Staying Stopped - Alcohol Free, permanently.

[Drybird2020]

This thread is a kind and supportive environment for anyone committing to an alcohol free life.

From Day 1 onwards, you are welcome here for support, encouragement, tips and chat. There are many of us, at different points on the journey some have been sober for years, months, or weeks, others are just starting out, but all are
committed to an alcohol free life and the freedoms it brings...

Freedom from the tyranny of booze and the effort of figuring out how much to drink, and how and when to procure and drink it.

Freedom from guilt, self loathing, and 3am wake ups, and the fear of what might have been said and done the night before.

Freedom from the pervasive sense of dread and shame.

Freedom to embrace life with energy, and to face challenges with an uncluttered head, a lighter heart, and a lighter recycling bin.

If you've not yet decided whether total abstinence is for you, do feel free to hang out and ask questions but please be aware that discussion of drinking can be triggering, especially for those in the early stages of sobriety.

If you are still drinking, or planning on moderating (and this includes occasional or once in a blue moon drinking) have a look at the moderation threads, which might be a better fit for you.

I check in here every day as part of my recovery. It has kept me accountable, and the wonderful posters who contribute have helped me more than they could possibly know. This is day 137, and I'll be here for a long time!

Wow, @Growingboys and @Drybird2020!! 🎉🎉 Amazing achievements!!

Hey all, well done on the various achievements!!!!
I’ll be 6 weeks sober tomorrow and I’m so pleased about it. Everything else in life feels incredibly hard at the moment but I know it would be even harder with booze, so...

@BunniesBunniesBunnies 6 weeks is amazing! Keep telling yourself that because it's true. Hugs for you.

Well I haven't been for a run because it's gale force blooming winds wich means we haven't been on our picnic. So we are having a indoor one later instead. Needed cake so me and my 5 year old have made chocolate orange loaf.

Hope you're all on track and feeling good.

@Growingboys I hope you'll still be here to coach the rest of us through this coming Christmas. I'm really impressed by the running, I'm on week 4 of C25K so doing a 10K is a very distant prospect! Are you OK without a rest day in between long runs? Sarah Millican keeps reminding me to take a rest day but maybe they're for unfit novices!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful sober weekend. 😊

I really want to start running again soon. I'd love to be able to run 5k, let alone 10k! I always seem to get stuck on week 5 or 6 of 525K. I'm feeling inspired though so I might give it another go.

Just wanted to say to the novice runners - Well done if you have started and if you are thinking of starting, just do it!!!

I started running in 2013 and it’s honestly the best thing for my mental health I have ever done!

When I started I could not even run one minute. I did couch to 5k, and once I hit 5km I tried for a 10km, and then in 2015 I ran my first half marathon! I’m not at all fast but I don’t care! What matters is getting out there.

I go through phases of running lots (April), then now I have barely been in May. I know I need to get going again but the first run is always the hardest and I am dreading it... Even though I know it is so good for me! Ugh!

And oh, 6 weeks sober for me today🤩🤩🤩 I never thought I could do it but I did🤩

Well done bunnies! Congrats!

I'm day 7 today and honestly have never felt happier! Was tested last night when OH had some beers but I had my fever tree tonic water and had an indian takeaway and woke this morning so relieved and proud that I didnt drink! Looking forward to my hangover free sunday with my family

Congratulations to all of us whether it's day 1, day 7, 6 weeks, 5months and even longer!

@BunniesBunniesBunnies thanks for the running inspiration too. I went for a run on Tuesday and must have done about 3km. Haven't done one since though I keep intending too. In fairness, the past 3 days have been horrific weather-wise but I'm hoping to get motivated enough to get out later today.

I have been getting into a habit of doing yoga every morning now and I always feel much better for having done it. It feels like my brain has switched into gear and I can start the day properly. I'd like to get into a similar habit with running and shrug off the stresses of the day.

Hangover free Sundays are the best! Also Saturdays, and selected week days... I'm so glad all that crap is in the past for me now.

@BunniesBunniesBunnies and @Moonlite well done reaching your milestones.

I'm not running today because it's a rest day but I'm excited for tomorrow. I'm finding it so much easier to stay enthusiastic and motivated, I'm sure it's because of being alcohol free, a) because I've the time and headspace to focus on new endeavours, and b) because if I can quit booze, well, I can do anything!

Morning everyone !
On the subject of running - I went for 5k at 10am - 3rd time this week running in the morning ( I could never do it before in the morning because of feeling like crap ha!) Like Bunnies I've done all sorts of distances (if anyone ever wants t do a marathon I can't recommend Manchester enough, it's amazing!) I've been trying to get my 5k time down recently so been doing lots of little short runs to help with that.
Loving hangover free Sundays 😀

That's a good point @Drybird2020, I was drinking when I attempted C25K last time so maybe this time will be different.

I'm also loving hangover free Sundays although I'm a bit nervous that it's feeling too easy. I know that it was complacency that got me last time so I'm trying to stay focused on keeping off the booze. The podcasts are really helping with that.

Hi everyone, I have name changed to join this thread, hope that's OK. I am currently on day four of my sober journey. My wine drinking had gone from 1-2 times a week, to 3 times a week to at a bottle and a half around 5 nights a week. Wednesday I was supposed to be having a few socially distanced glasses of wine with the neighbour (in our separate gardens, obviously). This turned into more than a few glasses and the next day I was very hungover to the point I was sick, felt rubbish snapping at the kids all day while my partner was at work, and I had an awful shift at work that night feeling groggy and tired with a splitting headache. I knew this was the last time I could feel this way and, after a lot of tears and a long chat with my partner, I have decided enough is enough. I am currently on day 4 without a drop, and this will be my first bank holiday weekend sober (obviously apart from when I was pregnant with my kids).

Sorry for the rambling back story. I hope I can join your lovely thread.

Welcome, @Time2Change2020, it's such a great change to make, and the benefits carry on multiplying. If you read back through this thread and its predecessors you will see many other stories, very much the same as yours. Alcohol is a powerful drug, with predictable effects. The good news is that you can free yourself from it, and you are in good company here!

Welcome @Time2Change2020!

Well done for quitting! Those first few days are tough. Your story is very recognisable. I am now 6 weeks in but right from the start my most favourite benefit of being sober is that I am sooo much more zen and patient around the kids. Yeah, I still lose it occasionally, but that is now the exception rather than the rule. My husband loves that I have stopped! And I love it too. Good luck and keep posting here, it does really help:-)

Thank you @Drybird2020 and @BunniesBunniesBunnies. I can't quite believe I'm sitting here sober on a bank holiday weekend, it's almost liberating - did anyone else feel like that at the beginning?

Liberating is a great word to use. You gain so much time and energy. The act of not drinking may be on your mind a lot for the few weeks but after that it will free up so much headspace. You’ll be better off financially, emotionally and, dare I say it, easier to live with.

Can I join please? Day 1 for me...

Hi! I'd like to join too please... Day 1 here. Suffering with a hangover. Would love to be able to moderate but can't.

Have been a reasonably heavy drinker since I was in my teens - now well into my forties and time to stop.

Looking forward to getting my life back!

@Tiggytico me too. My drinking has escalated since lockdown to the point of it being normal for me to have a beer (or four) in the sun in the garden, then opening a bottle of wine when I start to cook dinner. I keep drinking until every drop of alcohol in the house is gone. I have tried to moderate but I can't, once I start I won't stop. So the only solution for me is not to start.

I have to remove those cues and associations. I want to find pleasure in other things. I want to be able to lose weight and the have to motivation to exercise. I want to not need to have to hide the empty bottles under cardboard in the recycling bin. And I dread to think how much money I spend on alcohol. I daren't even add it up. Plus all the other "essential" items I add to my basket when I go out to buy it so I don't look like a complete lush.

Can I join too please? Day 1 here for me too and after many day one’s I really want to make it stick this time. Am currently listening to Annie Grace. I would love to have and give support as I don’t think it’s something I can discuss with friends and family just yet. Need to get through that triggering time period of 5pm to 7pm each day. Would love to not only feel better mentally and physically but also save money! I spend a fortune as I can never just buy the alcohol. I have to find an excuse to buy something else to try and pretend I’m not just there to buy the booze.

@BumbleeBeesFluffyBum - do you mind if I ask who/what is Annie grace? New to all this!

I’ve just come across through an ad on Facebook. It’s a webinar that’s an intro to her method. It looks like it’s a paid for course but the intro webinar really resonated with me in terms of the reasons she drank etc.

Hey everyone & welcome. I'm day 8 today and so chuffed! I've been drinking fever tree indian tonic water and have just discovered that the Tesco version is exactly the same and only 50p for a bigger bottle! So currently sitting in the sun with a tall glass with ice.

My benefits so far are

Sleeping through the night (no 3am guilty wake ups for water)
More patient with my kids
An improved sense of self worth
More energy & eating less crap (I would eat all day to get through my hangovers)
I've lost 5lbs in 1 week
I've stopped worrying and stressing over everything
I feel happier in general

I'm so excited to be on this sober journey and I just know I'm in it for the long haul. I cant do moderation and I've accepted that, I'm very much all or nothing. Goodluck everyone!

@moonlite that is so encouraging to hear. I really want to see some immediate benefits. If I do then it will definitely keep me going!