No alcohol April - the place to share, moan and support

[Thelittlestranger]

Hello everyone!

Starting a new thread, my first one! Big thanks to @noalcohol2024 who originally set up these threads.

Come and chat if you are just giving it a go, starting a longer journey, or sober-curious.

Day 91 for me. I started this thinking I would do 100 days, and now I'm not sure when I'll stop. If at all.

@Itsrainingten I am Thankyou, I’ll just be glad when it’s tomorrow & my day 2

Thanks oops , plus everyone, hope we all get some kip

Hello all, I posted on the Jan thread & have been following along. I’m getting so much out of all your posts. So, I hope you don’t mind my little update.

After far too many years of silly drinking, I am delighted to be 6 months AF today. I am halfway through my year off the booze & I’m enjoying my calm new way of life.

Over the years I’ve been in scary places because I let the drinking get out of control. The difference after a few months is really something. I honestly can’t believe how quickly this has passed. The first month did seem to last forever, right enough!

I suspect the hard work for me will be when my year’s project finishes but I’m trying to come up with a realistic drinking plan for my future. I hope it will involve several years like this one.

Well done everyone, keep going. x

Morning . Hope everyone is ok .. starting Day 3 .. it's my daughters birthday on Saturday and we are going for a nice lunch. The wine witch started whispering to me last night to have wine .. one lunch wouldn't hurt. ... but no !!!! I'm going to stick with the fizzy water .. to my shame my kids are now grown up but when they were younger have seen me in some awful states .. arguing , hungover . Nothing I can do about it now but I can change for the better 😊

@pnutter it took a couple of weeks for me for the sleep to improve, but it was totally worth the effort! No screens before bed helps, reading, a herbal tea perhaps? Basically a good routine that lets your brain know it's time to sleep.

@Oopsdiditagain how are you feeling today? Hope you managed a good sleep and feel a bit better.

@Sparky4084 that's awesome, congratulations on 6 months. It's funny how the beginning bit can feel like it's taken sooooo loooong but then you look back and realise it's taken no time at all really. Great inspiration to keep going, thank you.

@BrummieCahoots have you checked out the menu? Maybe they'll have more interesting things to drink than sparkling water? (Unless you really like sparkling water) We went out for lunch for Easter and they had a whole AF section to the drinks list with AF beer, wine, and cocktails. I had an amazing AF rhubarb gin with bitter orange tonic.

@Itsrainingten .. thank you . I'm quite weird with the AF drinks. I've tried loads on my many attempts to quit the booze and they don't do it for me .. I think because my drink has always been wine .. and most of the AF ones are vile ! ... I'm going to give a few mocktails a try though

@TeeNoG morning, yes got a bit of sleep, I’m still feeling a bit sick, but nothing like yesterday, I have took today of again & I'm going to sort my house out as after Easter it’s up the wall!!!! Thankyou Tee & I hope everyone has a good day ☕️xx

@BrummieCahoots I have a birthday meal on Saturday for my sisters birthday, I’m actually dreading it 🙈 I feel I need to just stay home. I’ll be with you on the fizzy water.

@Oopsdiditagain . I know how you feel. I will be ok as my daughter barely drinks .. but I'm seriously dreading the following Saturday... it's a friends birthday and ages ago I stupidly agreed to go to Bongos Bingo .. whhhyyyy !!! I can't decide whether to go and just brave it out for 3 hours sober ( it's in the day) ... or not go .. I don't want to go at all but feel bad about it

@BrummieCahoots
oh it’s a difficult one isn’t!! Do your friends know you’re not drinking? I have flash backs from my one and only time at bongos still 😱and it was about 3 years ago.

@Oopsdiditagain . They don't know I'm not drinking. I think I will just be honest and tell them how awful it makes me feel and 2 days of awful anxiety isn't worth it anymore .. then I can win a giant unicorn or something and take it home sober !!!

Congratulations on 6 months @Sparky4084. It’s interesting to read your progress.
Thankfully my sleep is ok all things considered. I agree it makes a massive impact to your day and hope everyone struggling settles into a new routine soon.

I'm finding that my sleep is ok but I wake up in the morning an anxious mess. Its really horrible. I'm still ruminating over the weekend - my brain tells me I've done awful things and because I can't remember I've no way of batting them back. It's exhausting.
Day 3 today tho 💪

Need to put a confession on here as can’t bring myself to tell anyone at home 🙈 I’m trying my best to tidy up & emptying my bins, just found a pot noodle & fork in my bedroom bin 🤢 I must have eat it late on bank holiday Monday in bed, have no memory. I know it’s not a mayor confession 🤦🏻‍♀️ just a bit gross 😂😂

Could definitely be worse @Oopsdiditagain by a long way

I read a quote on one of the quitlit pages that said 'it's ok to be selfish about your sobriety.' It stuck with me - if you need to stay in, or miss a lunch, or a bday to help you through. Do it. Prioritising what you want is really ok, and your friends will/should understand.

@Oopsdiditagain maybe keep that pot noodle pot. It will remind you of how you felt - I have a champagne cork on my desk to remind me of my hangxiety from New year's day. It makes me feel sick every time I look at it.

@Thelittlestranger that’s a good idea 👍 what’s frightening me is I have absolutely no memory of making it or eating it, I was feeling slightly better till I found it, I need to speak to friends that were over at the weekend to double check I didn’t do anything stupid, I want to ask but without actually asking if that makes sense? I’ll just see how they are, I’m sure it will come out if I made a show of myself 🤦🏻‍♀️ on a positive no one’s rang to tell me anything yet, but they will still be travelling…..oh god full of anxiety now

Hello! Day 93 for me today. Nice to see new joiners to the thread. I don't post as much as I should but try to keep up.

I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. I had a very wobbly moment a few weeks ago, I'd had a stressful day and had decided I was going to allow myself a drink (after a lengthy argument with myself) and then I just... didn't. In the Sober Diaries she has the same sort of wobble on pretty much the same day so I reread that and went to bed.

Best of luck to everyone! I'm really glad to be nearing 100 days.

Evening all, I’m dry but by God isn’t temptation just everywhere?! I went to a kids event tonight with my DC never in a million years did I expect there to be alcohol and loads of parents drinking. I really wanted to join in as I wasn’t driving. I managed to just avoid the entire bar and then head home for a cup of tea and some chocolate but when I got home I was still thinking about drinking and the fact it wasn’t really that, just a few late etc etc. Thankfully I resisted but it definitely kicked off the craving. Feel a bit annoyed about the whole thing

@AFmammaG well done!

It's so hard when an addictive substance is everywhere and so easily accessible!

I wonder if alcohol will ever be treated the same as cigarettes or other drugs one day ...

My mind set as to how I view alcohol is completely changing .. I am seeing it as an addictive drug now .. which it is. I don't put any of the others in my body so why this one?

Because we are told it's fun, your boring if you don't etc etc ... But if you smoke or do any other drug it's disgusting and "why do you that to yourself? "

There's so much accessable help out there for people who want to quite smoking or other drugs but not so much for drinkers..

I read the other day about alcohol..
" Oh, you weren't supposed to get addicted to the addicted substance" which I feel is how people with a drink problem are treated.

I read a thread on here the other day about all the stupid things people had done while drunk ... Blank periods of time, kissing work people, being sick all the next day with children around ( been there myself) Yet we just seem to accept it and add our own drunken stories and laugh at how silly we've been and then go and do it again!

When we see drug addicts behaving a certain way due to their drug we judge and scoff or look away or feel sorry for them that they ended up down that path ( as a society) .. kids get taken away if your addicted to illegal stuff

But with drink it so acceptable... Even at a kids party ... Wtf

Sorry for the essay first thing in the morning... That was more for me than anyone else .. just to write down how I'm starting to feel about it all !

Day 12 for me 💪

Thanks @VanLife33 it’s no wonder I’m on day 4 for the one hundredth time. I completely agree with everything you’ve written.

When I was scrolling through the alcohol support section someone had written “you can have alcohol or you can have everything else” and that stuck with me because alcohol really does suck everything good out of life.

This morning I feel pleased I woke up with a clear head and a good mood as opposed to feeling rotten with a hangover.

Is it ok to slide in and take a seat on the sober train? I’ve been reading this and other threads here and honestly wish I’d stumbled across this section earlier. Or maybe my brain wasn’t ready yet.
I am ashamed to say, and this is the only time I’ve admitted this, I am a slave to wine, and if I am honest would say I’m on a bottle a day. I have previously done dry January and even did 100 dry days 5 years ago but I know this isn’t healthy. I hide that I drink daily, have put on and can’t shift an obscene amount of weight, have low mood, irritable and high blood pressure. And that’s before the hang-anxiety kicks in after social events where I drink more. Like everyone on this planet I’ve had some upsetting life events and have used this to block out, cope. Yet it’s not is it? It’s creating additional havoc to my mental and emotional state.

When I look back and reflect at some of my behaviour on wine I am horrified, yet even with the worst hangover by 4pm I’m already feeling well enough to consider more drink later that evening?

Sorry to write an essay and I will share more over time but for now I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all for being so open and honest in your posts as this has given me the strength over the past few weeks to take accountability, realise I’m not alone and want to join you in being free from alcohol. I too have now understood I am not able to moderate, my last decade has repeatedly proved this. I need to get sober, and I am pleased to say today is my day 2.

Good luck @DormantDragon admitting the problem is hard. I would love to be able to moderate but after decades of trying I just can't. I'm on the alcohol experiment. The structure helps me keep on track. Well it has for 3 days. I'm hopeful.

@DormantDragon a huge welcome. Gosh yes to that craving to drink again even though you’re hungover. It’s because alcohol is like an anaesthetic and relieves the pain of the hangover. Weird how our mind remembers that and craves it but seems to conveniently forget the awful hangover the next day.