Forever Free - a life without booze, 2020 onwards.

[Drybird2020]

This thread is a supportive place for anyone who no longer wants alcohol to be part of their life.
This is the 4th thread in a series. I started the first 30th December last year and have been sober ever since. I couldn't have done it without the tremendous support other posters have given me.
Previous threads are linked below and are useful reading for anyone starting out, as they are full of useful advice, suggestions for reading, and strategies for managing the tricky times. Plus you will see how similarly alcohol affects so many of us, and track the journeys of people who are successfully making the change and embraced a new and rewarding life.

Thread 1
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/alcohol_support/3781133-Anyone-else-stopping-completely-in-2020

Thread 2
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/alcohol_support/3810419-Still-stopped-in-2020-a-thread-for-anyone-abstaining-from-alcohol

Thread 3 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/alcohol_support/3910349-Staying-Stopped-Alcohol-Free-permanently

The only rules are that you are committing to an alcohol free life, and that you have stopped drinking before you begin to post.

If anyone would like to use the new thread to (re)introduce themselves and give a wee summary of where they are at, please do!

Hellooooo! Just caught up with the last few pages. I wasn't really surprised to find I had missed news of @Hangingover swimming with sharks! Glad you're on the mend @iamyourequal. Hey @SparklingLime - sorry things have been tricky but well done for getting back on it. Waving to @AvoidingTheWineAisle. Well done everyone on all the milestones reached and welcome to anyone new

I'm 5 and a bit months alcohol free and 6 weeks smoke free. Still loving it and couldn't be happier.

I started off saying I was having a break but now I tell people I just don't like drinking anymore - which is the truth. Life is just better without alcohol.

Happy Sunday everyone

Oh wow @Teetotallyimperfect you are doing so well!!! With the smoking also! Well done!!!

I’m also 5 and a bit months (24 weeks today!) in and feeling great. Still struggling occasionally with the smoking though😬 although I’m better than I was... I am hoping to ramp up my exercise this week which should really help with the not smoking. Wish me luck😬

You legends

Well done lads! It'll be a year in no time.

teetotallyimperfect and BunniesBunniesBunnies well done both of you and thanks for being inspirational to us newer folks.

I am on day 50 today!! A few weeks ago I saw someone else on day 50 and it seemed sooooo far away and yet here I am. And life is so much better.

Well done on day 50 breath that's a huge milestone.

My Addictive Voice is being a real bitch today, I don't know what's got into her. Here's a selection of this afternoon's internal monologue (may contain some expletives):

• I fucking hate every fucker that just DRINKS so fucking casually like....oooooh you know what it's 6pm I might have A DRINK...and the fuckers popping in and out of the bottle shop with completely normal quantities of alcohol thinking "oooh this will last me ages because I'm not an alcoholic" and I swear every fucking direction I fucking look in at this fucking campsite...no, make that Australia generally ...drinky fuckers are fucking DRINKING RESPONSIBLY all over the place, laughing and cheersing like a fucking beer commercial and I am SO FUCKING JEALOUS whilst hating them and their functioning livers and reasonable blood alcohol levels the bloody jammy twats. I'm even angry at the cocking MN gin and wine emojis. Pricks.

• it has also pointed out I hate everything about myself, even the good bits, and I might as well indulge previously mentioned fantasy about going to the beach chain-smoking and full of wine and drugs and be done with it.

(I would like to point out I am safe and with DP and have reached out to my sponsor. Also next tent over has a puppy I'm hoping to pat later which will cheer me up)

Addiction is so hard you guys, well done to every last one of you, you're heros

Addendum; happy fucking 120 days to me

Well done @Hangingover!!! You are ROCKING this. Hope your bitchy dick of an inner voice fucks off soon💪💪💪

Hang in there hanging, that voice will quieten down soon.

I bet you that at least (at the VERY least) that one of those smiley beer drinking campers will be wishing they didn't drink. Wanting to stop. Regretting feeling shit the next day...yaddayaddayadda. And YOU are the inspiration for that to be a possibility.

Happy fucking 120 days.

Now....that inspires ME to keep going.

Happy Fucking 120 Days to you, @Hangingover!!
That level of self-criticism is so hard though. But I did laugh at the idea of some smug wanker skipping out of Dan Murphy’s thinking “oooh this will last me ages because I'm not an alcoholic" tinkly laugh 😂😂

@SparklingLime I was cracking up at that too🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I'd also like to congratulate you on the quality amount of expletives.

My Australian husband would applaud how native you've gone.
His favourite at the moment is cuntingfucknuggets. Feel free to steal it.

Hehehe you lot do cheer me up I've got a pie in the oven all for me.

Hangingover 120 days is fantastic, congratulations.

All good here, quiet weekend. Just off to bed.

Move over @Hangingover, I'm stealing cuntingfucknuggets - tips hat to @Breathmiller while also applauding 50 DAYS!!!!
When my inner addict pops up I am just treating it like some deluded, rambling old biddy with dementia who is ranting on, making no sense and is generally just pitiful and mad. She comes up with some right nonsense which is just not worth listening to, so I tell her to shut the fuck up, which is working so far...Happy 120 @Hangingover as well - brilliant - I am coming up to 90 days this week - yay!!
For anyone reading this - YES it is SO worth it, YES it gets easier and YES I thought it was impossible as well - its not

For anyone reading this - YES it is SO worth it, YES it gets easier and YES I thought it was impossible as well - its not smile

This needs to be our motto or in the title of our next thread...!😍

Congrats all on the milestones, I’m inching towards my 6 month goal. Am eyeing up a new bike...😳

When I get to 6 months I might 'fess up to what my reward is going to be...
Congrats on your approaching milestone @BunniesBunniesBunnies!

Hi everyone and well done on all the milestones! Edinburgh was great. Fucking inner "just have a drink" voice was nearly my undoing but I played the video to the end (someone upthread said that - thank you I love it) and I MADE THE CHOICE to say no that's ok I don't need one.

My girlfriends at work chipped in and bought me a birthday gift. I was so dreading opening a bottle of gin (which I would end up giving to DH) but I think I had dropped the AF thing into conversation with them, and god love them they bought me ugg slippers and a box of high end beauty minis and samples. So happy!

That's me 9 weeks dry. I envy all of you with months and months under your belt. Roll on Octsober 👍

@BunniesBunniesBunnies

For anyone reading this - YES it is SO worth it, YES it gets easier and YES I thought it was impossible as well - its not smile

This needs to be our motto or in the title of our next thread...!😍

What? Not "AF cuntingfucknuggets moving forward 2020?"

slantbaws glad you had a great time. Well done on the 9 weeks. I'm just behind you at 7 and also look forward to being months in. We'll be there soon enough. I love that thought of playing the video to the end too. It has helped me silence that inner whinging voice of mine many a time.

Great idea to buy something as a celebration- enjoy your bike.

I have been putting a wee gold star on my phone diary everytime i get a day done. My inner 5 year old likes my reward chart racking up the gold stars. Maybe i need an actual reward after every month.

For anyone reading this - YES it is SO worth it, YES it gets easier and YES I thought it was impossible as well - its not smile

This needs to be our motto or in the title of our next thread...!😍

Bunnies I was just wondering what the hell to call the next thread! Nice one 😊

.... Or something about cuntingfucknuggets

Aww, that’s lovely, @SlantyBaws. And yay to @Ravenswick and our new club motto/title! 🎉

I’m on a week-long sort of retreat which is AF so that’s perfect to help get me back on the straight and narrow.

If you need a laugh, have a look at this - I think there are a fair few yogies amongst us:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4036196-To-think-if-you-cant-control-your-sphincter

sparklinglime that thread is hilarious.

I (mostly) manage to keep a dignified silence when teaching in such circumstances except when teaching kids yoga. With a child that can handle it and much hilarity as ensued I have been known to calm things down/ramp things up with a "well better out than in, as my grandma used to say! "
the teen boys class are particularly fun at these times. One particularly boy who was not at all shy let rip beside me and when everyone laughed he high fived me and we both said "goood onne" at the same time. I thought it was a good save on his behalf.

You should see when we got an anatomy book out to look at the muscles we use in certain postures and they found the word buttocks!! I may have lost the room that day.

I have never managed yet to teach ashwini mudra with ease.

I do have a teacher friend who when I was in her class made me promise not to look at her if someone farted in class or she would not recover.

Anyway...bodies make noises of many descriptions. Especially when practising apanasana or wind relieving posture. 😁

As my wise husband (of cuntingfucknugget fame) is want to say "there's never a time when farting is not funny. Wise old soul indeed.

Thanks guys, I'd love that to be the new title although cuntingfucknuggets has a certain je ne said quoi and does seem to confound spellcheck, which is always a bonus!

Congrats on the Edinburgh trip Slanty, and your work friends sound fab - good for them and for you!
LOL at the yoga - probably one of the biggest benefits of Zoom yoga(!)... @Breathmiller, your husband is right, of course...
@SparklingLime, hope your week goes well, will look forward to hearing about it.

Hurrah!! Went back to the pizza place/microbrewery where I had the enormous tantrum beforehand at the start of my sobriety because I couldn't believe I couldn't have any beer. Was night and day. Had pizza and ginger beer and felt absolutely great. Then made DP drive round all the shops tying to find somewhere selling ice cream but they were all shut. But still generally hurrah!!