No Alcohol March 2024

[NoAlcohol2024March]

Day 61 2024

60 days AF so far in 2024

I made it to March nearly a quarter of the way through the year!

I am struggling but battling on.

The benefits physically and mentally are worth it.

Good luck in March 2024 for those of us hanging in on the AF journey.

Checking in !!

I've read it can get harder before it gets better, so one day at a time sounds like a good way to look at it.

Feeling in control at this point. Off on holiday on Monday skiing - which has always been associated for me with copious amounts of booze. Not this time. Looking forward to hitting the slopes fresh, and eating chocolate to make up the calories instead. I wavered at the thought last weekend, but listened to one of the 'we think it's all sober' podcast stories and it freshened my resolve.

Good luck to all continuing this journey.

Thank you for the new thread @NoAlcohol2024March

Day 66 here and 60 days in 2024 🙂.

I echo what @Thelittlestranger says - it does tend to get a little harder before it gets easier again - keep going, you're doing SO well 💪🏻

I need the new thread so much this week I’m going on holiday . I will probably post everyday about how unfair the world is because I can’t drink alcohol which, I know is ridiculous but, I can’t help how I feel!

Sheer determination is pulling me through at the moment. Not sure I would make it without you guys in this group still battling with me.

Thanks 🙏

(I know this is gross 🤮 but my number twos are so much better and I’m in the healthy Bristol Stool Chart range now which has made such a difference. I was reading up on it and apparently alcohol causes so much inflammation in the bowels and really affects the consistency of number two’s. A lovely thought for you all starting March 2024).

Thanks for the new thread. I'm checking in for March. 78 days AF. Well done for getting this far everyone.

Checking in on day 60, nice round number.

Hilarious - I am definitely more regular...

I know you have it, but I can't recommend enough the Allen Carr book for switching the mindset from what you are missing out on and how hard it is (which makes you want it more) to why do you don't even want it anyway @NoAlcohol2024March I promise I'm not on commission...

Might be worth moving it up the reading list to help you with your holiday. Either way, every day you don't drink is a new day that you've achieved. Be proud of that.

I’m in 🫖!
managed some of Jan and Feb dry (not enough though) but slipping back into old ways. Dinner with friends tonight so it’ll be a challenging first day….
thanks for the thread ;)

Ahoy! I'm in. I actually had 5.5 years sober and it was brilliant, lovely and life-changing! Then I had a bit of a crisis last year and tried about six months of 'moderating'... yeah, that went well... 🙄 In fact, it's not a matter of how much for me, it's drinking at all - just seems to unbalances my mind and body. As a drinker, life for me was always about when I was going to allow myself the next drink (and then recovering from it); sober, life is about everything else, and everything else is better and easier.

Also, I first quit when I got Dx with breast cancer - so I think I wanted to sort of 'reclaim' sobriety as something I am now actively choosing to do rather than something dutiful forced upon me for my health... So I'm on a new Day 7 and already feeling a metric shitton better! 😄 Sober for good now! ✊

Hi all, checking in. Still going, also day 60, the most I’ve been sober in 20 years… and that includes 3 pregnancies (I had the odd half glass).
I’m craving red wine, but other than that the positives are still outweighing the negatives and I’m still going strong. Skin is definitely looking better and I am reading so much! Who knew drinking took up so much time?!

Not wanting to piss on your chips, OP, but we're a scant 1/6 of the way through the year. Day 61 of 366 (I never wish away the days of spring and summer, they're what I live for!)

A more challenging last couple of days for me as some scary health stuff has been going on both within close and extended family, so the urge to pick up a bottle of wine has been strong. I'm feeling drained and low on inner resources.

I'm sitting with a soft drink, reminding myself that each alcohol free day is a step away from being controlled by something other than my own will.

The phrase of quit lit that most struck me is "Alcoholism is giving up everything for one thing. Sobriety is giving up that one thing to have everything else."

That quote is excellent, I'm going to remember that.

Checking in, I've never got to 60 days before outside pregnancies. Thanks so much OP for starting these threads, I was going to join a dry January one and so glad I spotted this instead.

I'm doing really well although still feeling a little temptation at the weekend. But I'm loving how much better I feel at the weekend now and the sleep I'm getting. I was so used to waking up with a hangover (usually mild but not always).

A couple of small victories lately:

• I got a call just before midnight on Saturday to collect DD from a sleepover because she couldn't settle. No problem!
• I put 'zero units' alcohol intake on my dentist medical form today
• I have lost about 9 pounds this year and am back to my lowest weight since I last gave up drinking for a while. Not a coincidence!

Hope you're all doing well and looking forward to a happy and healthy weekend

Hi all, I am also still here and still dry. 80 odd days now. Funny you say that about the dentist @BraveMaeve - I had the same last week, it was to check everything was still the same as last time. I just said 'yes', but the lady asked me to check the form... I was scanning done "yeah yeah all the same.. yep.... no! Wait! Alcohol units is zero now!" Felt like such a cool thing saying that.

I have a family party tonight (driving there), it's in the middle of nowhere and it's so nice knowing I don't have to stress about booking cabs and I can leave whenever I want.

Have a great weekend all x

@NoAlcohol2024March Thanks for the new thread, I'm still in! It's great to be able to talk now of months rather than just days or weeks. I agree it's still a struggle at times but my resolve is getting stronger all the time and I know how disappointed I'd be if I caved. It's just not worth it. Hope you have a fabulous holiday!
Have a great weekend all! 😀

Whenever I'm filling in a medical form and they ask 'how many units of alcohol?' and I say 'None!' I expect them to cheer and let off party poppers... but they just write it down... 😂 But I still feel cool saying it... 😎

I’m following on from Feb …and you are all so encouraging … I’m only a month in but I’m sure my face isn’t the same size as a plate anymore 😉👀
Keep up the good work everyone !

Hii, im still here!

Had 2 slip ups in Feb. Nothing major, I had one can after an awful day and 4 cans last weekend.

I've been debating all week if it was worth it .. after the fuzzy hangover feeling. I did have a laugh though and enjoyed it at the time.

I struggle a lot with feelings of guilt,

I think I'm just going to have to go month by month.

I did all of Jan
Most of Feb Barr those 5 cans in total - 2 separate occasions
Deffo up for dry march ...

See how it goes. The more pressure I put on myself the more I want alcohol as it relieves that feeling of stress for me.

So I'm loosely committing to take that stress and pressure away.

One month at a time. The whole year is too much for me to put on myself right now 🙏

The more pressure I put on myself the more I want alcohol as it relieves that feeling of stress for me.

I totally get that, @VanLife33 - DH is exactly the same. Best of luck.

Keeping consecutive days is becoming stressful for me.

The guilt after one can and feeling like I'm now back at the start and starting again for day 1 was a horrible feeling.

But I don't feel I am back at the start... When I look at just having had 5 cans in total over 2 months is a massive achievement for me.

I just need to look at it differently to accept my achievements x

@Compash Completely relate to what you're saying. I had 2 years sober and decided to moderate - in the main, I could moderate, but it was an entirely miserable experience as the thought of when I could next have a drink and how much I should drink rarely left my head. Sobriety for me is a far happier place.

I'm noticing that my skin, hair and eyes are really looking much healthier now, which is nice. And I echo the happy sentiments of a firmer bowel movement @NoAlcohol2024March 😂

@VanLife33 we are all on our own journey here, there's no need to count days if it doesn't work for you. You're absolutely right, you are not starting at the beginning each time. I'm absolutely sure that complete sobriety is best for me, but I've taken a while to work out what is best for me, and I'm sure that you will decide what is best for you 😊

Still here! Jan ✔️ Feb ✔️… now Marching onwards

Well, last week was shit. Everything that could go wrong did. I’m very grateful nothing awful awful just a succession of things trying to test my resolve to the point of being amusing in the end.

think months long work project crumbling at the last minute, difficult conversations as a result putting me back several months.

Things breaking - car, favourite mug the freezer .. and now im
skint so no financial silver lining this month.

wine witch was doing a little jig I think trying to get me to cave in - which I didn’t but I did eat a LOT of crap.

the lesson ? Just because I’ve stopped drinking it doesn’t mean that at times life will be a bit shit and crap days will still happen. Don’t know why but I thought there would be some sort of reprieve 😂.

I didn’t actually WANT a drink but I did want to zone out from it all. Feeling the feels and sitting in them was unpleasant but part of the process.

we keep going 👍

Well done @Limeandsober that is really impressive! I agree, a hard part of this is feeling the feels and sitting with them. I find that uncomfortable sometimes but need to keep doing it.

Still here rounding off day 64. Still convinced I've made the right decision and merrily in the wagon.

I ended up in hospital with a bowel infection years ago, I swear it was too much Prosecco across a period of stress. So bad for you. Always needed to be near a loo after a bottle of fizz, had an arse like dynamite for years 😩

Morning all, well done to every single one of us who keep on keeping on.

I had a family party on Saturday and there was a fight! Can you believe it? A big 40th bday party and grown men throwing fists at each other. I've never been in that situation before but it was quite frightening. Luckily, I had driven, so I was able to remove myself from the situation.

I have 'played the tape' in another dimension of me drinking and I know exactly what would have happened.... me, half cut, wading in and trying to 'break it up' or giving advice in a lm Eastenders style "it's not worth it, Phil!!" That kind of thing. I can literally see it with my mind's eye about how different it would have been had I'd been drinking.

I'm so grateful so moments like these and the following morning after, waking up with a fresh head and clear memories of the night, where you think "bloody hell... that could have ended very differently"

Aww, well done you for getting through all that! I totally identify with the magical thinking - 'Where's my reward?! I'm being super special sober, and lo, this tsunami of oomska!' 💩

At the time it's terrible and I rail against my fate and think the gods are laughing at me. But afterwards I can appreciate that it was easier and more growthy to go through it and survive without checking out.

There's a theory that we stop developing emotionally from the time we start drinking, and that this restarts when we sober up. So for me, that's someone with all the emotional stability and perspective of a late-teenager wailing 'It's too haaard! It's not faaaiir...!' But sitting through it, enduring it, actually, mostly... works. Who knew?! 🤷‍♀️

(Don't get me wrong, I'm not the Queen of Zen, it still hurts like a bugger some days...). 😁

Blimey, @wannabedry , you had a ringside seat to the effects of alcohol! But how powerful that you were able to stay out of it and get yourself home safely. Enjoy a hot, steaming cup of smug today! ☕️