Damp Feb! For DJ survivors and Feb drink moderation fans!

[Fordian]

Hi Everyone who might be interested, a thread for anyone who wants an accountability check-in for their moderate Feb drinking!

Thanks @IGuessIllbetheFirst for the insightful post. For me social anxiety, general anxiety and low self esteem are the biggest reasons why I drink. But in all honesty, alcohol doesn’t help me with those issues beyond a few hours of escapism. It’s certainly something to think about.

I felt like crap again today but I did manage to stay sober, which means I’ve done four days dry this week (compared to three last week). So that’s a small win. I’m going to set myself a mini challenge of staying dry for Monday to Thursday inclusive next week.

I went out with friends last night so had a few glasses of wine but it was with food and I feel fine today.
We had steak for dinner and I'm very proud that I resisted opening a bottle of red to go with it.

My drinking days had crept up to a Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sunday.
I'm cutting out Thursday and Sunday.

This is so much harder than Dry Jan.
I've gone from 7 days a week AF to only 4 this week!
I need to stay away from wine.

I’m beginning to see what people mean when they say moderation is harder than abstinence…

Hope everyone is doing OK. Saw a friend on Friday and we both stayed dry. Turns out she is reading the Adrian Chiles book and has just done an AF week, which is great for her, as she is one who feels the need to wind down with a glass or two after a stressful day at work. I left her with a nice bottle of red but she still hasn't opened it as far as I know.

I've tweaked my schedule so that Sunday is always a dry night, otherwise I'm continuing to more or less alternate. In theory it shouldn't matter, but Sunday feels different somehow. Tonight I had a Kahol 0% Bourbon with Peach & Ginger Trip. It definitely had a nice relaxing effect and I'm getting quite a taste for it, despite not being a spirits drinker normally (or perhaps because of that). Still trying to give away the Little Rick CBD drinks that were too sweet for me, but so far everyone I've offered them to has given me a funny look - I don't think they believe that they don't get you high 😂.

Already starting to think about what Moist March will look like. I think it will be my cue to establish the new normal. I'll keep to a limit of 1/3 of a bottle maximum, and go for a minimum of 2 AF days per week I think - None-Day-Sunday and Cleanse-Day-Wednesday perhaps! 😉.

I hear you. Three weekends in feb and I haven’t felt pleased with myself at the end of any of them.

It has taken me so long to admit I can’t moderate successfully long term. I may do it once on a night out. Or on occasion at home. But the truth is, I don’t enjoy one drink. I don’t enjoy having to monitor my intake. That’s not why I drink alcohol. I drink alcohol ultimately because I want to feel drunk and when I drink regularly that can take a lot.

I’m on day 49 and have been reading this thread as the dry Jan one is getting pretty quiet. I’ve taken the option completely off the table. This seems to be the only thing that really works for me.

I just felt so exhausted from all the time alcohol was taking from me, both physically and mentally.

Husband was being an arse on Friday evening when we were out so had a couple of glasses of red. As planned drunk some Xmas Rioja on sat with steak for belated valentines. Managed to stay AF last night . Will need a plan to avoid going for wine when hubs is being moody.

With me, its definitely what @newme2025 said - anxiety, social anxiety and low self-esteem. But I also think a lot of it is learned behaviour, and that can be changed. About 15 years ago I was someone who had a glass of wine (realistically half a bottle) every day, and genuinely believed I couldn't manage without - the thought of dry January was impossible to contemplate! I found a book called "the drink less mind", which came with a self-hypnosis CD - and duely started reading the book and listening to the CD. And it worked! I had a slip or two, especially around the death of my parents, but since then I've been someone who can manage several days without a drink and has now done Dry January 2 or 3 times. I'm obviously not out of the woods yet, or I wouldn't be on this thread, but it has made me realise that change is possible!

I'm finding the try dry app helpful to record my dry days and how many units I drink on those days.
Even though I'm cutting down I could still do better.

I think this is the hard part of February, right here.

One thing I’m learning from this thread is that I not the only one with an internal dialogue about having a drink. Should I, shouldn’t I? Can I, can’t I? Endless rule setting and resetting. It’s a lot of mental bandwidth isn’t it?

im doing dry February and, apart from Friday evenings (pub marks the end of my working week!) its not been too bad.

Good luck in the coming week everyone.

It's great hearing how everyone is getting on. I went away this weekend and drank on Fri/ sat. 2.9 units on Friday and 4.5 on Saturday. It's half term, so I'm worried about slipping, so I have just bought some new herbal tea and san Pellegrino sparkling water to try to distract me.

I've only done seven dry days in February. That's really poor. I could blame stress, because in all honesty there is an abundance of that at the moment, but it would be an excuse really.

I didn't lose any significant amount of weight doing DJ so I'm having another crack at intermittent fasting, so that's helping because I don't want to waste calories on midweek booze.

Hang in there @Castlerigg , you're doing really well. Seven dry days in 2.5 weeks is great - if you can do another 7 by the end of the month that's 50% dry.

I'm a fan of IF and have been doing it for years. I do it for health reasons, but I'm sure it has helped keep my weight stable.

I'm still doing well. Only drinking Friday/Saturday and sticking to small wines at the bar.
Well done everyone for doing so well

@Castlerigg i am also tracking calories at the moment which is definitely helpful. My end of day treat at the moment is a triangle of my Xmas toblerone and I just can’t fit in wine as well and still be in a deficit.

Havent had a drink since Friday but I am now thinking ahead to this Friday when we are having steak and imagining the red wine I’ll also have with it. It’s only Weds morning. I sometimes feel wish the weekdays away 😕.

Thanks @Neptunium93. That's not too bad, looking at it like that.

@Addictforanex it's amazing isn't it, how much easier is it to avoid booze when it's a choice between that or sweets / chocolate.

Feeling the need for a stop-eating-chocolate support thread (particularly the new white Cadbury’s creme eggs) 😬

Finally managed to offload the Little Rick to my window cleaner 😃! He has been a bit stressed of late so hopefully the CBD will calm him down. Meanwhile I have a bulk order of Trip to keep me going - the flavours are definitely the nicest, and they pair really well with the 0% spirits. I will need something calming tonight as I've just found out that my neighbours are planning a massive extension 😒.

Interesting that many are craving sweet stuff in place of alcohol. I can recommend frozen blueberries as a sweet treat. Add a handful of cashew nuts and it's a bit like eating cake IMO. Fresh coffee is my weakness, but I can't have too much as too much caffeine makes me anxious (and I can't stand decaf), so that's a whole other mental dialogue in terms of setting rules for myself 😂.

I'm finding the moderating pretty easy TBH. I'm just not feeling the urge to drink every day, which I did towards the end of last year (hence doing DJ). But everyone's different, so if anyone is struggling, hang in there. If it doesn't get easier right away there's nothing wrong with staying dry / damp for a bit longer. It's a bit of a journey, I think, and the timescales don't really matter as long as you are making progress towards whatever goal you have set for yourself ❤.

@AlertCat I daren’t try those white chocolate cream eggs as I know I will love them too much!

I have had a hugely successful day at work. Torn between cracking open the wine or smashing a bag of haribo

Not successful. STRESSFUL.

White chocolate Cadbury’s creme egg is the answer.

Not a fan of white chocolate , went out and got these. Sugar overload but it's not alcohol!