drinking habits.

I'm still planning to drink on my night out on Friday so it will be interesting to see how I feel on the night, and if I do, how much I drink. They are quite a big drinking crowd, but some will be driving so I might hang out with them 🤣

@gingercat02 , I'm the same. I haven't struggled with it at all, and the thought of continuing into February and then drinking within the guidelines thereafter is not at all daunting. Of course it helps that the alternatives have improved dramatically (or so it seems to me). But it feels different this time, and I can only put it down to having the support of everyone on this thread, so thank you to everyone, and best wishes especially to those who are having tough times and sticking with it, or finding it more difficult.

A thought... perhaps AA works not so much because of the method, but the regular meetings and people supporting each other.

Have good days everyone 😊

Day 14. Going forward I aim to have 20 days AF each month.We shall see.

Well done everyone to another day and more than half way through, we got this!!!
I slipped into drinking more a few years back when I lost my son. He was born sleeping and I think only now have I actually been able to take a step back and fully realise and appreciate the amount of trauma that caused me and how much I just wanted to numb myself from it. But I've made massive improvements in my life and I'm no longer anywhere near where I was which is great, but I do like a glass of wine so DJ is always a good shout for a little break, esp after enjoying Christmas and the festivities therein.
I do think alcohol is always difficult because we are surrounded by it and drinking it is so normalised so when you decide to take a break, it can feel like you need to justify why which is just bonkers! Nobody would think twice to ask why you don't want crisps while you're in a pub, or why you don't want a starter in a restaurant so not wanting a glass of wine should be the same.

@ANiceBigCupOfTea , I'm so sorry to hear of your loss, but glad you are in a better place now.

I think, as others have noted on the previous thread, if people are questioning you not drinking, it's really about their own relationship with alcohol, and is either driven by curiosity or perhaps a touch of envy. A lot of heavy drinkers are probably in denial and assume that non-drinkers can't possibly be having a good time, which is of course rubbish.

Having said that, I tend to stay dry when socialising and no one has ever been that bothered. Having a few sober friends probably helps. I've had much more hassle over not eating cakes in the office!