You’ve made the hardest step -acknowledging there is an issue and you need to stop drinking.

sad that I will never be able to have a drink again
Flip it.
Focus on how HAPPY you will be to forever wake up not feeling crap, to have a full nights sleep without tossing and turning and waking -dehydrated-at 3am, to have amazing skin, feel able to exercise so feel fitter and healthier and how much richer you will be for not spending £££’s on alcohol every week

One day at a time. I’m not going to lie it can be hard in the early days but it will be life changing!

I read the unexpected joy of being sober whilst I was first giving up. I wasn’t anywhere near her level of drinking but was getting worse and worse and could see how easy it would be to get there. It was a frightening thought and kept me going. Whenever I though I might be tempted a bit later to nip out and buy alcohol I just jumped in the shower. Having wet hair & sitting in PJ’s-even if it was 6pm!-meant I couldn’t be tempted to nip to the shop. I didn’t take my purse to work so couldn’t be tempted to stop on the way home to buy alcohol & I stocked up on some books so I could go to bed early and read rather than be tempted.
I ate a ton of choc and sweets as my body craved to replace the sugar it was missing from the alcohol. I figured I would deal with that once I’d got a grip of the alcohol issue.
I’m now nearly two years sober and can count on one hand the amount of times in the last year that having a drink has even crossed my mind,. I’m thinner, fitter, richer and happier than I was when drinking. Not drinking made me feel better about myself and made it easier to deal with things that were causing unhappiness in the first place. I hope you find giving up helps you to find your happiness too

no one ever regrets not drinking the night before.

I stopped drinking over 2 years ago, for a variety of reasons, including as a support for my DH who was also drinking too much, too regularly. I've found it harder than him to give up, as I still miss it on occasion. It's the times when you would have had a drink, so for me, it's the post gardening beers, nice glass of fizz as a start to a Saturday night, crisp white with a certain meal or bottle (or two) of red with another! I had also decided that if I was giving up, it was forever and that decision has helped over the sober times, as I knew I'd be breaking my own rule if I had 'a glass' here or there (which would never have worked for me and certainly not for my DH). I have missed it a good few times, but it's only been at the beginning of an evening, so that once I've got past the early minutes up to the first hour, it's all fine again. I have also actively enjoyed seeing friends utterly slaughtered, enjoying themselves, with me still enjoying myself but as a sober person. I have then THOROUGHLY enjoyed the next mornings imagining them with a hangover!! xx

My story is exactly the same as yours.Husband ,who had become dependent on alcohol stopped drinking and I did too ,to support his recovery.Still early stages for me and I do sometimes crave a glass of chilled white wine,but then I remember the hangovers,the feeling of not being in control etc and the thought soon dies.
I have downloaded an App called “I am sober” which counts my sober days and is a good incentive for me to keep going.

That’s brilliant @Determinedtosucceed I hope you are feeling proud of yourself. Stay strong, it really will get easier. I’ve never declared that I’ve stopped drinking to anyone, I’ve simply said ‘I don’t drink these days/I’m not drinking as I’m being healthier’ the most I’ve said to anyone is that I found alcohol was making my anxiety worse so I’ve stopped drinking. You don’t owe anyone an explanation but we will happily celebrate your achievement with you, well done 😊

@LightandMomentary interesting you’ve enjoyed nights with friends being drunk, I tend to find drunk people very boring. I dread to think what I was like! Over 2 years is a long time, well done-that’s amazing.
well done to you too @normalgirl, I log on the ‘drink free days’ app. It’s great to see the days adding up.