Anybody else doing Sober October?

[Trodincatsickagain]

I know there’s been a long running thread for years for dry January but I fancy having a break through October, in preparation for Xmas, give the liver a break beforehand - that is all meant very tongue in cheek 😜

Anyone fancy joining?

Tesco shop done ( bought a Rose bottle of Nozeco) for the weekend 🤞. Dog walked, housework just finished. Just making a cup of Earl Grey tea and going to read for a bit.

Its lovely having a chilled day, making a chicken casserole for tea and then Bake off this evening.

Totally relate to menopausal brain @Trodincatsickagain move has gone to mush and my memory wasn’t great to start with 😂.

Have a lovely afternoon everyone x

And I saw Nick Knowles whilst on my walk- they’re doing a DIY SOS in the village in 2 weeks 😊

Hello everyone, well done on your journey so far!
Still here but have the lurgy, so lounging around and barely string a sentence together (despite appearances, am still sober)! 😂

Wow you have a claim to fame now! 😊 and something to watch!

I always remember dashing through Waterloo station to board a connecting train when I almost collided with another woman, we both apologised and laughed about it. When I got on the train I kept thinking how familiar she seemed and suddenly realised that it was Sally Phillips.

I love Sally Phillips - well her characters anyway 😂

@darkmoor hope you feel better soon, there’s a lot of it about at the moment 😢

Sorry you’ve got the lurgy! Just about everybody I come in to contact with seems to be coughing and sneezing at the moment. Hopefully though, it makes not drinking easier - there has to be some benefit 😁

Creeping back in to admit to a slip up. The day the family flew back was so stressful I gave in and opened the wine. First thought was this tastes nasty, but I persevered (yay me). Anyway back on the AF rum now. But it seems to have me up peeing half the night so sleep is not improving!

You’ve done so well @Thursa, just a small hiccup and you’re back on board!

We’ve still got got 10 days to go yet, so plenty of time to finish that AF Rum! 😄

Pleased the family are all back safely - I would have been so anxious too!

Welcome back Thursa, it shows true dedication to improving your health to be here again 💐 Slips like that are definitely permissible & it’s reassuring that you didn’t like it on first sip

It’s really interesting that there’s a trend to reacting to emotions by drinking; are we trying to dull or mask them for ourselves &/or for others?

On a less pompous level, I’ve a cat on my lap, a glass of soda water & the Booths Christmas food catalogue to look through here - it’s ridiculously expensive but may offer some inspiration!
Hope everyone has at least a small amount of relaxation tonight.

Welcome back @Thursa a few of us have had slip ups but we’re still on board and that’s the main thing.

On a very positive note it hasn’t even crossed my mind to want to drink the last two evenings. I’m hoping this will be a reset for me, as I don’t want to give up drinking necessarily but want to get rid of those cravings when there’s no reason for a drink 🥃

Is there a decent AF wine?

@Trodincatsickagain , @HotTiredDog , @Nearlyadoctor, thank you all. I’ll be honest, I did consider just disappearing from the thread, but felt it best for myself to put my hand up and be honest.

@hels71 - I haven’t found one yet but Nozeco is a very passable Prosecco dupe and only £3.50 a bottle.

Morning Peeps - Day 22!

Busy night last night on here and it’s so great at how supportive everyone is. Feeling guilt because you’ve had a blip is so negative and only makes it harder to climb back up, I know this one only too well! Every day that we don’t drink is such a positive, it doesnt matter if it’s not consecutive, even if its only a few days, week at a time, it reinforces that message to our brains that we can do this - so one day at a time and celebrate those wins!

@hels71 I don’t drink wine substitutes, just never found one that I really like, would rather a bottle of kombucha or ginger ale but there was a thread in the alcohol support board recently with some ideas - you might have to wade through it. What do I replace my nightly glass of wine with?

I’m going to need you lot to keep me strong this weekend; I seem to be having a real battle since Sunday. I don’t know if it’s the weather changing, but I keep romanticising cosy evenings with a nice glass of wine, I even put wine on my shopping list last night but pleased to say it didn’t make it into my trolley earlier! I’m ok today but I know come Friday it will become that much harder. It’s crazy because I can feel and see how much better my body feels and drinking gives me such horrendous depression for the next 3/4 days after, that why on earth would I go back to that? I am not ready to say never again, so I have Xmas in mind as a goal for when I’ll drink next, whether I get there is another matter!

Anyway, I hope that you have enjoyed my essay 🤣 and have a good day everyone!!!

Hi TrodIn 👋🏻
I’m not entirely sure what to say other than to acknowledge that you’re finding this a little tougher at the moment, and to remind you that we’re all here for you in your weekend of need!
For now I’ll try to bring you back to your chosen path for October with:
Not sure what’s romantic about wine, it’s the setting not the product. So drinking it at home in my normal lounge is (sadly!) rather a distance from my preferred romantic location of a castle with huge sofas to curl up on, luxurious soft throws,a roaring fire, plates of delicious nibbles to enjoy, and so on. In both locations we’d get the same results - of guilt as we pick the glass up, anxiety, hangover, depression and all the other crappy symptoms!
Frankly, my dear TrodIn, unless someone is going to whisk you away to the aforementioned castle, I suggest you focus on the known negatives of having a glass & weigh them up against the perceived positives. Please report back accordingly

Edit - Is being whisked away to the castle the link to your recent dream about hotel plumbing?
And yes, I did enjoy your essay!

Hels - have you tried making the (admittedly rather average) AF white wine into a spritzer? It becomes more bearable that way!

In both locations we’d get the same results - of guilt as we pick the glass up, anxiety, hangover, depression and all the other crappy symptoms!

Thank you @HotTiredDog this is so true and really helps because its exactly how I would feel. I need to shut this down because it’s almost like I’m giving myself permission to drink this weekend and I need to stop getting embroiled in it.

@Trodincatsickagain well done for recognising you are doing this lead up.

And there are other ways to be cosy, nice hot chocolate ☕️ maybe with marshmallows like the Christmas films, or blowing on the steam of a chai or herbal tea. Light a candle etc.

Think how proud you will be too of not drinking this weekend! We are here, and IWNDWYT (I Will Not Drink With You Today.)

Thanks darkmoor. Hot chocolate sounds good and something I rarely treat myself to, so will get some good cocoa in for the weekend, maybe even some quality dark chocolate to throw in too!

I’m lacking energy at the moment due to my AI and for some reason I always want wine more at these times, but I don’t want to slip, I won’t thank myself for it the next day and neither will my health. I want to wake Sunday morning feeling good! 😊

I wasn’t with you at all on hot chocolate (urgh, sweet marshmallows on top? yuk!) until TrodIn said to throw in dark chocolate too - now you’re talking! 😋

(‘Scuse my ignorance, what’s AI? Closest I can guess is autoimmune disorders of some sort)

Sorry, I meant autoimmune illness - I have myositis in my muscles which makes some days a bit heavy going - literally 😄

What would be even better than hot chocolate HotTiredDog is if you could maybe make a cake or even some scones? I’ve also heard that some companies are using drones now for delivery, so if you could fly them over that would be great! 🤣

(I’ve PM’d you TrodIn, I suspect we have something in common)

Yeah i actually don’t really like marshmallows in hot chocolate either. I love the thick slightly bitter Spanish hot chocolate that you can dip churros in. Can you get those droned in?
Sorry about your illness. I tried to google it but AI kept telling me how great AI was at diagnosing illness.

No worries, I’ll do some scones but they’ve never been my strength tbh. Maybe I should make a lot & see if I get better with each batch? Will also bring one of the newly made Christmas cakes, although as they aren’t yet fed with brandy they’re currently () just fruit cakes.

So sorry you have myositis xx

(just placing an order for churros, am paying extra for same day delivery - they will be flying across the Bay of Biscay as soon as they’re fried!)

Omg I’m drooling 🤤