200 days alcohol free- anyone wish to join?

[FeelingLessTired]

Several years ago, under another user name I did a 100 day alcohol free challenge and alot of people joined me on MN. It was before covid, so a long time ago!

I really appreciated the support and lasted 120 days in the end. ironically enough DH joined me IRL and he just continued on and has been teetotal since then.

I was reading Annie Grace back then (I think) and her recommendation was that if you slip, to then challenge yourself for double the time- hence I now wish to start and achieve a 200 day challenge.

I'd love some company if anyone wishes to join me!

I have a funeral today and plan to drink J20 with tonic water. The deceased was a good friend of DH's and although he was in his early 70s drinking definitely played a part in his extreme fragility over the past few years. He's been really ill for a good ten years I think.

I have set out a spread sheet with my alcohol-free savings. In the last week i have definitely reduced and have saved just shy of £50 already (since the beginning of April) as we have had a fair few dinners and lunches out. I look at what I would have drunk (sauvignon blanc here and there) and when i have not had it I add that cost to my spreadsheet. That does help to inspire me because COL is biting us hard right now.

@paintcolourchart i spent weeks looking at my eyes all the time for signs of yellow - luckily I seem to have dodged that bullet and my latest blood tests show amazing liver function for what it’s worth! I also watched that documentary and if I ever fancy a drink I think about it.

@Goandygo comgrats on your wedding anniversary and of course 38 days - isn’t it great seeing those numbers go up? And a huge congrats on the weight loss - I have photos from just before I quit and honestly, I am pretty unrecognizable now.

@FeelingLessTired like you - drinking was completely normal for me - have Covid - wine will make you feel better. I avoided any sort of medication that would mean I couldn’t drink!

rainy day here and fed up - but still sober.

Thanks @GoandygoI think I'm going to give it closer to 3 weeks rather than one, just to give myself to adjust before I consider the GP. I did have liver function tests as part of a panel and they were ok, but that was over a year ago now. You're doing so so well with your 38 days. Is it getting easier do you think? Huge well done on the weight loss! Have you made any other adjustment or just cut alcohol? Sorry I think you have already said but I think it was when I first joined and I lost track a bit of who was who!

@Seenoevil33glad you dodged that bullet and your tests were all clear. I actually only ended up watching 20 of the 90 mins in the end because I was feeling myself getting more anxious the further in I got. That was enough time for the first reality check to be shown. I will revisit it again, but not yet. Can you remind me how many days you have been AF please? I know it's a good stretch but I can't remember exactly. Hope you can find something nice and relaxing to do this evening to make you less fed up.

So I suggested gardening this evening to DH and he joked and pretended he misheard me say 'drink in the garden', which is his way of suggesting it. I haven't actually told his yet that I want to fully abstain, and I really mean it this time, but I did say I didn't want to but he could go ahead. I'm not consciously hiding it from him, I guess I'm trying not to make it a big deal to take the pressure off a bit.

@paintcolourchart it is getting easier, yes. Probably because I'm prepared for most eventualities. That's why I had a wobble ealier regarding weekend - I need a plan.
I've not made any more adjustments - I'm eating more chocolate but even when that's 500 calories - ish, it's less than the wine. And hangover food. I knew I'd lose weight, I always do.

@Seenoevil33 I love seeing the numbers rise. Honestly it's been so long since I've come this far. And, strangely, I'm now asking myself is a drink worth breaking my streak ?
I think I'd be annoyed with myself and I don't think it would be worth it.
Thanks for your support, you're a 🌟

@paintcolourchart had to check my app but it’s 170 days today - so yay for me.

@Goandygo im with you on not wanting to break a streak - I can be very stubborn and I’m determined to get o 200 days.

things are tough here as my DH and I always had drinking together in common. I find it boring watching him just waste every evening drinking wine until he’s relaxed/tired enough to sleep. He finds it hard with me not drinking and I suppose judging him. It feels like he’s trying to make up for me not drinking by really ramping it up! Maybe not but it feels like that. He did the same when I quit smoking - then a year later, he quit.

don’t know how it will end but currently, I distance myself from him rather than having to deal with it. Not great but I need to work through it in my own head and figure out what I want after close to 30 years together.

for sure, none of this would be helped by alcohol but it’s something that I definitely didn’t foresee being a problem. Apologies for over sharing but none of you know me, and I’d prefer to have this space to keep things real.

@Seenoevil33 that sounds really tough. It must be so difficult in a marriage when it was once something you did together. You've obviously changed and for the better - I really do empathise.
My dh doesn't drink ( the odd beer) and I'm happy about that, for so many reasons. I'd hate to see him harming himself so blatantly ( though he never thought my drinking a problem, when it clearly was), and I'd really struggle to abstain if we had alcohol in the house. At least I would have on previous attempts, this time I feel stronger.

Loving the conversation. Not oversharing @Seenoevil33 it's good to get it out.

Sorry for not replying properly. My fibromylagia is really flaring at the moment and I am not up to typing much. I am reading though and cheering us all on.

170 days is amazing. I have lost track again of mine. I'm pretty much the same as @wecandothis2025 .

Hugs to all.

@Seenoevil33170 days is amazing! You're so close to 200.

I can definitely see why you'd feel that way. I would too. My DH doesn't drink if I don't but we've definitely spent a few evenings just sat in silence on our phone when we would otherwise have been chatting with a wine in our hand. I have had some blips but I've been AF for 23/27 days (kind of frustrating when I see it like that as I was actually close to 30 without the blips!). The AF evenings haven't all been like that but some have. Throw in the fact that I usually sleep in the spare room of late because DH snores and always always disturbs my sleep and it's easy to see us becoming more like housemates than a married couple. Need to keep an eye on that one!

Are you able to go out in the evenings and do something different together? Go for a beach walk, city/country walk, go to the cinema, try an evening class together? We can't do any of these things atm because we have young DC but I'm wondering if that would help you?

@FeelingLessTiredhope you're ok. Cheering you on as well!

@FeelingLessTired hope you're feeling better soon ❤️
Wedding anniversary today. 32 years. We're going for a meal later. I've looked at the menu and I'm having salmon, key lime pie and fentimans ginger ale.
I'll ask for it in a wine glass.
I need to sort weekend. Dh is away and on Saturday I'll have a house full ( children, not adults!).
They'll all go 3pm ish so I need to think of something to do....
I think I'll have a nice bath, watch a film, read my book and cook something really nice. Drinkwise, I'm going to get some af perroni.
I don't think I'll be tempted as I'm just not in That Mindset.
I'm doing fine without it.

Happy anniversary @Goandygo! Hope you're enjoying your meal together 🥰

Just thought I'd hop on and share something I've started today which is simple but hopefully effective - I've started a note on my phone. It's locked with Face ID and a separate password, so I don't need to worry about anyone coming across it (synched devices).

Anyway, just thought I'd share the beginning bit. It also has a list of drunken injuries I've had and also stupid things I've done, but I'm not going to post those here 😅 The idea is that if I get an urge, I check back to my note.

Happy Anniversary @Goandygo ! Your proposed meal sounds wonderful.

Thanks all - I am fine but so so tired and feeling so unwell. Thankfully I finished some contract work last week so can take a break for a few days which I am thankful.

Love that list @paintcolourchart . It's all so true.

best to everyone.

Thanks, folks.
Proposed meal wasn't taken as restaurant has shut down !
We ended up at Nando's 🤣
We had a lovely meal though and I had an af beer, which was lovely.
Carrot cake and coffee at home.

I wasn't even tempted to drink. I've had a very busy day at work, covering 3 other people. I'm shattered and in the past tiredness / reward would really come into play, but not today.

Well done @Goandygo !

We are FLEXING those sober muscles. 💪

How are you doing @wecandothis2025 ❤?

I am thinking of some sort of visual indication of progress also. Vague thoughts rattling around at present ....

@FeelingLessTired the vague thoughts.....I've been there. As my days mount up, the thoughts decrease I've found.
For example, I've just done an online shop for the kids on Saturday and only when I logged off, did I realise it didn't occur to me to look at the wine. Before AF, a £50 shop would have at least 20 spent on wine.
I did buy af beer though.
40 days today. 40 days and 40 nights, and I think I'm out of the wilderness 🤣🙏.

40 days!!!!!

💝

@Goandygothat sounds like a really lovely evening, and a perfect example of how alcohol would not have added anything extra to it. Your Saturday evening plans sound so nice and relaxing - think how you'll feel when you wake up on Sunday morning after your lovely peaceful planned Saturday evening.

@FeelingLessTiredwhat sort of ideas do you have rattling around so far? I hadn't realised that my 'daily' crystals are coming from India, so they have been dispatched but annoyingly may not be here until early
August! I'm hoping it'll be earlier as I'll be really pleased with myself if I get to the end of this month AF and 'get' to put all those lovely purple stones in it 😂 I haven't lost the plot I promise!! Would be interested to hear your thoughts - are you thinking of some sort of chart or something more tangible?

@Goandygo40 days is amazing!!!! Huge well done! You are an inspiration/motivation for sure ♥️

This is what I got from AA.

It's actually the ONLY thing I got from AA.
I quite like reading it.
It's not for everyone but I hope someone finds some of it useful.
( dress becomingly ?!!! - ignore that morsel).

Vague rattling thoughts- well I thought of ordering jewellery beads and making a sobriety bracelet or necklace. And I thought of treating myself to a necklace with DH's and Dcs birthstones to remind myself of why i am doing this.

Nothing has yet been 'the one' so far.

Picnic by the beach tonight as I am feeling more up to things. Taking AF beer and have made a potato salad, a tomato salad (neither of which the DCs will eat, the wretches) and will make spicy chicken drumsticks, a frittata and a pasta salad. Plus boiled eggs and a screw of salt for a genuine Enid Blyton picnic experience!

Evening all. Hope everyone is fine.

Our picnic was lovely. I drank way too much AF beer and coke and am a little - burpy.

Home, tidied up and am now having a cup of herbal tea. Watching The Madame Blanc Mysteries which I have not seen before but is currently about my speed.

@FeelingLessTiredyour picnic sounds lovely! I also have picky eaters at home (only one is a child 😅). That all sounds delicious! Not heard of that show but you'll have to let us know if it's any good.

I love the idea of a sobriety necklace. Do you think it would be useful to you to also have something you can track day by day? (Please remind me how many days you are on? Sorry I'm a bit useless 🙈).

@Goandygomakes for interesting reading - it's a lot though isn't it! Have you gone to any AA meetings?

For the first time in a week I am crumbling a bit. Had a really lovely day and felt good but I really do fancy wine. Why?? It just doesn't make any sense. I'm having one of those san pellegrino flavoured sparking waters with some frozen sliced lemon in atm, which is sort of doing the trick. But if DH gets down from putting DC to sleep and suggests it, I will struggle to say no. So pathetic 🙈

Sorry wrong thread

You are welcome on ours also any time @BabyBorn !

I think I am 31 days but I just keep losing track. i need to work it out properly and make a note in my diary. So yes, a daily tracker would be a Very Good Thing.

I

@FeelingLessTiredhave you tried an app? Try Dry is quite good.

So after seeing me drinking the San pelligrino DH put the Trip CBD drinks we've had in the cupboard for ages in the fridge and we have just finished one of those in the garden after dinner. I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised!

@paintcolourchart that was a good result. I do know what you mean about the feeling good and feeling like you might have one. It happened to me all the time in the past.
Now I have to remind myself regularly that the reason I feel good is because I'm not drinking and most definitely if I do have a drink I'll go back to where I was.
And I haven't come this far to only come this far.

@FeelingLessTired yes, work out how many days you've done. I've put it on an a4 paper before now, and blue tacked it to my bedroom wall so I can see how many days I've done.
I've not done that this time though. That might work for you.
It's also the last thing you'll see at night and the first thing you'll see in the morning.

I bought nozecco yesterday as I was going to sit in the garden but too hot in the end, so that's in the fridge chilling for the weekend.
I'm actually all set for the weekend - af drinks, nice food, ice creams and chocolate. I'm excited about my present book and looking forward to 3 days off.