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 relieved not to have had the desire for wine I had yesterday! Fleeting thought of it at lunchtime but it quickly passed.

Productive day getting various jobs done, and 30 mins done on my bike. Now showered and fresh, cosy on the sofa.

Feel like I need to set myself some exercise related goals as that’s helped in the past as I never want wine to spoil my progress; need to think of some non-OTT goals beyond ‘get on the bike 3 times a week’.

Just back from kids party. Some parents were drinking beer/wine but I sat in a corner with some mums who were drinking soft drinks/tea. I can’t lie, I’d rather have had a wine but I managed to “sit in my discomfort” (as Ian C says) and got through the chitchat without alcohol. Now home and feeling a bit flat but calm and okay.

Edited to add: I think the flatness might be my brain associating social situations with the usual “buzz” from alcohol which obviously didn’t happen this time.

Got home at 4.30 from a frustrating shopping trip with aged DM to find DH passed out drunk on sofa........the urge to say sod it is strong.

As I haven't bought any wine I am hoping a takeaway, af gin and a long hot bath will get me through the night.

Day 18 for me and I'm feeling good.

Yesterday was a bit hairy though. Friday wine is a ritual for me as it really signifies the end of a long busy week and it's a time to sit and unwind, knowing I don't have to be up and out of the house early the next day. My mood was foul and I was so overwhelmed by the kids noise. I've realised that I think my mood was caused by the lack of wine. I think I've become so reliant on wine to unwind from the week, I don't know how to end my week and de-stress without it.

The post shared by @SwiftyFifty yesterday really resonated with me and I feel much better tonight.

Hi all,
Day 17 here for me and feeling good! Went for a run earlier thrn sausages and mash for dinner yum. Just had a bath and might have an AF wine later.

Hang in there @pawsedforthought you'll be glad in the morning.

@pawsedforthought keep strong.. no doubt your H will have a terrible head in the morning - you won’t! Bang those pots and pans 😆 Put the music on and have a little sing song in the kitchen feeling smug. Playing it forward always helps : if I drink tonight how will I feel tomorrow morning? What’s more important pressing the fuck it button or taking control of an urge that will pass in 10 minutes tops..! You’ve got this 👊

Just been to a colleagues leaving do and drank 4 CBD drinks which were nothing to write home about. I lasted 3 hours then just had to get out as feeling bored even though everyone there was great fun as usual.

If I was drinking with everyone else I'd have stayed till 3am, got slaughtered and had a whale of a time. Then had a 3 day hangover.

Feeling very meh and like I'm missing out but really, really don't want to be ill for 3 days so I've just put the kettle on.

First off, well done for not drinking! Particularly impressive when everyone else is going for it.

Second, what is the answer to a dilemma like this? As in, you really want to join in the fun with everyone else, which let’s face it, in the situation @getwiththeprogram describes really does require drinking alcohol (staying out with a load of loud and fun drunk people till 3am would be nigh on impossible sober IMO!). BUT at the same time you can’t face the horrendous hangover the next day? Is it ultimately just a question of priorities? And how do you get over the feeling of “missing out”?

Day 18 here! I slept through the night (I think?) and woke about 7. Currently enjoying a lovely coffee in bed.

I have another social situation today where others will be drinking. I’m not looking forward to it but Ian C’s mantra of “sitting in your discomfort” is helping a bit - tying in with what others have said about seeing this no drinking thing as a kind of experiment. Like, can I actually get through this with no alcohol and be okay at the end of it?

Last night I watched a documentary after the DC had gone to bed and actually remembered it this morning, which feels good. My brain in general still feels rather woolly though. Does anyone have any tips on how to sharpen it up - crosswords maybe? Does reading help?

8 Things No Fucking Influencer Tells You About Quitting Alcohol (2026 Edition)

Veteran here. Drank for 45 years. Over a year sober now. The sober influencer industrial complex is making bank off your misery. Here's what the snake oil merchants won't tell you.

1. YOU'LL BECOME INSUFFERABLY JUDGEMENTAL

Around month three, you'll start looking at drinkers with smug superiority. You'll mentally calculate everyone's units. Then you'll catch yourself and realise you've become the preachy sober wanker you always hated. Takes six months to stop being a self-righteous prick about it.

1. THE SOBER CURIOUS INDUSTRY WILL TRY TO SELL YOU SHIT

Fancy mocktails at £12. "Alcohol-free spirits" that taste like potpourri. Supplements. Journals. Apps with premium subscriptions. They've monetised your sobriety. You don't need any of it. The influencers pushing this? Getting kickbacks. Same con, different product.

1. YOUR PERSONALITY WASN'T THE ALCOHOL—YOU WERE JUST BORING

You thought booze made you funnier, more interesting. It didn't. It just made you care less about being boring. Now you're sober and realise you don't have that many interesting things to say. "Guy who drinks" isn't a personality. You have to rebuild yourself from scratch.

1. YOU'LL GRIEVE THE RITUAL MORE THAN THE BOOZE

It's not the alcohol you miss—it's Friday night wind-downs, the pub with mates, wine while cooking. You've lost your rituals. Every "alcohol-free alternative" feels like a sad photocopy. Building new rituals at 50-plus? Fucking exhausting.

1. PEOPLE WILL ASSUME YOU'RE IN AA AND GET WEIRD

The second you say you don't drink, people treat you like you're one bad day from relapse. They whisper. They ask if you're "allowed" around alcohol. It's infantilising. You're not fragile. You just stopped poisoning yourself.

1. THE MENTAL CLARITY IS REAL BUT ALSO TERRIBLE

Yes, your head clears. But you also remember everything. Every embarrassing thing you said. Every stupid decision. Brain fog was protecting you. Now you just sit there and remember what a dickhead you were for 45 years.

1. YOU'LL REALISE HOW MUCH OF SOCIETY IS BUILT AROUND BOOZE

Everything. Birthdays. Weddings. Business meetings. Dates. Every social structure is designed around drinking. When you opt out, you're swimming against a cultural current. And everyone has an opinion about why you should just have "one drink."

1. THE PRIDE IS REAL, BUT NOBODY GIVES A SHIT

You'll feel genuinely proud. But nobody cares. Your non-drinking mates don't get why it's an achievement. Your drinking mates think you're overreacting. The pride is yours alone. Private. Quiet. Unwitnessed. Somehow, that makes it more real.

Will I ever drink normally again?
No. And asking means you know the answer. Stop asking.

How do I deal with social pressure?
Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Tell people you don't drink, don't explain. If they push, leave.

Over a year in. Still standing. Still sober. Still dealing with people's weird projections.

The influencers are lying. It's not a journey. It's just stopping something that was killing you. Simple. Not easy, but simple.

Stop for today. Deal with tomorrow when it comes.

I had a drink last night - and I feel bloody awful.

Thought I would share this, in case anyone would benefit from being reminded what a terrible poison alcohol really is.

I had a couple of gins (kitchen gins - so large pours). I think I did it because I was bored, it was Saturday night, and to be honest I was sick and tired of constantly negotiating with the voice in my head about whether to drink or not. So gin it was, because there was a bottle open on the kitchen counter.

1. went to bed too late, and let the kids stay up late despite having to get up and go to hockey this morning. The kitchen is still a mess this morning.
2. I woke at 2, desperately thirsty and needing a wee. I had a headache.
3. Woke at 3.30 burning hot. Heart pumping. Creeping sense of dread about what I’d done. Still awake at 4.30
4. Woke at 5.30. Still roasting hot, head banging (took some paracetamol) and by now crippling anxiety. Don’t even know what about, just a feeling of dread.
5. 7.30 alarm went off. Dragged myself up and through the shower. I have that slightly haunted look of someone who’s been drinking and hardly slept - funnily enough.
6. Finding it really difficult to make decisions. Like everything has got jumbled up in my head and I can’t figure out what to do first.

Anyway off to hockey we go. I feel wretched.

I don’t know whether this will help anyone else, I hope so, suffice it to say I am definitely back on the wagon for the 100 days.

Thanks so much for sharing @katinthehattt it’s really helpful to hear about the negatives of dribking. I was just sitting here thinking well I feel ok, not lost weight, not sleeping great, don’t feel amazing etc but then reading your post it’s really helpful to hear the other side. Yes that was me only a few weeks ago and the feelings of guilt are just awful ( despite you just drinking at home in the safety of your own house)
Please don’t feel bad - we ve all done it. I did it a few years ago when I successfully managed three plus months. It was around the middle of January and I had two “ fuck it” nights but it only helped to reinforce my resolve not to drink.
Get through what you need to do today ( poor you with kids and activities etc) and then just try and relax. Don’t feel bad for drinking just try and hold the feeling of “ was it really worth it?”
Im assuming after the initial buzz, it wasn’t really..

Exactly what @SwiftyFifty said, @katinthehattt!

So easily done @katinthehattt, the way the brain convinces us to have a drink is so persuasive and insidious!! Could easily have been me on Friday night, I came very close!

Look after yourself today and focus on how much better you’ll feel in the morning at the start of a nice fresh week x

Thanks for sharing @katinthehattt
Agree with what others have said.
💪 Reading your post has reminded me of why I’m doing this.
xx

Thanks @reset100and @anewyearthisyear(and everyone else) for the support, I got through the evening and am now on day 22.

I've already identified that one of my major triggers for drinking is that with an alcoholic DH, elderly DM, living in a very rural area and being the only driver I don't get to drink outside the home and can't have open alcohol inside home (or as I found when I went to get an af gin any of that either!).

The "it's not fair" stamping of feet and downing of a bottle of wine is only making my health worse to spite people and a situation that doesn't see, know or care.

Anyway tried some of the new Mello from brewdog at tescos yesterday so had one of those, a scalding hot bath and then took myself and my kindle to bed so that I didn't have to interact with drunk DH and am now going to go do some client tax returns ahead of 31st deadline.

Well done everyone and thanks for all the advice, stories and support. Be kind to yourselves. Hugs

Morning. Day 14 here. Friday and Saturday nights successfully swerved.. Sunday was one of my favourite drinking days for the back half of last year - having a bottle while cooking dinner and prepping for the week, with no work on Monday. But no plans to have any today. Our wine fridge is still half full with some really lovely bottles, but I've kind of forgotten it's there... Might turn it off so none of it is chilled?!

I tried the 0% freixnet last night and was not a fan! I'll stick to my cordials with sparkling water and teas, I think.

Finally sleeping so much better, but waking up with such a headache each morning. I never really suffered with hangovers, I'd feel tired and sometimes quite groggy, but never had headaches or sickness. So it's frustrating that my body is rewarding my abstinence with morning headaches 😏

I think it is priorities. Unfortunately you just can’t have it all (not if you are like us anyway 😂) You can’t have a great night and a great morning (there’s a quote about that somewhere but can’t quite recall). This is why I thinks it’s really important to do things which make the most of the morning you wouldn’t have had if you went out drinking. I used to get up early on a Saturday morning (for years I barely drank before having kids) and go out on my bike. We lived in London and pretty central so I’d ride through the City at 6:30am and out through the WE - I’d always see a few stragglers from the night before and whilst I am sure may of them had great nights, I had a wonderful morning and I felt great all day having got out early and been out on my bike for 5 hours. It’s important to reorganise your life so you mae the most of being sober, otherwise it’s all sacrifices and it’s impossible to stick with it.

edit - PS well done @getwiththeprogram!

This is great advice. I need to reorganise my mornings so I make the most of it.
i need to go from being a night owl to a lark

Yep / it’s the only way to make it stick IMO. I’ve massively overhauled my life before. It wasn’t over night but in my late 20’s I went from being a massive party girl, drinking too much, too many drugs, getting myself into a lot of unsafe situations, to someone who went to bed early and got up to go to the gym. I went really ‘big’ on exercise and outdoors stuff, which is the only way my stupid brain works, unfortunately! I did drink but I genuinely drank moderately. Sometimes not at all (if I was training for a specific event) and sometimes a night or two a week but alcohol was a non issue for me. Then I had kids…. The exercise stopped (or at least the type of training that satisfied my dopamine hungry brain) so I slipped back into using alcohol to fill that void. My kids are slightly older now and whilst I can’t be at the gym every morning at 6:30, I think I can refocus my life back to exercise and push the drinking aside (or at least that’s the plan 😂)

I tried the Freixenet recently too and it was drinkable but I don’t think I’ll bother to buy it again. Sparkling water and cordial much better IMO. If you like beer, AF leffe is one of the best I’ve tried (if you like leffe type beers)

Another thing to think about is the fun you had or the fun your friends were having. Do you do things or say things that you would never choose if you were sober? One of those things was what fed into my decision to stop. A big party where I ended up talking to someone I didn't like and didn't want to encourage in my life about personal things, and the next day wondering why on earth I told her those things. It was because I was drunk. I choose the mornings but not necessarily to fill them up with other things, but also to not have any regret or bad feelings about the night before. Some of the nights out are less fun. But that's okay now because things have shifted. You're moving from a rollercoaster existence to a smoother one. You're still in the early days.
Also for the people filling up on productivity. That may work out great, but you also deserve rest and relaxation, so finding sober relaxation is also important so you don't burn yourself out. It's fine to avoid at the start, but think about letting yourself relax too. It can be hard because when you're relaxing sober the thoughts come in! You might not be ready for those thoughts yet. So maybe have some relaxing distractions in the house - a new book, a jigsaw, Lego, puzzle book, etc.
And for the people saying they need more benefits, don't be discouraged if you're not losing loads of weight, magically feeling amazing, clear headed, wise and motivated, and more so each day. It's still very early days. Each day not drinking is a benefit, even if you don't have some new external evidence for it. The feeling of being better won't flow in a series of daily new highs, but over time a feeling of calmness, less stress and peace.
Good luck to all of you. Each day you are choosing yourself so fair play to you.

I've found myself feeling inexplicably low today. Want to do nothing but do everything, decision paralysis and then drowning in overwhelm. Ended up in tears but can't explain why. Can't work out if it's related to alcohol (or lack of), or just a hormone thing. I'm sure it's normal but bloody awful. I was having a lazy morning but going to jump in the shower and put an 'uplifting' playlist on Spotify in the hope that lifts me out of it.

I'm feeling energised today. Having a big house sort out and deep clean which feels so good. Really motivated about the fact that tomorrow is day 20, which is a fifth of the way through 100 days and a quarter will follow quickly after.

I'm planning on putting my saved money into my holiday savings at the end of Jan which will feel like a bit of a reward. I'm currently sitting at about £75 which is far less impressive than many here but still by the end of January it will be over £100 and £100 for what?! Drinking at home alone. How depressing.

Sorry you feel low today @ImALittlePea hope you feel better after your shower. Alcohol, wine in particular, is so normalised, it's a really hard habit to break. We're all doing so well!