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

[HPLikecraft]

Thread#2...

Let's keep going!

Thank you @disappearingfish 🤣 I did think it was very cold compared to my usual length of time!

I have discovered that Friday nights are actually the hardest, surprisingly! Last night was tough, but I made myself a hot chocolate and had my infused water with me too and pushed through. I'm still dry, but going forward I'm going to have to figure out a new routine, I think, for Friday nights. Something to ponder 🤔

Still here, still dry. I have the dreaded lurgy so this weekend has been easier on the AF front. I'm also up for a People of the Alcohol Resistance continuation thread after next week. Haven't decided if I'll be sticking with abstinence or just trying to moderate, but either way it's good to have the accountability.

Still here. Still dry
Well done all for sticking with it. I am enjoying an AF beer at the mo. Beaverton Lazer crush which is very nice. Last weekend folks!

Checking in for dry Saturday night! I had a wobble earlier but fine now. Got a can of Coke in hand, party time lol

Still here, last Saturday night of January!

Still here and dry too, have just finished my Saturday night Goodrays 

Im not making any wild promises, but I have no current plans to drink, so defo up for hanging around if others are.

Have loved wine and fizz for years, but personally if I start up again anything like regularly, I know I'd be back to sinking far too much in no time at all. From all the amazing information presented here, I really think the safe/recommended amount to drink is so little, it's not worthwhile or even possible for me, as soon enough I always want more. I don't rule out drinking for a special occasion, but nothing in the near future that would tempt me enough.

I'm also addicted to the better quality sleep. Think I still have so much more in me to explore af too, as I've had awful winter bugs this season so don't feel I've had the full benefit yet.

This was my Saturday night not-tipple, quite nice for a not-lager:

https://wisebartender.co.uk/sagres-alcohol-free-beer-03-abv-1323-p.asp?gclid=CjwKCAiA8NKtBhBtEiwAq5aX2BDcTWsmldh17aPUAU5ihGXKc9F2BpBhZB32x6f7pJqKUUPiGD6GxoC3SYQAvDD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

27 days, a record for me. Gordon's 0% pretty good I thought. Plenty of juniper and nice viscosity.
Earlyish bed and a book.
Planning to change the paint colour in bedroom while DH away this week. Good to have a project.
Keep on all. X

Tonight I made a mocktail with a dash of Sentia, topped up with some Goodrays and tonic. Really nice. Just catching up with Criminal Record then off to bed. Well done all, another AF Saturday night successfully navigated!

I’ve been following and reading and wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone for posting; you’ve really helped me achieve my first ever Dry Jan (I know I won’t crack this coming week - weekends are the killer for me). I am amazed that I’ve managed it.

I’ve enjoyed drinking the AF ‘aperol’, Martini Vibrante with Fever Free Mediterranean tonic when the ‘fuck it’s 5pm on a Saturday and I want a drink’ voices started. It’s a kind of G&T / Negroni alternative. And then Gooddays and Three Spirits Nightcap post dinner. With chocolate. Definitely increased my chocolate consumption! However, I’ve worked out the calories are nothing like the 2 large G&T’s and bottle of red (and a half…) I’d normally have sunk between 5/6pm and midnight…. Plus the pissed fridge raid before bed.

Also LOVING sober Sunday morning!

I’m also considering keeping on…

Wow, another Saturday night without a sniff of gin! Almost can't believe it. Looking forward to another clear-headed Sunday without the anxiety that a hangover brings.

I'm planning a few drinks with the girls next Friday, but already not looking forward to Saturday morning. I really feel like something has changed in my relationship with alcohol. Definitely keen to join a post-DJ thread.

Thanks for the posts and mutual encouragement everyone, it has helped beyond measure.

I'm definitely going to carry on.

@wellitywellness - thanks for the article on a few glasses being ok. I agree (if you can stick to it!) That's my Mum - a good drinker,will have a couple of Proseccos if she goes to the pub at the weekend otherwise she doesn't think about it - it's effortless.

Me on the other hand - I'm the bad drinker. If I start thinking I can stick to a couple of glasses when I'm being social it's a slippery slope and it always ends up being more and then dips into drinking at home for no particular reason and every day on holiday etc etc. so it's definitely not effortless and I wonder if once you've crossed a certain line you're better not drinking than trying and failing the couple of glasses thing!

Yes this is me too! Would love to be like your mum!

Yes me too! Unfortunately for me I realise I fell hook, line and sinker for the alcohol marketing push towards women from the 90s onwards (uni, then professional women, then Mummy wine culture...all the messaging being drink to have fun, drink for stress relief, drink for anything basically!).

My Mum's generation hardly went into a pub and never with just their female friends. My Mum has never drank because she had a good day or bad day - it really is just a social thing for her.

Anyway have a good alcohol free day everyone! I have a friend coming over for lunch and I'm going to try some sparkling tea.

I find myself wondering how my drinking and my sugar intake are related. I would have said that my sugar intake has been much more destructive in the past - I thought about a sugar hit all day, I felt totally tortured. My kids remember having to hide all their sweets - I really couldn't help myself.

The medical community are not at all agreed on the addictive powers of sugar but I know how hard I fought to get it under control - sometimes trying things that were completely counterintuitive - like I filled a drawer full of chocolate and sweets, the theory being that deprivation makes you want it more and that helped but it didn't fix it.

In the end, I stopped weighing myself, I went cold turkey - no sweet things not even fruit for 6 months - I then experimented with eating sugar again and I found that, to begin with, I was in control but I'd start eating more and more and when that happened I'd go cold turkey for a few weeks to reset. I don't keep sweet stuff in the house. I still can eat a bag of Randoms in one sitting (no more often than twice a month), love having ice cream at the local ice cream parlour - but thoughts of sugar no longer consume what felt like my every thought - I have learned to moderate my sugar intake. I can have a piece of cake and if it's not nice I don't eat it. I don't really enjoy puddings any more. I still don't weigh myself and I never think about calories anymore, I'm a very happy size 12.

I wonder if I can feel the same way about alcohol - the take it or leave it - enjoy a big night out, feel I'm losing control, go cold turkey, reset and move on.

I'm so glad I can still eat sugar, so glad I now eat normally and I want to be able to drink alcohol normally too. I cut down my intake by half last year - I intend to half it again this year and that will bring me within the health limits.

Friday night out was fun and AF for me, so all good.
Saturday evening had a short 'just one glass' would be nice - I know, and all the rest that would follow - but saw it of with an AF 'Aperol Spritz'.
Curiously, had a very odd alcohol drinking anxiety dream last night so glad to wakee this morning with a clear head, got some chores out of the way and looking forward to a sunny day.
Still pondering on what next come 1 February but think I will keep with the AF approach.
Hope everyone has a great Sunday. Were nearly there with DJ.

Yes these recent posts really resonate. I also specifically remember cava and Prosecco becoming more widely available/marketed in the UK as I started to earn more, and getting drawn in by that.

All this messaging is one of the reasons I no longer want to drink in front of the DC. I don't kid myself that they will never drink, but I don't want to be part of what tells them it's ok. Possibly OTT but I suspect they may be vulnerable to the appeals of alcohol in the same way DH and I have been (immediate social lubricant etc).

I suspect the sugar/alcohol link may be linked to dopamine-seeking. Sure I've read about that here. I'm sure that's a vicious cycle too, the more you have, the more your health deteriorates, the more you seek dopamine etc etc.

@asleepattheshop I have been similar with sugar and am making very small improvements. Still have a sweet tooth but can say no to chocolate etc. much more easily.

Good luck with it - I think it affects more people than we know and the effect of sugar addiction I believe is no less harmful than alcohol - it destroys your body. And what annoyed me about Alan Carr talking about having to teach yourself to like poison when you are drinking, which he thinks should be alarm bells (hello - most kids need to learn to love their greens) - there is no need to teach yourself to like sugar. It's no less poisonous to the body and unlike alcohol very bloody difficult to avoid - no one asks you about your sugar intake - they obsess about fat. One day the NHS will catch up in their messaging.

Morning all, a lovely crisp and bright winter's day here, so another walk on the cards later.

That's so true about sugar (and refined carbs in general). It is more ingrained than alcohol I think. When I was a child there were always cakes and biscuits at home, and I'd have a huge glass of Cola after school. Tea/coffee* always had sugar in them. It took years for me to realise that I didn't actually like sweet stuff.

*Speaking of coffee... I had a Trip Cold Brew Coffee drink yesterday, which was gorgeous.

Another quickie from me today - I'll aim for a proper post tomorrow!

https://wellitywellness.com/2024/01/28/dry-january-28-more-words-of-wisdom/

Hi all just checking in - had a planned blip on friday - specially night away - but only had 2 glasses of wine and really felt it on saturday - been happy not to drink rest of weekend

Hi all, apologies for my absenteeism. The Likecraft household has been afflicted by the lurgy, unfortunately.
My poor DD who has rarely been ill in her life can hardly speak; I have less sympathy for DHs man flu, though. My throat is getting quite sore, so I must have it, too.

I good you've all had a good and dry weekend. Thanks for all your posts. I still get "thanks" from lurkers in the shadows, so please know that all your posts are reaching a wider audience than just the other posters on here. Sometimes just the right thought or idea at the right time can really help someone.

FGS, HP, give us a progress report, I hear you say.
Your wish is my command. At the end oftoday, we will have completed...

90%

Of DJ2024!! 🥳🥳🤪😁

You're all amazing!

Thanks @HPLikecraft and hope you and your family feel better soon.

@Yestodessertplease I agree with you - both my DM and DSis are 'good drinkers' i.e. a glass of wine on a Friday night, or a Prosecco for a social event or celebration, but never more than a glass and a half and then that's them for the week, it literally doesn't bother them at all. But I suspect I too am a 'bad drinker' in that I can build up to a bottle a day far too easily. DH and I can also be bad for each other - Good day? Let's have a glass of wine! Bad day? Let's have a glass of wine! etc etc. I am determined to try and moderate but I know it is going to be a struggle.

Tonight I am knackered and full of cold so heading to bed early. But feels good to have completed 29 days AF.