Calling time on wine: 100 days sober - starting 01/01/26

[reset100]

My wine drinking has slowly spiralled into a daily habit and I’m calling time on it. No drama, no rock bottom - just the realisation that it’s become a crutch and I want out of the swirl.

From 1st January, I’m committing to 100 days sober and I’d love others to join me. This isn’t about moderation or “just weekends” - it’s about a clean break and supporting each other to go completely alcohol-free for the full 100 days.

If alcohol has crept in as a daily default, if you’re tired of negotiating with yourself every evening, or if you simply want a proper reset with people who get it, you’re very welcome here.

No judgement. No pressure. Just accountability, honesty, and support.

I’m confident it will all come in time, @ThisIsMyBurnerPhone, keep going ✨

@TheDogLassieI echo everyone else; inspiring! You are doing brilliantly!!

Happy Monday morning all. Despite sacking off the idea of exercising first thing when I woke up, I am currently on my exercise bike doing half an hour! My internal debate in bed now means I’m going to be in a rush for work but meh, dry shampoo instead of wash and blow dry it is! 🤣

Morning all! I had a terrible sleep last night (the worst so far) and have not lost any weight on the 5:2 this week after my 4lb weight loss last week, which I’m disappointed about. The good news is that even with a bad sleep I can still get up relatively easily in the morning because I’m not hungover.

I’m looking forward to the two week mark on Thursday after @reset100’s comment that the first two weeks are the grind.

@TheDogLassie welcome to the thread!

@ThisIsMyBurnerPhone it’s hard when you don’t see results. But there’s no doubt that not drinking is doing your insides a world of good - and hopefully that will translate to something tangible for you soon. More productivity and patience is a win! I also have a stone and a half to lose.

Accountability check in
Still sober, very vivid dreams, now is the time I usually think " oh so it wasn't a problem really... just one will be ok"
Nope
I have fallen for that trickery before ( many many times)
Enough

Hi everyone, I've been quietly following this thread - thanks for keeping me on track!
Anyway, I'm so excited by this and just wanted to share.. I suffer with terrible back pain from 3 bulging discs, it's been pretty much constant for the last 4 years
Anyway, this morning I just realised... the pain has gone!! I can't quite believe it 😆

I’ve noticed too my knee pain is all but gone! Alcohol deffo causes inflammation.

@reset100 thank you for starting this thread and great to see you're hopefully over the worst of the flu. That must have been a miserable way to start the year but hopefully once you're feeling better you'll start to feel more benefits from not drinking.

@ThisIsMyBurnerPhone
I think being more productive at work and more patient with the kids is a great start - and these are extremely valuable things, aren't they?
So go easy on yourself and I'm sure you will start reaping more benefits soon!

Woah, that is huge @Shhhhitsmagic and @SwiftyFifty!

All those years of physio appointments, pills, even a private MRI scan. All I needed to do was stop drinking!

@SwiftyFifty that's amazing that your knee pain has gone 😀

Happy Monday everyone!

I have always liked Mondays - the 'new week' appeals to the somewhat ADHD tendencies I have to love starting things, new projects, new opportunity to do things better etc. My lack of drinking gives me that 'new week' feeling on steroids. What are your goals for this week aside from not drinking? (if you have any of course, I am aware not drinking is a big achievement in itself so please feel free to ignore me if you are not feeling like you have the bandwidth to do anything else!)

ETA - whoops should have included mine; run every day, list at least one thing to sell or do one trip to the charity shop, do mine and my OH's tax return 😱

Thank you so much for being so encouraging. I know you’ve been really poorly, so it really does mean the world that you’ve taken time to be supportive.

Thank you @AuraBora @freshstart2026 and @GreenCherries You are all correct. More patience is a win and so is the increased productivity. I’m much harder and more horrible to myself than I’d be to anyone else so it’s helpful to see it from outside perspectives. You’ve given me a big grin this morning.

@ThisIsMyBurnerPhone "I’m much harder and more horrible to myself than I’d be to anyone else"

This is so common, especially for women, I think. I try to ask myself if I would talk to one of my dearest friends that way, and the answer is always no - but it's still a very hard habit to break, isn't it?

Still jogging on here, getting used to having more time in the evenings, though I need to use it a bit more productively, I think. This morning (day 11) I've woken up with an absolutely banging headache, which feels unfair, so I'm allowing myself to be a bit teenage-sulky about that (I'm in my 50s....).

This is a bit of a weird one … is anyone else waking up feeling mildly hungover?! I seem to be waking quite often feeling dry mouthed, groggy and sometimes (like this morning) with a banging headache. It’s so weird.

I don’t know if this is just detox, or if it’s affected by other things (poor sleep, increased sugar consumption, maybe dehydration?). And when I do sleep my dreams are trippy AF, so not very restful at all! Which is in line with Swifty’s post on the physiology. I’ve spent decades having completely dreamless sleep, and have forgotten what it’s like to have all these intrusive thoughts and images at night!

Went to the gym yesterday which was good, but overall I’m feeling really quite bashed about and knackered by this process. No weight loss at all, baggy dark under eye circles and even the odd spot. I’m resolved to pushing on through though, and holding out hope there’ll be some big positives soon🤞

Congratulations to all of us for hanging on in there - reading about everyone else’s little wins is definitely motivating me to stay on track x

Ha, just seen your post @NotMiranda - I’m definitely not alone then 😂

@ThisIsMyBurnerPhone, I think we’re in the same boat at the moment. Stick with it, I’m sure we’ll both see more gains in the next week or two.

@SwiftyFifty @Shhhhitsmagic peripheral neuropathy in my feet has been driving me mad over the last year or so. I’m only on day 6 AF but it’s definitely subsided. How on earth can that be possible? I’m not complaining but I’m beginning to think I’m imagining things!

Asking for help with alcohol is seen as weakness.

Not quietly judged weakness.
Openly mocked weakness.

The kind where people say,
“Just have a bit less.”
“Plenty of people drink more than you.”
“At least you’re not one of those.”

So you keep it to yourself.

You tell yourself you’ll sort it out later.
You’ll rein it in after this busy period.
After the stress passes.
After the holiday.
After the birthday.
After the weekend that hasn’t even started yet.

And the real weakness sneaks in right there.

Because struggling alone feels brave.
It feels stoic.
It feels like strength.

It isn’t.

It’s avoidance dressed up as resilience.

White knuckling through nights where your brain won’t switch off.
Negotiating with yourself every morning.
Promising you’ll drink less, then feeling that quiet drop in your stomach when you already know how tonight ends.

That’s not strength.
That’s exhaustion.

Real strength is saying,
“I don’t have this under control.”

Real strength is risking your image to save your life.
Your health.
Your relationships.
Your self-respect.

And yes, it feels humiliating at first.

Because alcohol doesn’t just hook your body.
It hooks your identity.

The fun one.
The reliable one.
The one who can handle it.
The one who doesn’t make things awkward.

So asking for help feels like admitting you’re broken.

You’re not broken.
You’re responding exactly how a human brain responds to a substance designed to keep you coming back.

No amount of grit rewires that on its own.

This is the part no one tells you.

The people who ask for help aren’t weak.
They’re the ones who’ve stopped lying to themselves.

They’re the ones who’ve noticed the cost.
The mornings.
The anxiety.
The shrinking world.
The quiet dread that sits behind the laughter.

They’re the ones choosing honesty over pride.

And that choice is heavy.
It costs friendships.
It costs comfort.
It costs the illusion that you can keep everything the same and feel better.

But it gives you something back.

Clarity.
Energy.
Self-trust.
A nervous system that isn’t constantly on edge.
A life that doesn’t need numbing just to get through the week.

If you’re reading this and thinking,
“I should probably talk to someone.”

That’s not weakness knocking.
That’s awareness.

You don’t need to be at rock bottom.
You don’t need a dramatic story.
You don’t need permission from anyone else.

You just need to stop pretending you can out-think a problem that feeds on silence.

There are people who understand this.
Not in theory.
In their bones.

If you want a starting point, something that doesn’t involve labels or lectures, there’s one linked on my page. Read it when you’re ready.

And if you’re not ready yet, do one thing today.
Tell the truth to yourself.
No filters.
No comparisons.
No excuses.

That’s where real strength actually begins.

Afternoon.

I’m still here, staying on the wagon - reading. My DF, who is on end of life care has yet to pass, and the last few days have been pretty traumatic. I got as far as pouring a glass yesterday in truth, but poured it away.

Sleep is crap - but that’s genuinely the situation, since I’ve cut back so significantly in the last year and not drunk since Christmas Day my sleep has been much more restorative - hang in there people who are not feeling the benefits yet.

Well done to everyone pushing on!
Day 12 for me today too. I took a photo of myself on January 1st after a heavy session on NYE. I felt bloody terrible, was dry retching in the toilet and felt completely poisoned.
My MH was at rock bottom too.
Then took a photo on Jan 8th, and the difference is stark and startling. In the first picture I look like I gad been beaten up.. puffy skin, blood shot eyes and a red waxy complexion.
The second one is a million times better.. in just a week so much better for not drinking. I’d post them on here if it wasn’t so outing!
Those pictures will be my inspiration to keep going if I weaken. At the moment the very thought of drinking makes me feel 🤢

🚨 If your kid needed a drug every night to cope, you’d panic.

🍷 When you do it, you call it adulthood.

Sit with that for a second.

If your kid needed a substance every evening to calm down?
You’d be alarmed.
Meetings.
Lectures.
Consequences.

But when it’s you?

“It’s just unwinding.”

That’s the double standard.

—

Alcohol gets a pass no other drug gets.

Not because it’s safer.
Because it looks grown up.

Same behaviour.
Different costume.

—

Your kid vapes.
❌ Addiction.

Your kid games for hours.
❌ Avoidance.

Your kid can’t put their phone down.
❌ Dopamine hijacked.

Your kid smokes weed.
❌ Big problem.

You drink every night.
✅ Normal life.

—

Dinner needs wine.
Stress needs a drink.
Socialising needs alcohol.
Celebrating needs booze.
Relaxing needs something to take the edge off.

That’s not freedom.
That’s routine.

—

Alcohol hides in plain sight.

On the table.
Paired with food.
Baked into culture.
Wrapped in jokes.
“So what?”
“I deserve this.”

—

So when parents lose it over their kids’ habits?

It’s rarely about health.

It’s about control.

They’re seeing behaviour they can’t manage.
And it scares them.

—

Here’s the bit that stings.

Kids don’t learn from lectures.

They learn from patterns.

They watch how you handle stress.
They watch how you celebrate.
They watch how you switch off.

They notice what you reach for
when you can’t sit with yourself.

—

So talk about addiction all you want.

If every evening ends with you pouring something to cope,
the lesson is already taught.

Big feelings need substances.
Life needs a buffer.
Discomfort should be escaped.

Alcohol is the only drug we teach that lesson with
while pretending we’re not.

—

This isn’t about shaming parents.

It’s about honesty.

Most people don’t drink for the taste.
They drink for regulation.

To smooth anxiety.
To dull frustration.
To create an off switch
in a life that never stops demanding.

That’s not weakness.
That’s conditioning.

—

And that’s why alcohol keeps its pass.

Because questioning it would force adults
to face something uncomfortable.

Maybe the issue isn’t kids addicted to everything.

Maybe it’s adults who can’t be present
without chemical assistance.

—

When a parent actually looks at their own drinking,
things change.

Less lecturing.
Less panic.
More honesty.

Because it stops being about control.
And starts being about capability.

Can I handle stress without checking out?
Can I sit with discomfort without anaesthetic?
Can I model regulation instead of preaching it?

—

That’s the work alcohol lets people delay for years.

And that’s why it gets the pass.

Not because it’s harmless.
Because looking too closely would break the illusion.

—

If this pisses you off,
good.

That’s usually where the truth is.

Tonight, don’t change anything.

👀 Just notice what you reach for.

That alone cracks the door.

I felt bloody terrible, was dry retching in the toilet and felt completely poisoned.

I have been there numerous times. It’s horrendous isn’t it? 😭

I did have a “pang” about half an hour ago. I’ve had a day off today and have been hugely productive decluttering the spare room, which is full of boxes of crap. It’s a job I’ve been putting off for months if not years. When it got to dinner time I was knackered and felt I “deserved” a glass of wine for my efforts. I managed to resist and the craving seems to be lessening now.

Reading Ian C - he suggests it’s important to face your discomfort rather than escaping it with alcohol. My question is: what can we learn from doing this?