Anyone want to join me for 30 day Annie Grace no alcohol experiment starting 1st November ?

[easterdaffsx]

Just that really .
I'm really going to have a good go at this and I'm scared .
The thought of 30 days AF terrifies me and that's why I know I need to do it.
Trying to balance a v stress job/ 12- 14 hours a day/long commute/ children and a a fabulous relationship which I'm currently putting pressure on with my drinking .
Anyone want to hand hold or do this with me pls would be great ?

It's the best! Had a delicious non alcoholic Lyres G&T (premix can from Tesco) and that felt like a real...aaah kids are in bed, time to relax now kinda treat. No sore head and about to go do a workout after my morning coffee 😁

Anyone else having the craziest dreams this week??

@bella1426

Anyone else having the craziest dreams this week??

I dreamt I was running away from home but all I’d packed was three bottles of vodka 😱😱😱

Day 8 tomorrow. This has been my first alcohol free weekend in as long as I can remember. Partner has done most of the first week with me and has promised to cut down drastically going forward, now that he’s realised he can last a week, which is a vast improvement

Anyone else getting cravings for sweet stuff? I made a cake today. I NEVER bake!!!!

Wow welcome day 8 ! X
How's everyone doing ?

Feeling much more able to face the week than usual, thanks @easterdaffsx.

Yesterday was the first day I really felt the difference; I woke up feeling calmer, clearer, more able to deal with stuff that usually feels overwhelming.

I also volunteered to stay alcohol free (bar a planned slip over xmas) for the next 7 months.

@Muttly, well done that sounds brilliant. You showed great willpower there.
Not the best weekend for me but I had a feeling. My dsis was over for the weekend so we went out. Drank wine. And yesterday my other dsis had everyone for lunch. Drank then too.
Anyway I'm putting it behind me. The good thing is I woke up through the night and know deep down I prefer an af lifestyle. I just have to keep trying. I struggle when I go out or have something on ( ironically Xmas is a slow period for me. I get away from it all).
I know I can do the rest of November completely af. Then I'll have 28 days out of 30 which beats my October count.
Hope you're all doing OK. Keep trying and if you've had a blip, just keep learning!

Thanks @Amdone123.

Wow welcome day 8 ! X
How's everyone doing ?

Easter

I was really pleasantly surprised by how the positive feelings of not having a hangover helped with the af. It was actually my second weekend as I started on the 25th but I a very surprised by how much I am enjoying it even though it hasn’t been easy because I love my wine. How are you getting on?

Started yesterday………really enjoy the support on this chat……will log in again in a week to update progress 😀

@Kolios, hi 👋 and welcome. Looking forward to seeing how you get on. One day at a time, stay positive and maybe make notes of the benefits of being alcohol free - that's what works for me.

Can't stop eating sweet things. Send help.

@bella1426, 🤣🤣 I can be like that ! And I don't even have a sweet tooth. I usually think 500 cals of choc is better than 2 x bottles of wine, so whatever it takes really !

@bella1426 Same here too. I thought the weight would be dropping off!!!

How is everyone finding the daily videos, are you watching them? I've gone full Annie Grace cult follower and have either the podcasts or the audio book in my ears at various parts of the day. It's like If I can hear her repeat these things often enough eventually I will just become her 😂

I do like the sciencey stuff though, all the explanations of the hormonal responses and neural pathways we have created around alcohol make so much sense when you hear them. It's keeping that logic in your head when around it though....

Same here Bella
I read the book in bed with a cup of Chia tea (feel about 90 !) and then listen to the video and extra video in the car on the way to work .
Its working for me .
Havent gone 9 days without alcohol for years .
What keeps me going is reminding myself of how wonderful it feels to wake up now .
TMI but even intimacy was a million percent better !
Its not the first thing I think about when I get in although its not the last but Im more present and able to focus .
So many benefits .

@easterdaffsx, well done on 9 days, you're doing great. Waking up without a hangover is fantastic. Of course waking up with a hangover is utterly awful. @bella1426, yep - remembering the logic is quite hard when tempted. It is for me anyway.

Happy day 10 people anyone else's sleep gone to shite since starting though? Work is mental busy at the moment and it feels like a constant to do list whirring round my head. I'm giving sobriety a lot of headspace at the moment in terms of reading, posting, podcasts, journaling too...wondering if it's just all a bit much for my poor little head to process and shut off from going to bed? I wasn't a daily drinker so can't imagine it's physical withdrawal?

Morning @bella1426, sorry to hear your sleep has gone to pot. It's a difficult one as it's hard to generalise. So, my sleep vastly improves when not drinking but if I've got issues around work and my head is whirring, I don't sleep well at all. I'm lucky I only do 7 hours a week. Was up til 3am this morning, awake at 7. Also, peri menopause symptoms - hot flushes etc, though that's my only symptom.
I'm wondering if even though you're not a daily drinker, it could still be a physical effect ? Someone else might know.
Good to hear you journal - that helps me. I'm going to have to do that in a bit to sort my thinking out. Lists are my friend here!
Maybe limit the podcasts or the reading and give yourself a little break.
You're on Day 10 which is brilliant. I've had 7 out of 9 days af so some catching up to do. I'll do it.

I’ve got a work do this evening that was feeling fine (relieved, actually) about attending without drinking… but as the witching hour approaches and my anxiety ramps up… I’m feeling wobbly!!

@PromisesMeanNothingSue stay strong! Remind yourself that the pleasurable effect of the first drink only lasts 20 minutes as your blood alcohol content spikes and you're just chasing the feeling after that with more drinks that never replicate that high. Can you drive and remove temptation? I read a good quote about abstinence vs moderation lately "If we do not take the first drink, we never get
drunk. Therefore, instead of planning never
to get drunk, or trying to limit the number of
drinks or the amount of alcohol, we have
learned to concentrate on avoiding only one
drink: the first one."
My advice would be to drive, head straight to the bar to get yourself a non alcoholic drink so you have something in your hand, enjoy the evening and ask people lots of questions (drinking people love talking about themselves 😂) focus on how good you will feel when you get home and take your make up off sober and how thankful you will feel tomorrow that you didn't drink. And just get out of there whenever you are done...You can do this 💪

Thank you @bella1426. I did it - I drank water all evening! It was actually a lovely evening, and I ended up sitting with two non-drinkers and a very moderate drinker, so I would have been a lot more out-of-place if I’d been sitting there chugging back the wine, thinking about when was the waiter going to fill my glass again, was I drinking too fast, was I slurring, did I embarrass myself, were my cheeks all flushed and my eyes glassy, was I too loud, was I clumsy (and probably spill food down my ample bosom!), worrying about working how much I owed for the drinks, etc etc.

Instead I was able to have pleasant conversations, didn’t think or worry about any of the above, and enjoyed the company of my colleagues. And my make up looked as good at the end of the evening as it did at the start, despite a prolonged hot flush on arrival!

What a revelation!

@PromisesMeanNothingSue, well done. That's brilliant 👏

Yay well done! Bet you feel chuffed with yourself today. Sitting in Dublin airport for the first time since covid getting ready for a weekend away. People drinking pints 🤢🤢🤢🤢

@bella1426, have a lovely time.
Crikey I can drink but even I'd say no to a drink at this time

Thanks both. 😇

Have a lovely weekend @bella1426. I’m with @Amdone123 on that - drinking in the morning has always been my line in the sand (as it was for my alcoholic father, actually… not that it stopped him being an alcoholic!). Apart from a champagne breakfast on Christmas day.