100 days

[GreySkySummer]

I’m going to aim for no booze for 100 days which will take me to early December, would anyone like to join me?

This will be a massive challenge for me- I’ve been drinking a lot every day. I failed at dry Jan this year, and have had another couple of attempts which have gone south. I’m taking it very seriously this time and going to really do all the other things to try and make it work.

My drinking has slowly crept up over the last 5 years and I’m now really scaring myself and I feel so ashamed. I drink over a bottle of wine a day and keep a lot of it secret from my dp- I just feel totally disgusted with myself.

Anyway enough of the pity party- I’m hoping this will be a really positive experience and would love some company!

I'm in. I've tried to quit so many times, but give in to cravings so easily. No.wxvuses, I'm a retired professional, but I just can't moderate. It's time for me to stop so I'll do this alongside you!

Hey @GreySkySummer and @Swimfreak, sounds like a plan! Im several weeks alcohol free but when I started my aim was to get to Xmas. Like you swimfreak, I just couldn’t moderate and became exhausted trying every weekend to limit the damage and failing badly! I’m also far too old to be acting like a teenager that doesn’t know their limits.

I’m in. Tired, anxious and scared for my health. I always start the day determined but my resolve weakens around 4 and I find myself buying wine to start drinking again at 6pm. I need to break the habit.

Can I join too please? I’ve been thinking for a long time how I want to have a good stint of cutting it out. For the first few months of this year I was (only!) drinking on fri & sat nights but it crept up to being nightly again and I’ve only had a handful of AF days in the last few months. I woke up today thinking something has to change, I’m getting increasingly anxious about the long term damage, and I’m sick of not being as productive as I could be due to always feeling a bit meh, I drank way to much last night for no good reason and that’s starting to become familiar! I thought today of not drinking in September starting today - 100 days feels too daunting right now as does a whole month but I’m determined to it! Xx

I’d be up for this too and would love the company. ALL the posts so far I totally resonate with. I’ve been drinking almost every evening for ages and it’s a filthy habit. I am getting increasingly more tired and anxious and I definitely need a complete break from it. (At the least).
I was thinking of starting a sober-spell thread myself, but life is so busy and I feel so stressed I don’t have the headspace to take on the management of a thread but would gladly contribute as a team! (I did one before for dieting and felt terrible when I didn’t reply to everyone on it every day at every post 😂).

1st September tomorrow- never a better time for change.

Really pleased you’re all up for joining me.
sounds like lots of similar themes for all of us.
Ive had a few sober days this week but ended up drinking tonight so- day 1 tomorrow. Good luck all

Just completed my day one, I so badly need to break this awful habit. I've slept terribly but that's inevitable as I've been used to the drink sending me into oblivion! I'm determined to stick with this, good luck all!

I didn’t drink yesterday and I too slept badly which I thought may be the case without the usual wine plus hangover from the night before. So day 2 here, what’s everyone plan to distract them selves when normal wine time comes? I’m thinking of getting a nice AF drink to have when I go to the shops later, I think one of my main triggers is boredom and habit, so I’m thinking of replacing the habit at first with an AF drink…I have two kids so going out and doing something at 5pm which is when I’d usually pour a wine is tricky. I saw this post on instagram yesterday that said when you stop drinking you only need to do one thing that day which is to not put that poison into your body…you don’t have to meal plan, exercise etc…and that resonated with me as I tend to be all or nothing…so stop drinking and do all the healthy things then end up giving up on all of them, so my plan for this week at least is just not to do drink…the rest can hopefully come later!

Also out of curiosity how much was everyone drinking? I was drinking around a bottle a night…but at weekends if I had more in which I often did it would be more than that, I’m also thinking about how much money I’ll save to motivate me if a bottle of wine is usually around £7 that’s a lot over the course of a week/month!!

Day 2 for me. I’m not getting nice af drinks for this sober stint as for me it reinforces the “it’s 6pm I need to treat myself with a drink” habit which then easily switched back to wine so I’m going to try a walk, meditation or cold shower (which soothes the central nervous system apparently).

Yes a bottle a night- once opened will drink til it’s gone and it’s an expensive way to be poisoning myself.

@Flowersareblue the doing all the healthy things and then giving it all up really resonates with me. Often when I’ve had alcohol free stints before I’ve really thrown myself into loosing weight, when I can’t carry on with that it all goes out the window.

@Justwanttobebythesea also agree with the treating myself at 6 o’clock mindset.

I’ve not drunk on quite a few days over the last week which is very rare for me but we’ve been on holiday and I can’t drive so I haven’t been able to get any. The sober nights have been so much nicer than my drinking nights- I’m really trying to to hammer thy into my subconscious!
It will be much more of a challenge once we’re home and I can easily pop to the shop.

I’m also on a bottle a night at least, often more. It’s scary how it creeps up and up. I don’t really feel drunk after a bottle and rarely have a proper hangover, just forever groggy.

Thanks for the thread @GreySkySummer! I’ll join in as planning to stop drinking for three months. August is always a bad month for me as I take time off and holidays feel like times when I ‘deserve’ to relax with a drink. I’ve been sticking to around 60 units a month, but August has been 100 (tracked using Try Dry).

Drinking is conflicting with my fitness goals and I perpetually feel a bit rough.

Good luck everyone. I’ll be so grateful for the support. I’d also recommend the Recovery Elevator podcast, which is regular interviews with people who have quit telling their life stories.

I know in the past when I haven’t drank in the week my evenings are so much nicer, calmer and the mental chatter eases. I’m going to download a new book on my kindle in readiness of something to look forward to, my kids both go back to school tomorrow so I’m also hoping the new routine will help with better habits. It’s really scary how quickly it can creep up, and how much I can discount that a bottle of wine a night isn’t bad when I really know it is. I too don’t feel drunk after a bottle and don’t get hangovers from one bottle, but definitely get the grogginess and general lack of energy and apathy of everything! I know from not drinking in the week in the past I have so much more energy and then I reward myself with wine at the weekends, but I really want that to change. I’ve got no social events on this month which involve drinking so I’m hoping that’ll help motivate me not to drink at all!

@Flowersareblue I have been drinking a bottle of wine most nights recently - always kid myself I'll make it last two nights but once I've had the first drink I'm a lost cause. I live by myself so not accountable to anyone else. Need to give up for my health, bank balance and state of mind! The support here will be a real help x

Can I join? In a horrible habit of drinking nearly every night and will finish the bottle once opened. I’m back at work next week after my mat leave with my third and really need to break this habit. I’d love to give up completely but can’t focus that far yet - I’m hoping 100 days will give me a good reset.

That is me down to a T. I say I am not going to drink tonight but go for a walk instead and pass Sainsbury's and end up in there buying a bottle at £7+ then think I could have got almost 2 for that in Aldi so buy 2 in Aldi next time I go. I pay cash but I am only kidding myself when I don't see it on my bank statement.
I am going on holiday soon and want to be able to sleep without alcohol or I will be a wreck after day 3.
None for 2 nights and hope it carries on.

@Flowersareblue that's me too!!! I take the dog out late afternoon - decide to drive to a nice spot for a walk that just happens to take me past a local shop. And yes to the cash!! So my plan is to go local on foot without cash to avoid temptation whilst I try and break the habit 🤞

It sounds like we are all in similar boats, I think from my past experience of not drinking in the week, I seem to not find that too hard as I just think well at the weekend I can, but I am so SICK of spending weekends feeling a bit bleurgh and some weekends really over doing it then feeling awful until mid week then it starts again. Hangovers give me awful anxiety along with the rest. This weekend we have my nieces birthday which involves an early start for a day out on Saturday so I think that will keep me on track on Friday night - but its the rest of the weekend that might be hard, but I am going to do it! It’s lovely to meet others who are in a similar situation who want to make the same change xx

Welcome @idontknow54789 I feel like mat leave closely followed by covid was where it all started to go wrong for me. Well done nipping it in the bud.

I’ve been dealing with my very anxious 11 year old all evening- he’s massively fretting about starting secondary school this week. I’m so glad I was sober and able to soothe him a little.

@GreySkySummerI had to soothe my 11 yr old too as her “friendship group” had a sleepover without her so she is worried about yr 7 too.

Also happy to be sober. Yesterday helped me understand the 4pm calling for wine and not at 8am - it’s the building up of micro-stresses during the day that makes my brain say you need wine. I’m ok so far ignoring that voice.

And this morning I had to be up to give my eldest a lift at 7am, although my mind was in over-drive last night so I didn’t sleep too well it was way easier getting up than after a bottle of wine (urggh!)

Sleep not good, I'm really hoping this will improve as time goes on! Good luck to those of you with children starting new ventures, mine are adults now but I do remember the stresses.

Starting a new school isn’t easy; wishing your children a smooth transition. We’re in a better position to support our families when we’re not drinking, but we need ways to manage our own stress too (that doesn’t involve drinking). Look after yourselves with rest, exercise and talking with loved ones.

I’ve started swimming regularly and doing the odd bit of yoga which is helping me feel calmer and more grounded.

Good morning all. Another restless night, it seems my body is so used to an alcoholic haze in order to sleep that it can't cope with sobriety! But I guess that's only to be expected. As long as I can keep going long enough for it to make a difference! Onwards and upwards everyone x

You are amazing. I’m joining you. Today is my Day 1. My drinking crept up over the summer. I’m now drinking wine as a stress coping mechanism and have some very busy work days ahead in a job where I’m the senior decision maker, a teenager stressed with GCSEs and a younger one who starts secondary this week,

I also have a DH with health problems, MIL with increasing frailty and frequent falls (but too stubborn to let us help her so we are perpetually on call for emergencies) and parents who are getting older and needing more help.

I had my children relatively late, married a man several years older than me, love my job but not the stress of managing people and am frustrated that I don’t have time to do the things I’d really love to do.

We live rurally and lost our local bus during covid, it’s been a lot of driving. Our house is on the market, we’d love to move to the town where my DC are at school.

I am perimenopausal and feel permanently exhausted. Drinking half a bottle of wine every evening doesn’t help, so I’m hoping to get my energy and mojo back, and to take control over my days. At the moment I react to things, work piles up, I’m behind and overwhelmed. I’ve started to switch off by drinking every evening. But not today and not for 100 days.

@AutumnGlowUp sounds like you have so much on your plate! My drinking habit started whilst I was in a stressful professional role, with teenagers at home, so I totally get the need to switch off some how. I've allowed to creep.yp.on me again after retirement, so it's good to break the habit earlier than me!