DRY JANUARY 2025! Join us for a healthier start to the year! All welcome 🥤☕️🧋

[HPLikecraft]

It’s that time of year again!
If you need a detox, to lose weight, to be healthier, to undo some seasonal overindulgence, to sleep better, to look better, to have healthier skin, to save money, boost liver function, improve your memory, or to decrease your likelihood of dying earlier of various nasty illnesses (sorry for the sudden hard ball!) then you’ve come to the right place!

The MN DJ2025 Chat thread is for anyone who wants to reset their relationship with alcohol; whether you’re a weekend tippler or a problem heavier drinker.
This is a friendly, non-judgmental thread where we support and encourage each other, exchange ideas and information, share alcohol-free drinks recommendations etc.

Hopefully we’ll have some fun along the way. Please hop aboard the good ship DJ 2025, everyone welcome!

Hey everyone have a lovely evening, whatever you’re drinking!I’ll see you all tomorrow, on the other side.

Please may I make a request? It’d be good if you all could, if possible, check in each day. This not only encourages you to be accountable (and therefore behave!!), but gives strength, motivation and sisterhood to others, especially those who’re struggling.

If you’re doing well, tell us!
If you’ve failed, tell us… we'll give you a hand back up onto the wagon.

Thanks for all the AF drinks suggestions so far.

Oh, and @OrsolaRosso you CAN get through tomorrow… we all can 😇

Happy New Year Everyone
Can I please join. I have had a lovely Christmas but overdone it with the prosseco, cheese and crisps. Having a drink tonight and starting DJ tomorrow.

Using January like a pp to completely treat my body with no booze, good food and exercise. Will check in daily.

Lots of luck to us all

Evening all.
Drank too much last night felt rank today so nothing for me tonight and now in bed! So I've done day one yay. I'm going to find this so hard as a regular heavy drinker ( boredom and loneliness mainly) but like others have said, I'm looking forward to my body having a rest as well as my purse.
Good luck to everyone and for those out celebrating tonight, at least the hangover should make day 1 easier tomorrow!

I'll have a couple of G&Ts tonight, but I'm having a cosy evening at home, so it won't be a heavy one. Like a PP said, I'm actually just sick of booze.

Also sweet stuff. There's chocolate everywhere and I just don't want it. I was actually craving something salty and crunchy last night, but I purposely didn't buy many savoury snacks, as they're my weakness and I knew I'd devour them.

Happy New Year everyone, I'll check in tomorrow.

I'm in, but will have to start from the 2nd as I've got half a bottle of champagne in the fridge and I'll be damned if I'm going to pour it away. Hope that's ok!

I’m going to have a sort of fast, too- not no food, but mild food like vegetable soup. I didn’t think I had overdone it but my stomach feels like I have. Enjoying my wine tonight, but feeling good about the DJ. Feels like it will tie in with other plans and intentions I have for the year. HNY everyone! 🥳💪

HNY to all - raising a last glass to end 2024 and herald 2025.
See you all for Dry January - looking forward to an annual reset.

I'm in, please.
Have done DJ/DJuly/SoberOctober a number of times over the last 10 years, have been AF for a while year in 2020, but then slipped back to drinking again and now quite a lot.
Had a couple of wines NYE but nothing like normal.

So looking forward to better sleep.

Happy New Year gorgeous sober gang. Welcome 2025! Sorry to be such a smug bastard but I decided to drive to the new year party (didn't fancy walking 2 miles home in this weather and like PPs, I'm genuinely fed up of boozing and the perma low level hangovers at this stage of 'christmas') so I saw the new year in with 2 AF beers (Lidl ones) and 2 cups of tea! Down side is I'm pumped full of caffeine and still awake! Feeling sorry for DH who is already looking worse for wear...

I've only managed 2 weeks of DJ previously so hoping to go the full whack this year.
Good luck everyone!

Happy New Year all! I’m up bright and early as didn’t drink last night🙌🏻 Can’t remember ever being sober New Year’s Eve so this is a promising start! DH had red wine and whiskey but pretty low key. Think my body has just had enough of constantly feeling rough from the booze. Have a family funeral tomorrow which will be really triggering as everyone will be drinking. I’m going to drive.

Hi all, would love to join you. My alcohol consumption has increased alarmingly in the past few months - a glass of wine in the evening has frequently turned into a whole bottle. I live by myself so it would be great to check in here to stay on track!

Good luck everyone! I gave up alcohol 1 year ago today. It gets not only easier but becomes second nature (I wouldn't drink again if someone paid me to!) And I used to LOVE a drink (and secretly judge people who didn't drink).

I would say, if you're serious about long term health benefits and giving up longer than a month you might find you crave a lot of sugar when giving up initially, but I would just take a month at least to focus on giving up alcohol - you can't do everything at once, so if sweet treats get you through it, have them!

I also enjoyed Goodrays drinks in the early days. They give you a bit of a relaxed feeling.

Me and my partner gave up after an awful Christmas last year. We are now buying our dream house and happier than ever - I am 100% sure we wouldn't be where we are now if it wasn't for giving up the booze.

Good luck!

May I join? I'm on day 5 of not drinking which has been difficult but I didn't have a sip on NYE I felt like maybe I can actually get a grip on this. Maybe

Last night didn't go to plan for various reasons so I was in bed by eleven and up ridiculously early.

I've still got some nice tonics left from Christmas so I'm hoping some grown up pop in a nice glass will still feel like a bit of a treat.

I'm in.

Last drink 27/12, but that involved Jaeger bombs and no memory of getting home. Starting with Jan, looking to go further.
I also have 3 stone to lose.
Any tips on how to not turn to sugar for a boost? Last Jan, I ended up putting on a lot of weight as I turned to chocolate....

Good luck everyone 🌻

Woken up on the sofa with a banging headache but feeling positive and powerful. We can do this!

I am on day 4. I genuinely felt terrible after the last couple of times I drank so need to quit drinking. I have a lot planned in Jan to keep me busy which helps and some nice alcohol free options.

Good morning everyone.
I can’t wait to get stuck into DJ.

I have 6 bottles of wine in the house 😬 They were gifts to me and DH during December from clients etc.

Luckily they are almost all bottles of red, which I don’t drink. So no temptation there. But there is 1 bottle of rosè which I know will tempt me at some point.
Am I being crazy to want to keep it in the fridge during DJ? My thoughts are that if I can resist while it’s actually in the fridge, I’ll be able to resist anything.

Day 4 for me. We're on holiday for NY and yesterday afternoon there were so many people drinking wine in the sun it was quite triggering. I had to give myself a talking to - no I wasn't like the older couple slowly sipping their glass of wine I was more like the British group where one glass would lead to another (and another and wake up feeling awful). That craving feeling came and went and I happily drank an AF cider last night. It's a reminder that cravings are just a thought from the subconscious brain to be ignored.

Morning all 👋
im 10 (and a bit!) months sober, continuing forwards as always.
Just as a glimpse from the other side for some of you, I was a problem drinker (daily drinking, drinking in secret, awful drunken behaviour, managing to hold down a job etc but drinking almost as soon as I finished every single night until it knocked me out)
I didn’t go more than maybe 12-14 hours sober each day before the cycle began again.
being sober has changed my entire life, I still miss the numbness and feeling of the first drink, but let me tell you how nice it is to not wake up with my heart pounding, reading texts i never should have sent, feeling disgusted with myself reliving the same day every single day.
ive lost a stone, i look 10 years younger. My relationship is so much better.
im deternined to stay sober for the rest of my days.
we have got this! 💪🏻

Aha here we are! There is another DJ thread but I’ll send them the link for this one so we are all in one place.

I did DJ last year and made it almost two months, bad habits had returned by summer. I think I can manage DJ this year but it’s the afterwards that I’m most concerned about!

@HPLikecraft - do you remember there was a poster on last year’s thread who posted amazing summaries of all the literature etc? Wonder if she’s joining again or if we could repost some of her content? It was amazing

I'm in - first time doing DJ. Hangovers are way worse now I'm about to turn 40. I generally only drink once/twice a week, but it is binging on those days and wastes the following day. Worried about my health and weight since as there's lots of cancer in my family. I had a few AF days over the Xmas break and a sober NYE for the first time in years. I eat pretty well so seems daft to poison myself regularly!

Hi 👋 I’m 10.5 months sober and a stone down. I found at first (because I was a wine drinker) I definitely craved both the sugar taste and the sugar rush. I also loooove fizzy drinks 😧 so gained a bit more weight the first month
id say stock up on sweet fruits (berries etc), some natural energy drinks (Tenzing is good, little bit of sugar but no nasties) and just try and stay focused as you can on the end goal. I put a photo up of my absolute worst (hungover and massive) on my fridge which helped me hahaha xx

I’m in! Did it once before and enjoyed the benefits although felt like it took a while to see them. Used to be a heavy drinker, massively cut back after kids, but it’s definitely crept up again in December and over Christmas so looking forward to a break. Already stocked up on ginger beer and might get some non alocoholic beers for the weekends

I’d recommend The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober to everyone. I hate reading and I thought I’d hate it but it genuinely saved my life.