No alcohol in 2024

[Noalcohol2024]

I gave up alcohol for an entire year 10 years ago and I am going to challenge myself to do it again in 2024. Anyone want to join me? I won’t lie I found it really hard. However, it did help me reset my habitual drinking. I feel ready to do it again. If anyone else feels a year off alcohol is something they want to do then join me on January 1st. I am going to take the next few days being honest with myself and reflecting on why I feel this challenge is something I need to do. Anyone who starts on January 1st with me can include their reasons in the introduction (if they wish to). I have a big birthday this year so I know it will be a challenge on that day as-well as Christmas and New Year 2024 but I am determined.

I'm also tracking my savings (was averaging around £5 per day, which definitely explains my less-than-healthy finances!) and am finding it very motivating!

Also this is really good to see , ive had a really cheap week .

Focusing on the next morning really helps me too (plus the calories and money saved! Can highly recommend a tracker to watch the savings add up!)

I'm on day 9 and am doing well so far, BUT this is by no means my first attempt to properly stop.....I've failed so many times and gone back to it! But each time I see the benefits of sobriety more and more and I'm really feeling very positive about this time, because I definitely don't want to go back to it.....I want more of what I'm already seeing....weight loss and more money!

I really wish I could sleep better though :-( I know it will come..... I'm just so tired!

Morning everyone! Day 7 and still AF 🎉 Strong cravings early evenings, mainly when cooking dinner which is my usual wine drinking time but feeling very proud of myself not to mention clear headed! Hope you all have a good day.

I've been constantly thinking things like 'imagine how I'll feel in 6 month, 12 months, how I'll look or how proud I'll feel or what I've achieved.

And then I stopped and thought, it's the wrong thing to be thinking. I am going to try to focus on the now. A feeling of calm, clarity, hope, peace. The only moment we have is now and I really need to enjoy, take notice, and give my whole self to the moment.

I've not missed drinking yet, but I have felt moments sadness, depression, anxiety, and a few days of severe dread (which have thankfully passed) but I think being totally alcohol free helps you to really feel the moment and your true feelings, moods, emotions, thoughts.

I used to have an eating disorder and it's similar with food, cravings, comfort eating. If we can get to a point where we listen to our bodies they tell us what we need and when (for example, the difference between sugar cravings for the sake of it vs when we have low blood sugar). I now have a much healthier and happier relationship with food and my body.

I'm hoping that I can also have a happier relationship with my mind and whole self, and think that stopping alcohol will really help me to do that.

I'm excited to walk alongside my children and see the world with a clear head every day and find pleasure in what is real, rather than trying to numb it with some temporary fake pleasure that won't last and actually always brings with it tiredness, grogginess or depression in some way.

Here's to the future! It won't always be sunshine and roses but at least it will be real and we can become who we truly are and find out what truly makes us happy.

Sorry for the ramblings...

So interesting to read others' struggle to sleep. I was so looking forward to bouncing out of bed today and 'getting shit done', but I'm just exhausted. Didn't sleep until 4am and awake at 6 (as per usual bodyclock wake up time- I've never been able to sleep in). I also feel hungover. Is there such a thing as a pseudo hangover? The very few hours I did manage to sleep, I dreamt about drinking. A lot.

Anxiety, anger, sadness- All washing over me all night and now I could just sit and cry myself to sleep. I feel like I fail at everything I try to do and this will just be another thing that I mess up.

Does anyone else feel like this? Does this stage pass (all those who have done this before)? I keep expecting a sparkly new me to crawl out of my fat, weathered chrysalis... but am definitely still an overwhelmed, chubby caterpillar.

Day 10 here. Desperately seeking some brightness.

Have a look at Magnesium Glycinate for sleep. Also B Complex 🙂

I'm guessing this is my stupid addictive brain trying to convince me that I'm not good enough and that it's much better to just sink back into wine.
Any sleep us better than no sleep- even if it's wine-sleep etc.

A pp mentioned this and I have frequently drank in order to sleep.

I'm so sad I've got to this point.

Thank you. Will have a good Google xx

@glindathegoodbitch I've suffered with insomnia all my life, 2 or 3 hours is something I get quite regularly. Lack of sleep feels like a hangover- headache, grogginess etc.
Keep going, it's just one night and one night without sleeping will not kill you. Focus on the day. Poor yourself a herbal tea and try to get some sunshine or daylight, a walk or sit outside.

When the night comes try to rest and relax. For me as a chronic insomniac and I've learnt that just lying down with my eyes closed is 'rest' even if it's not sleep. I try not to think about what time it is or when it will be morning.

Keep going, hopefully it will come, but all we can do is take each day and each might as it comes.

Ps no sleep is better than wine sleep!

I've never been a great sleeper, 5-6 hours a night if I'm lucky, but the last few days have really stepped up a gear.
I've dug these out (I have others 😳) and am going to pull some positive out if the bag.

This is not my first attempt, hence the amount of sober-lit, but this is the longest in 10 years I've gone without a drink.

Average 7 bottles a week in 3 binges.

I think everyone is really brave disclosing what alcohol they ‘use’ to drink.

A HCW once said to me that they always mentally double what alcohol people admit to drinking and although I was aghast I had to admit for me this doubling was a true reflection of what I actually drank 😅. Not anymore though. AF for 6 days and nearly at the 1 week mark. I look forward to be able to write 0 alcohol when I go for my annual health check in a couple of months. No doubling needed this year!

@glindathegoodbitch me too! But I do think some people just need less sleep. Didn't Maggie Thatcher have just 4 hours a night?

Im hoping cutting out alcohol might help but I don't think it will for a while so I'm just going with the flow. I also have a two year old who's up half the night, so it's a distant dream!

Another test for me later is doing a lamb roast. I normally drink some red while cooking a roast to get me through haha ( it's always a full blown roast too) with friends on the kitchen TV as back ground noise to ease my Sunday scaries.

Hopefully the camomile will suffice.

I need to start reigning in the sugary treats from tomorrow.. definitely filling a void .

@Kashybear unfortunately I live very close to the off licence! Friday evening exercise helps distract me and shake off the stress of the week. Not quite the same but good enough for now. Well done on the 7 days!

@glindathegoodbitch oh I feel you! I also get muscle tension from anxiety as well and that get worse when I don’t drink too. I feel terribly jealous when people say how great they feel when I actually feel worse 😂😂and look like shit. Reading quit lit they always describe their better sleep in great details and I just want to lob the book in the fire 😂Still the last time I did dry Jan although it took several weeks it did get better eventually so hopefully if we hang in there it will come.

Congrats to everyone who's hanging in there.
I have given up for lent for the past 30 years but there has always been the carrot of booze at the end, always a few days early on Good Friday or the Thurs night before....
Last year, I added dry January to lent and went through for just over 100 days....but then back on the booze with a vengence.
Was drinking a between half and a full bottle of wine every night and Christmas was insane!

I think that I will try for the full year this year.....my liver will thank me for that!

Thanks for the inspiration

I'm surprised at how tired I've been. I was up early yesterday, but had a 1.5 hr disco nap in the afternoon then fell asleep again on the sofa about 8 pm for the same again then slept right through from about 11.40 to 9am and felt I really struggled to get up. Been a bit better today, hopefully it's fatigue from all the detoxing...also noticed really concentrated pee so maybe retaining water to rehydrate. Who knows! Still feel a lot better though, it's an interesting time! Well done everyone approaching a full week 😁 x

I got through the first weekend too :). Today was the first day I really wanted a glass of wine. However I already had evening plans with a friend so it was short lived. Back to work tomorrow and I foresee the next wobble being a colleague's big birthday this week. I'm planning to just buy him a drink and truthfully say I'm doing dry Jan rather than pretending anything.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VctVi8Sm0dQ

I found what he says very helpful especially at the end.

Looking forward to week 2. It’s been so much easier with everyone supporting each other on here.

I'd like to join. Don't really know why I'm here because I do like a drink or twenty

God I sound like I'm being facetious. I'm really not. I do need help.

Oh wasn't expecting that

Nothing at all. Literally no support. Wasn't expecting that at all.