The Freedom Thread (Continued) - Enjoying the positives of an alcohol free life *Title edited by MNHQ*

[BunniesBunniesBunnies]

Hello all,

This is a thread for people who have decided that life is much better without alcohol!🤩 These threads were started by @Drybird, and they have changed the lives of many people.

Some posters on these threads have been sober for a long time, and some are only just starting. We are a very friendly and inclusive bunch and we are always excited when someone new joins the thread. The only thing we ask is that our posters have given up alcohol completely. Talk of moderation can be triggering for some people, so this thread is not the right place for that (there are other moderation threads🙂).

I hope to see many familiar names on this thread, and some new ones too! We always welcome anyone to share their feelings, ask questions or simply “check in”🙂

I’d also like to thank @Breathmiller for hosting the last thread (and to ask for your forgiveness for shamelessly stealing your thread title😳) - Thank you @Breathmiller 💐

Thanks all!

Bunnies

Thanks @SparklingLime sounds like a good tip xx

Well I weighed myself today and I've lost 1/2 a stone since not drinking.I've always thought I had a belly-even when thin- due to my body shape.Last night it dawned on me I only got a belly at around 16...a year after I discovered alcohol and it's not body shape at all.It's booze.Massive motivation to keep going.Day 34.

@ChampooPapi 😊 good news

Day 79 here.

Just checking in, sorry I’m not posting much but I’m suffering badly with sleep or rather lack of it! I’m hoping this will go soon but I’m still on week 1 so fear it may take a while.

Welcome to everyone.

Hello everyone! So many new people have joined- I feel less like the newbie now! I'm back home at last from my trip and managed to stay completely dry- it was so much easier than I'd thought and most of my friends were completely unperturbed by me not drinking (in fact one of them was driving!) Such a relief to have that behind me. The most tempting part was the long journey home with some delays and frustrations around my fellow passengers not wearing masks properly etc- I could easily have tanned the free booze on my journey but I just enjoyed endless cups of tea instead.

Two more hurdles to clear now- the school mummies have their Xmas night out this weekend and are already planning what cocktail pitchers we're going to order. I'm new to the group and a bit nervous about being seen as the boring one. However I have a grand excuse (covid booster at 9am the next day so I really do need to be driving and sensible regardless!) Then my work team Xmas dinner and party next week- I'll worry about that next week. One day at a time!
I've been feeling quite blue and teary/stressed today. Like pmt and pre-Christmas overwhelm combined together. Trying to meditate when I get a second (work is crazy and has piled up while I've been away.) I maybe have a little bit of PAWS going on too. Making sure I take my supplements- I find vitamin d, b complex and ashwagandha help me lots. L-Theanine for sleep too.
Let's keep at it friends!
Oh, I read a good book while I was travelling home- After Party by Drew Charles. So much of it was really familiar to me- lots of dog-eared pages in my copy now for me to refer back to! I'm now on the hunt for a new one. Has anyone read We are the Luckiest?

Well done on surviving your trip @CardinalCat👍👍👍

@Blackwidow47 sleep will improve, hang in there👍

@Chrispackhamspoodle 1/2 stone is a lot, that must be great motivation!

My day started veeerrry early (thanks kids…) but at least I’m not hungover. I’m still grateful for that a lot!

Well done @CardinalCat!

I went out last night.Drank tonic water in a wine glass,felt sociable,enjoyed myself and slept well.Only 2 other people were drinking.First time put since I stopped so I'm really relieved. Day 35.

Well done @Chrispackhamspoodle - another first conquered.

It's much easier once you've done it a few times isn't it. Funny how we feel scared of what a trip to the pub or a restaurant will be like without booze and then realise it has little to no impact on your evening whatsoever, but a whole bunch of positive impacts for the next day.

Hi all - checking in. Day 7 done and dusted. This time last week I felt like death - I simply cannot and will not go back there. I woke up this morning with a cold, toothache (filling fell out), cold sores, mouth ulcers - and I had a terrible sleep owing to coughing which ended up with me sleeping on the couch so that DH could sleep……and yet, I still felt and looked better than I did a week ago after a 4 day binge. Just shows how toxic alcohol really is.

Hope everyone is keeping well ❤️💪

Hello everyone.

Thanks @BunniesBunniesBunnies for the lovely new thread, with lots of room to fill with all the love and help and kicks up the arse we need to get us through December.

Great work @Stuckhere2021. Sounds like you are doing amazing! 🙌🏻

@Stuckhere2021 you are doing amazingly!

Hey @Drybird2020! It’s nearly 2 years for you isn’t it!

I was up visiting my folks and a somewhat unexpected and really lovely thing has been how supportive my Dad has been in small practical ways, like asking at a restaurant for their AF G&T options. My Dad’s a big burly builder type so it just vamooshed all my shyness!

(something I have really struggled with is how culturally abnormal not drinking is for me so it was just really cool to have him do that)

Can I please join . Drank for 7 days in a Row. Any excuse to open the wine. Back to work today and feel so guilty, sluggish and unhealthy. Just get so bored at night, what can I replace it with? Although the guilt and anxiety should be enough, but it's not.

Welcome @bellalou1234! Evenings... a good box set (and a fancy tonic/tea), a good book. Sort the cupboards, take up a new hobby, cleaning... I've just joined a choir after years off singing - when I don't drink I have extra time and energy too!

@Stuckhere2021 congrats on your 7! It'll very soon be a month and it will feel AMAZING!

... and @Slothkin your dad sounds lovely.

My DH is surprisingly being a massive cheerleader now, having been quite skeptical at first (he's lost his drinking buddy after all).

I think he sees how much better and happier I am now.

Hello lovely people 👋 hopefully you don’t mind me joining.

I’m not had any wine in over 2 months and I just feel so flat. I’m not missing drinking alcohol but my energy levels are at rock bottom. It’s really getting me down! Does anyone have any tips for getting a spring back in my step?

My Dad is quite a complicated person to love - we actually had a massive falling out about drink-driving about ten years ago (I’m in the anti camp, to put it mildly, but apparently I am all snooty and pretentious now). So it was unexpected! But lovely.

@BunniesBunniesBunnies I am now into month 24 alcohol free😁

@Crazylifewithlabs I felt the same kind of flat for about 2 months. Then my mood picked up. Keep going. Take your vitamins.

With evening drinking what I would do was finish work and go straight on the wine and then either forget to eat or eat a load of carbs before bed. I find that if I eat a proper meal instead it helps with cravings somehow. Then do anything you enjoy but don't associate with alcohol. Mine is reading in the bath. One of the joys of this is getting time back to do other things. Although I'm only on week 4!

@Drybird2020 your 24th month🤩🤩🤩 Amazing.

@Crazylifewithlabs 2 months is brilliant. I felt very flat at the start. I really struggled. It was also because I had been drinking to numb lots of shit in my life, and then all of the sudden I had to deal with all that shit. And find new coping mechanisms. This sounds cringe but you need to discover the new you! Start doing things again you did before drinking, or start some new things!

Like @SilverPeacock I enjoy baths and reading. I also listen to lots of audiobooks and like going to bed early. I go for runs, walks with friends, I still go to the pub and I’m taking dance lessons! There are so many options. Is there any reason you are feeling flat? Addressing those issues head on (with work or relationships or whatever) will also help. Hang in there, it should get better.

Morning all,

Went out with school mums last night. Drank AF beer, mocktail, had ludding when I'd have usually been the one ordering 'one last wine'.

Hand in heart I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Perhaps at the start when all the other mums arrived "gasping for a wine"... tip here, arrive a few mins early, get yourself set up with drink of choice, avoids questions about why you aren't drinking etc.

The chat was the same, the laughs the same. I was out until the pub closed. But I'll be the only one feeling as fresh as a daisy. Smug!