Sober October Challenge

[KK1983]

Good afternoon 😊

As the title suggests, I have decided to give 'Sober October' my all and go alcohol free for 31 days. This challenge might be a walk in the park for some but this is going to be HUGE for me. In the past 12yrs, I can't even remember the last time I have even gone a week sober, let alone a month!

So, I am a daily drinker. I have 1-2 bottles per day, sometimes more over the weekend. I have a successful job and a beautiful life but my drinking is becoming more of an issue that I ever thought it would be. I think about it more than I want, plan days around it and spend far too much money on it. Alcoholism runs in my family so i'm aware of the signs which is why I need to get a grip asap. I want to be able to moderate.

If you saw me in the street you'd look at me and think I have my shit together. I have the house, the kids, the marriage, the job - the lot! Drinking became a friend when I had none and when I was lonely after my daughter was born and my husband worked nights. Now drinking feels part of my personality, people know me as someone who loves a drink, the life and soul and I used to love that but now, I'm bored of myself.

I have tried to go sober several times but I get to day 4 and give in after finding any tiny excuse to reward myself. Night 1 always feels a bit rough. I role around the bed for hours on end and get a little anxious but nothing too bad. Day 2 I feel hungover without the fun the night before. Day 3 I cry a lot and become quite irritated. Day 4 - I quit! Not this time though, I NEED to do this and I WILL do this.

To help me along the way I have started taking the following vitamins:

• Vitamin B Complex high strength
• Live friendly gut bacteria
• Vitamin B1 500mg x2
• Iron
• Biotin & Zinc
• Vitamin D & K2

Can any recommend anything else or have any tips to help me along the way?

Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Kate x

M O R N I N G✨

8.5hrs sleep - I'll take that! Hope everyone slept well.

Plans for today:

• I will not drink
• Food shop
• Work
• Start chipping away at my Christmas list 😬
• Drink a gallon of water
• Eat well

Have a great Thursday gang x

I do have children - 1 adult and 1 teen. It’s not fun. I wish I could make things improve, but you can’t force a man to give a damn about anything he doesn’t want to give a damn about.

Morning all.

It’s nearly the weekend.

Im looking forward to a weekend free of children and partner. Im going to go up to the Derwent Valley, just me and my dog.

What’s everyone else up to?

Morning all,

I was cross earlier because my sleep went to shit again last night, having been much better for the last week. Then I remembered that I drank 6 cups of coffee and ate an entire bag of Haribo yesterday, so there's my answer...

Seems I've got one or two other things to work on besides the no wine! 😂

Haha love this!! Well, I'm sorry you had shit sleep, but it's exactly the sort of thing I would do and then be outraged about.

I went for a seven mile run before the kids got up this morning so the day started well. It's a good chance to plot how to best harass medical secretaries into actually responding to my emails about an on going health issue. And it gets it out of the way for the day!

@Fiftyandme that is the sad truth. And it's heartbreaking realising that they just don't care. Hugs.

@Springadorable a 7 mile run? That's incredible! That must feel great starting the day that way.

Big hugs @Fiftyandme but at least you have some alone time this weekend. Enjoy every second!

You are quite right, we can't change other people. However, as the Mole (in The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse) says; "One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things." My toddler is obsessed with this story at the moment 😂

I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your dog 😊

@nowinetimeforme my two went through an absolutely obsessive phase with that book. I thought it was very sweet the first couple of times but several hundred read-throughs later and it did rather lose its shine!

I have been literally spooning honey out of the jar in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed and I've been having sugar cravings. Also last night I ate about 5 of my kids gummy bear vitamin tablets 🙄

@Fiftyandme, nope - you can’t change change anyone, but if this person is literally adding nothing to your life, you do have a power to change it. Look how little support you are getting re alcohol consumption and how well you are doing - you are very strong. Dogs are mainly better than people with little exception I reckon!

Bloody well done on the run @Springadorable- I bet you feel brilliant! I like a morning run - it’s done and dusted then.

Another one here with a much sweeter tooth than normal, plus I didn’t sleep well and I always want to eat more sweet stuff then. I’m having a walk this evening with a friend, so this is an easy win tonight re not drinking.

Enjoy the productive day @KK1983- I like that you’ve put not drinking on your list. Setting yourself up to succeed.

Guys, I'm afraid I've had a failure of an evening. I'm writing this with a glass in hand. Started strong with my run, but tomorrow is a rest day and I finalllllllllly got some good news re an appointment with the NHS that I've been waiting on for a long time. I say waiting - I've had reminder in my phone to contact the secretary every two weeks so it was touch and go whether I'd get an appointment or a harassment order! So I'm a bit sad that I'm sat here drinking wine, but also confident I can now go two weeks between drinks which is huge progress on before. And that has to count for something?!

It definitely counts for something!
Good news about the appointment!

@Springadorable
Look how far you have come!
From where I am right now, I would be ecstatic if I hadn't had a drink for a fortnight
Keep on keeping on x

@SoberOctober2025 your thread was deleted because MN “taking a closer look” . Did it get abusive or is MN skeptical of you?

Morning.

@Springadorable- count the units you’ve had in the last two weeks and count your normal consumption. No doubt at all it’s a win. Brilliant re the appointment.

Yesterday was a NDD.

I’ve been thinking about my drinking. I don’t know why this wasn’t clear to me before. After DH’s stroke, I drank to escape - this I know - that’s pretty obvious - trying to process that level of trauma, my kids trauma and how to take over the running of a business while visiting hospital daily and managing all the shit storm fall out and how our lives have changed. I’m not sure how much I realised that at some point, (perhaps not initially being totally honest, I needed a black out ‘thing’ at the start by turning a good glass of red into a bottle) the anxiety was coming from the bottle itself. When I’m not drinking the anxiety lifts. It doesn’t go away, there’s a lot I need to process, but I need to process that correctly.

Happy Friday people!

Thread wasn’t deleted as far as I can see? It got ridiculous to be honest, but MN can see my full posting history for years and years so I’m pretty confident they know I wasn’t being disingenuous. Anyway, let’s not derail this lovely thread.

Oh sorry! Wrong thread entirely

@Springadorablegreat news re appointment. Dont call the evening a failure though, im in your company. Had my day/evening out with DH and had few glasses of wine. Actually, I regret it today. Have the mild headache lingering, tired etc. But its making me feel that I just cant be bothered doing it again

Really good news about the appointment.

Thanks you for the support.

1 bottle of wine in 2 weeks doesn't sound like a failure to me. Sounds a lot like control and progress.Try look at the bigger picture, you're smashing it!

Yay to the appointment btw 🥰

Happy Friday guys,

Anyone got any nice weekend plans? I'm working tomorrow but going pumpkin picking on Sunday with my little niece and nephews and then off the farmers market so I can make a chicken pie. I've been quite the wife these past 17 days - baking, cooking more etc. I'm enjoying it.

You're not a failure if you drank last night - you're human! Be kind to yourself ❤️

Definitely not a failure!

I've just looked at my app and I've had 10.8 units in October so far. Normally I'd have had that on the first night and we are over half way through the month. I imagine if you look at your month you's see something similar.

Good news on the appointment too xx

Happy Friday everyone! I find it most tempting to have a drink on the weekend but am ready to resist that temptation and push through. I’m looking forward to hang over free mornings on Saturday and Sunday!