The support thread (continued) for an alcohol free life. All welcome.

[WendyWagon]

Hello and welcome to the alcohol free support thread. We are a welcoming bunch. These threads were started by @drybird some three years ago.
We are a mixture of sober sisters (and the odd gent) who want to lead a alcohol free life. We chat about everyday things that we use to drink to manage. No question too silly. Someone will have done/thought or been through the same.

I think it might have to be, hehe 😉Seems to be a good look for Helena Bonham Carter a-la Bellatrix...

Oo-er - page 13. Steady as she goes.

Wishing you all calm waters and peaceful sailing over the BH weekend. xx

I had a very strange wobble on the way home from work. Started thinking how good it would be to get in and sink a vodka.

I stopped to analyse my feelings and realised I had just come out of a very stressful meeting, and I was just subconsciously responding to that with my habitual solution.

Came in and cracked open a Diet Coke instead and feel fine now.

@rothbury Oh bless you. It's funny how it randomly hits us when we least expect it. Most unfair.

The lure is strong for me just now - I am more p*ssed-off than I ought to be about the yet-again-cancelled haircut - and it's raining here. An utter waste of an afternoon of annual leave.

But off in the rain the dog and I will go (however much he protests. Although I suspect I would protest too if I also had to wash my feet with my own tongue) and then on to get some more chocolate milkshake. M&S this time, no mucking about. I have gone and got an appointment at another hair place for Saturday morning. Early, so no temptation to have a Friday night oblivion.

Strength and honour to you for your resistance. Hope the meeting will ultimately result in less stress for you. x

Thanks @REP22 I can’t believe they cancelled again!!!!!

Dogs really are The Best aren’t they?

The meeting was one where I was advocating for someone else, providing legal advice and support, and I got a great result for them, but the meeting itself was very stressful for various reasons.

I honestly think my drinking was far more habit than addiction. So I am bloody lucky to have stopped.

Have a great BH weekend everyone.

Some good news stories on here lads.
I am having a fecking awful afternoon trying to do this ridiculous anti money laundering evidence thing. My bank account, my dosh but apparently it could be proceeds of crime. Utter tosh, family of lawyers and rozzers.

Just back from the gym - managed more than I thought but very low impact - but it’s a start.

lots of talk in the post holiday group chat about the horrors of being back at work, needing a drink tonight etc. I really do suspect that several of the people who were with us have a real dependency on alcohol that they are not ready to acknowledge.

At least one person I would say was “an alcoholic” (although I don’t personally like that word) and would have probably had a drink before work this morning- they work from home and were out at the pub last night because it was “the last night of the holiday” and they were by all accounts drunk.

I really want to leave all this mad drinking behind but these are people I love and some of them I have known almost 30 years. This will be the next big change for me I suspect - changes to my social circle 🙁

How stressful @WendyWagon - hope u get it sorted soon 🤞

Eeek hold steady Sav, big day tomorrow!

@2023forme you might find some of the group change or adjust their drinking when they realise you have managed to stay off it.. also you can change the venue, or the ways you socialise, I prefer to do things which are not based around a bar now. I take more exercise, go to talks, join clubs. Even going for a walk or a daytime coffee. You are doing really well so keep on the positive sides and as Rep said surviving the ALL in holiday was ‘Goddess level’

Morning all. I have been on this thread before and did DJ this year but dropped off in Febraury. However recently something has happened to make me decide to have another crack at it.

I re enrolled on the Naked Mind Alcohol Experiment and am on day 19 today.

I'm finding it really helpful. I've had quite a few AF periods before and have tried the Alcohol Experiment before but never got very far with it. But this time it feels a bit different (famous last words). Some of it is bit too full on super enthusiastic but lots of it is striking chords with me. I've just done the video about boredom - so true and such a big cue for me to reach for a glass of wine.

Anyway ladies - glad to be on board again. I recognise some names on here and maybe some of you remember me.

Welcome back @Cherrymix !

Good luck with the move Sav! @WendyWagon

Hello @Cherrymix - I’m not far behind you on day 17 after too many day 1s to count. I get what you are saying about TNM and I’ve also dipped in and out of it but I got fed up with all the hard sell emails - although tbf, they do also offer a lot of free stuff.

someone upthread recommended the one for the road podcast which I tried for the first time yesterday at the gym and really enjoyed it /found it helpful - so thanks! Will try another one today when I go to the gym.

plans for this weekend are out for dinner with DH tonight- he is very supportive and although he does drink (usually not to excess although he did overdo it on our recent holiday) he is not going to drink when it’s just us ie at home and like tonight when we go out. But he’ll still have a few beers if I am working at night or if he goes out with friends. I’m doing a 12 hour shift tomorrow then meeting a friend for a long walk and a coffee/cake catch up on Sunday. Still no cravings and generally feeling good.

@WendyWagon - sending good luck vibes your way for the move and Hope everyone has a great, stress free (if at all possible) regret free weekend 🤞🙏❤️💪

Morning all.
Thank you for all the good vibes.
Not bought a new home for nearly two decades so amazed at how awful the process is. I was beside myself last night with worry. Let's put it this way, I'm not moving anytime soon.
I didn't realise there was so many drug dealers about laundering money through a middle class beauty executive's bank account!
Hopefully all is well and I get the keys.

@WendyWagon good luck. We moved about 10 years ago and it was incredibly stressful. I never want to move again. But the brain is a wonderful thing. I'm sure in a year's time the stress will all be forgotten.

@2023forme I haven't really noticed TNM email as I used an old email that I never look at. I guess they have to make money somehow but I don't begrudge them that as the free stuff is really good

Have finally got out into the garden and am hoping to make some good progress over the weekend.

I've been very stressed about something recently and stuck on doom scrolling till late in the night so some fresh air is a welcome change

Welcome back @Cherrymix

The alcohol experiment worked for me (after numerous Dry January's but failed attempts to continue beyond that). I'm coming up to 15 months now. Not sure what was different this time but its working.

Happy house weekend @WendyWagon
Hope it goes as planned and is as smooth as it ca be.

Morning all! Those checks sound bonkers @WendyWagon , but good to know that they are being vigilant. Although more vigilant than I suspect they've been in the past for Russian oligarchs... 🙄Will keep everything crossed that the wheels turn smoothly for you. I hated moving house, I moved 10 years ago and still have full boxes in the cupboard. I love Sex and the City and the bit where Miranda moved into her new flat always made me smile - how she repeatedly had to tick the single-woman box... "just me". Yep, just me (plus dog). And happy for that.

I haven't tried TNM, though I have listened to some of the podcasts. I think different things work for us all (it would be boring if we were all the same). I've tried various things, been through enough experiences that ought to have been sufficiently and horrendously salutary to make me never drink again, but the internal mindset just wasn't there. Hopefully, for me, now it is. 🙏

Hello @Cherrymix ! Day 19 is brilliant, top stuff. I was AF for months but had a recent rather drastic wobble and am now on Day 9. Happy days.

Rat-fink M&S didn't have chocolate milkshake left after the dog-walk yesterday, so I had to make do with strawberry and banana, and some chocolate bars. And some crisps. And some prawns (sorry my little dendrobranchiatian friends - but you are mighty tasty, hehe). I think they will tie me to the stake and burn me at Slimming World next week as an example to the other malcontents. But at least I will be sober.

Strength and love to you all. x

Still sending paperwork, still seething.
Young girl in estate agents is on duty all day with the keys.

Virtual handhold from me @WendyWagon - I don't mind a sharp hand-squeeze if it helps with the seething. Keep going. It will be alright soon and then it will be done. xx

Hoorah. Off to get keys lads!!

Yayyy!!! 💃 x

Thank you @WendyWagon for the shiny new thread.
it took a while to find you all again but I had to come back and check in.
I’m a year without alcohol now. It was a slog to begin with and I’m still amazed I’ve come this far! Life is more manageable generally. It’s still a bit shit at times but the shit bits aren’t as consuming. Drinking to make problems go away didn’t help the next morning. I genuinely feel like I’ve got a new life. I’ve drank among other things to escape since I was in my early teens. I’m 52 now. I’ve probably known I needed to stop since my late 20s. Took me a while but it is what it is. All part of my “journey.” (Yuck)
Wishing you all a great sober weekend. It’s all just one foot in front of the other. Keep going xx

Oooh, Happy New Home Wendy! I am thrilled for you, good luck for the weekend! You’ll have a new home with no alcohol memories at all, but lots of lovely new memories just waiting to be made.

Hello to everyone, all the new posters and returners - especially @Adm1010new . I’ll catch up properly this weekend. I’m currently listening to Catherine Greg’s Sunshine Warm Sober. She does not pull her punches. Absolutely the right book for me. I just wish I’d picked it up sooner. It’s really reminded me why I stopped drinking and why I never want to start again. In other news, my local Lidl has 6-packs of Freedamm AF lager in the aisle of random leftovers. So with that and a fresh pack of English Breakfast teabags I am sorted for the bank holiday weekend. Have a good one!

Ahoy my lovelies.
I thought tempers were going to bubble over yesterday before completion of the house purchase.Luckily all was well. I am two teas down and looking forward to packing up today (no vans until next week as we have an overlap). I might stick some paint up on Tuesday whilst waiting for BT. They have given a five hour window.
The husband wants to clean a couple of carpets at the new chez Sav and I will let him after tea, he loves his gadgets. I have had a milk chaser in celebration and next week will treat myself to a huge bunch of flowers.
A new chapter awaits. Good sober journeys this weekend lads.

@JesusSufferingFuck22 @Blackberryblossom hello!

Morning all.
Been dealing with 2 family emergencies past 10 days or so, left minimal posting time.
Anyway, between hospital visits (different hospitals!) I had a birthday.
What made this significant, however, were the presents. I suppose people gift you what they feel you'd like. Collectively, the presents represent you.
Last year - wall to wall alcohol. Cans, bottles, anything. Drink. Alcohol. Wines. Spirits. You name it. I never really paid much attention.
This year - vouchers. For massages, for dinners, for shops, for experiences. A smattering of clothes, some of which are too big for me.
Now, everyone presumably bought their gifts independently, so there was no conspiring. However, the way my closest family and friends see me this year is materially different from 12 months ago. I'm the only one who sees the collective result of this and I was shocked. Delighted. Very slightly emotional. Then shocked again.
I'm on day 132 and my only aim is to avoid alcohol today.
My birthday was amazing, though no-one else knows why...apart from all of you now!
Have a great sober day