Still stopped in 2020; a thread for anyone abstaining from alcohol.

[Drybird2020]

Dry January is over and the next phase has begun! Wherever you are on your sobriety journey, you're welcome here for encouragement, advice and support.

We love hearing from people who have been dry for a long time, so if you've swung by to have a look, please post to inspire us!

Equally, if you've woken up hungover, regretful and ashamed, determined that it's the last time, we've all been there and we're here for you now.

Lurky-lurkers, we know you're there! I observed the alcohol support threads for years before I felt ready to take the plunge, I hope these threads help others; if and when you feel ready to post, you'll get a warm welcome.

Might I respectfully ask that if your aim is moderation, you join the long running moderation thread in this topic. I find moderation chat difficult; it weakens my resolve, and many others feel the same.

I'm Drybird, 31 days sober. In that time I have saved 183 units, £192, and 12600 calories! I intend to be sober for the rest of my life, and I use this thread to keep me accountable.

It would be great to know how everyone is getting on, so if you'd like to check in below, please do! No need to share stats unless you want to, just give us a wave.

Here's tae us!

Well done @BunniesBunniesBunnies keep it up. @Ontheshingle I am afraid of drinking again at the mo, for that reason, I'd be straight back to it. Maybe try and draw a line under and move forward from it...A slight bump in the road on the journey x

Day 183 and my 6 month soberversary.

I still decide first thing every morning that today I'm not drinking, and I record it in my tracker app. Apart from that, and being accountable on this thread, I've not needed to dip into the sober literature or blogs for support since day 30. At about a week in, I definitely had a lightbulb moment, when I realised that being sober was not depriving me of anything, in fact I was getting so many benefits quite quickly.

I was probably more of a binge drinker, so most days I would function normally, and some people have remarked that I wasn't a drinker anyway. But I had no off switch and it was a problem.

The main change is mentally, I feel like I'm in charge of my life and am free of all the negative inner dialogue and turmoil that seemed to constantly occupy my thoughts.

One day at a time.

That’s amazing, @ElsaCragg!! 🎉🎉🎉

Congratulations @ElsaCragg - that's an amazing achievement. well done.

Congrats @ElsaCragg!!!!!!!

Congratulations @ElsaCragg! That’s brilliant and inspirational to boot.

Thank you @SparklingLime, @Ontheshingle, @BunniesBunniesBunnies and @Ulysses.

@EIsaCragg congratulations, that's amazing! Well done.!

@ElsaCragg 6 months is fantastic, well done. 🎉👏☕ I'm so pleased you're still hanging out on the thread and talking about your experience, I'm personally finding it very helpful.

Thank you @jess3817 and @Drybird2020.

I find it really useful to keep posting. It does help to stay accountable and not be complacent. And the thread is so supportive.

Evening all. Can I join? 😊

I’m also over on the lovely ‘Day 4’ thread for all of us who are new to abstaining completely from alcohol. It’s a fantastic, supportive thread so far, but it would also be great to be on this thread with some people who are further on with abstaining, too.

I’m on Day 11 of not drinking and am doing AA. Doing Zoom meetings, got a sponsor and all the literature etc. It’s going well so far although obviously it’s all very new and fragile.

Be great to hang out here, too!

Hello @StraightAndNarrow and welcome! People on this thread are at various different stages, so day 11 is a great time to join. Any day is a great time to join.

Have you had periods of abstinence before or did you decide to dive into AA straight off?

My weapons for fighting the Wine Witch are back to back quit lit, Becks Blue on occasion, and this thread.

Congratulations @ elsaCragg what a fabulous achievement. Well done and keep going and keep posting. I think your posts help us all here.

Thank you @iamyourequal, this really is a great thread.

And hello @StraightAndNarrow, you'll find lots of help and support on here.

4 months sober here.The sleep aspect of being booze free is bloody fantastic as is the bank balance. I have no plans to poison myself with alcohol again.
Keep going folks, there really isn't any negative side to being sober imo, it's all positive!

Hey all:-) Day 12 for me and feeling good!

I had my first “test” last night and I had a virtual pub evening with friends (who drink a lot!). I was worried that it might not be any fun sober, but it was just the same!!! I still laughed so much, and actually I enjoyed it more because I wasn’t a boring drunk person telling the same story for the 4th time!😂 (Not saying all drunk people are boring like that but I definitely am...!)

And of course it’s nice not being hungover today.

I won’t lie and say I didn’t want a glass of wine. I did (though not as much as I thought I would!). But it can never just be a few glasses for me, it would have to be a bottle and then a bottle the next day, and the next...

So overall I’m pleased, pleased I didn’t drink, pleased it was still fun and pleased I’m not hungover.

Good luck to all today!

And well done @HowlsMovingBungalow, 4 months is amazing!

Thanks Bunnies and well done you for staying on your path to wellness! I found the first 6 weeks to be tough going, I think mainly because drinking had got to be such a habit for me ... upset = drink, happy = drink, 7pm = drink, weekend = drink and so on and so on. Once you smash that self medicating thought process it REALLY does get easier not to drink.

Thoughts

Hi- 4 months is great!

I have a zoom drinks tonight. I have just amde up a mint and lemon sugar syrup and will have it with AF prosecco. Mocktails are so 2020

Congratulations @HowlsMovingBungalow!

And good call @BunniesBunniesBunnies and @GreenTeaMug.

There will be a point where you tell people you are not drinking. And that can be very enlightening. I found some were curious, asking if I found it hard. Some said they couldn't do it themselves. But no-one tried to persuade me to have a drink.

Morning all and thank you for the warm welcome .

@Drybird2020 Abstinence and moi? Ha!
I haven’t managed more than 3 or 4 days without wine in many, many years despite multiple attempts at Stoptober/Dry January etc. I categorically cannot moderate my drinking ... but that’s a very recent revelation!

AA is going very well for me so far. I know it’s not for everyone, but I’m finding the meetings massively helpful as a daily reminder that I cannot have ‘just one drink’. I’m never going to be a ‘single glass of wine with dinner’ or ‘civilised G&T in the garden’ kinda gal. Inevitably with me that one glass leads to a couple of bottles, and increasingly for me in the last few years, blackouts and regrets. I just don’t want to live like that anymore.

It’s crazy to think I’m only on Day 12 of not drinking today, yet that’s the longest I’ve gone without wine in maybe 8 or 9 years. And yet I was kidding myself all that time that I wasn’t dependent on alcohol....

Hello again, thanks for the lovely welcome. Tomorrow I'm 2 weeks AF. I'm so pleased and proud of myself.
Congratulations @ElsaCragg on your 6 months, I'm visualizing celebrating mine too. Can't wait.
Hi @StraightAndNarrow think we're both newbies here!
Hope everyone is ok. It was my eldest's 13th birthday today. Earlier on when we were having a bbq I realised I think I've been pissed for all her birthdays apart from when I was pregnant one year 😬 y'know, cos I deserved it for producing offspring.
Loved being present in the moment and clear headed and not grumpy and tired come bedtime this year. Happy days 😁

That last emoji was meant to be a big grin not a grimace 😂

I found the grimace entertaining, @Lupellegrino!

Excellent stuff, @HowlsMovingBungalow! Hope you have a few lovely treats lined up for a self-congratulatory weekend.

I'm going to bribe the kids with cartoons to let me lie in for a bit in the morning, it's been a full on week.

Hope everyone else is totally bossing Friday night 🍵 📙 🍪 🎶 📺 🍲 🍫

Morning all - and well done @straightandnarrow and @Lupellegrino. Hope you get your lie-in @Drybird2020! Now that the kids are back home schooling I feel like I am wading through treacle and my motivation to get things done is very lacking. It is nice not to be shouty mum though and be on a shorter fuse because the wine from the previous night has given me a terrible night's sleep.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.