The Continuing Support Thread for Anyone Trying to Lead an Alcohol-Free Life Spring into Summer 2026

[REP22]

Hello and welcome. I’m glad you’ve found your way here. We are a bunch of people who are trying to give up and keep off alcohol. No judgement, just honest support and kindness.
The original thread was started by @drybird2020 in 2020 and we have plenty of veterans and newer members who can offer advice and signposting. You are welcome here, whether you post several times a day, once or twice and then never again, or if you only just come to read but have no intention of ever posting.
Whatever your stage on the AF journey, and whatever you’re going through, someone here will have gone through it too. Don’t be shy about posting, we love to celebrate your successes of whatever shape and size - and will support you when things get challenging. We get it, we've been there too.
All we ask is that you’re genuinely trying to abstain. We don't encourage moderation-only here, as it can be triggering for some to read. If you’re looking to moderate your drinking rather than quitting it altogether then MN has another long-running and very active moderation/abstaining thread that’s always near the top on the alcohol support board. Lots of fine support there from those worthy people too. Keep trying. Sobriety may not be easy - but I guarantee you that it is worth it.
I started trying to give up drink in 2018, succeeded (mostly) in 2019 but had a few “wobbles”, one of which led me here in April 2023. I still struggle sometimes but the posters on this thread have been an absolute godsend of wisdom, support and encouragement, along with my dog - known here as Sid (not his real name), and they keep me going. I hope you find strength and comfort here too. This thread and its wonderful posters has been a lifesaver to many, and have certainly seen me through many good and not-so-good days.
These books were particularly helpful to me and I still go back to them from time to time: The Sober Diaries by Clare Pooley (Amazon - Sober Diaries) and The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Gray (Amazon - Unexpected Joy). Others have found This Naked Mind by Annie Grace (Amazon - This Naked Mind) helpful. There are Apps that help track your AF journey, including Reframe and the ones I use, I Am Sober and TryDry. Podcasts can also be helpful. I have found One for the Road by Sober Dave to be a good listen. But different things work for different people. Feel free to post and ask. There is solidarity, wisdom and support here. This is a safe space where your voice will be heard, understood and valued.
Lighter evenings, blossom and birdsong are with us once again. Pull up a chair, and make yourself at home. It's going to be alright. x

Good morning all.
Well done @Adsy1988on resisting.

I have had a crap couple of days health wise but I'm off to the hospital this morning. Stable cottage viewing this afternoon!

I'm having a deep clean done on the house this weekend so I'll see what that looks like before I employ a declutter lady. Sadly I just can't do it and it's making me embarrassed.

I was a big champagne Charlie but luckily thats not an option anymore. I will look out for the marks NZ af.

Hello shipmates,

Sending everyone strength, courage and love as we head weekend-wards. @ShyMaryEllen and @Onewildandpreciouslife - I hope your scans went OK. ❤️

Sid sends his hearty wags to you - especially if you're finding it tough. It does get easier. We believe in you. We know you can do it. Here he is, at the hustings yesterday for his "Raising Money for Cat Charities & Spending the Cash on Chops UK Party". He lost his deposit.

🤣🤣🤣

Evening shipmates!
Another peaceful weekend planned. And another week ticked off.
Happy Friday all

Can someone remind me which vitamin b I should be taking? I think it’s vitamin b 1 but can’t find the post! I already take B12

Nvm, found the post . It’s B1 so have ordered some from Amazon.

First AF weekend for a long time….going to buy some nice cordial to add to my soda stream water.

Thank you @REP22. The radiographer was one of the nice ones, and she said things looked much the same as last time, with the usual caveats about having to do detailed comparisons and so on, but I shall take that as good news until I get the letter in 100 years or so.

@VillageIdiott good luck with the party today! The advice I’ll add to the rest is to play it forward, if you’re tempted by one will you then be able to stop? Or will that lead to a 2nd, 3rd….getting drunk? Then the feelings that will bring the following morning, both physically and emotionally. Are your children attending the party, will they be able to tell that mum is tipsy? Think about that grey day in the sea of yellow in your try dry app, I have 3 in my 128 days (1 was an accident as I ordered a virgin white sangria that I later discovered contained cava!) I hate seeing them, I wish I could turn back the clock but I can’t, I can just promise myself, you shipmates & Sid that I won’t do it again AND MEAN IT! You’ve got this 💪
IWNDWYT!

Morning all.

Up early as the light peeped through.

I did the hospital visit and I'm having the new drug next week for my RA. Let's hope I tolerate it.

The DH and I went to view the stable cottage. Horrendous, not much more than someone's converted coach house/ garage. We're giving it the moniker, The Shed. Garden non existent. House next door is lovely and for sale. I think this one was created for the outlaws.
They called the lawn a strip, I'm sure I've got knickers wider than that!
The dh looked worried but I said I'm not giving up my modern, dry, warm 'executive' house to live in that dump. I'll have a stilts lift if this goes on much longer and wait for all these war mongering men to behave.

A strip!? 🙈 Wider knickers! 😂
Really hope the new drug works for you @WendyWagon 🤞🏻🤞🏻

@VillageIdiott sorry, the party is tomorrow, I had a day off work yesterday so today feels like Sunday! Yay, that’s an extra day for you to prepare yourself 🎉

Morning shipmates,

A nice early night and woke refreshed ready to enjoy the weekend. No plans other than the usual drop offs etc. Things to do for myself today:
Have a coffee in the sun listening to the birds.
Read some of my book (hopefully in the garden).

The jobs and errands are always there and get done eventually (usually last minute), af me makes sure that I don't always put myself at the bottom of the list and I try to do something simple for myself most days, read a few pages of a book, fill my nails, tidy my eyebrows anything that is for something that makes me feel good or happy.

@WendyWagon I hope you find the perfect cottage soon and the new meds work well for you.

Have a lovely day everyone.

Morning all, just checking in again. Last night was a success. Drove to the restaurant. Mum asked what I wanted to drink, I said I‘d stick with water because I‘m driving (I don’t really like soft drinks). She tried to pressure me with ‘you can have just one even if you’re driving’. DH announced I haven’t had a drink in about 2 weeks and have been drinking AF wine, and he was very proud of me!!

When we got home I opened a bottle of AF wine straight away, and my relatives didn’t repeatedly ask me if I wanted normal wine, which was a relief.

I was worried how to tackle tonight with no ‘excuse’ (we’re staying in). But now I feel ready to continue drinking AF wine.

I’ve been asked last minute to do a reading at the event tomorrow. Even more of a reason to keep a clear head.

I genuinely don’t know how I would have navigated this weekend without you lot on this thread. Thank you so much ❤️

@VillageIdiott that's fantastic bet you feel wonderful this morning.

@VillageIdiott yay!! And nice to hear your DH standing up for you and saying how proud he is! Love that 🥰

I’m just back from my Aldi weekly shop, had a look at AF option but decided against it this week. Going to stick with soft drinks and soda water. Was kind of strange not picking up a bottle of wine but I am in this now!!

Treated myself to a bunch of tulips instead and asked DH to pick me up a vanilla slice at the bakery….

Happy Saturday everyone 💐

A new book is out - ‘Thirst’ by John Robins. I used the love his podcast ‘The moon
under water’ where a guest each week discussed their perfect pub & favourite drinks. I actually find him annoying but I enjoyed hearing people talk about alcohol for an hour (often whilst I was drinking/drunk). I’m delighted he got sober and have ordered the book.

Beautiful tulips @TickleMeElmo1 - what a lovely thing to spend your booze-savings on. I love a vanilla slice.

That's so lovely to hear what your DH said @VillageIdiott - we are all so proud of you too, but to have it said out loud, in the face of someone who was trying to lead you astray, just brilliant. I hope it pricked your DM's conscience.

Encouraging news on the scan @ShyMaryEllen hope the letter is good.

Sorry about the latest cottage @WendyWagon knickers indeed. Any thatch involved...? 😉

Sid and I just off to cricket. Strength and courage, brave shipmates. xx

@REP22you are a card. I do like a 'thatch' 70s teenager me.

I've just made a strawberry and fresh cream sponge after watching Nonnas on Netflix. I can't usually bend down to the geriatric (but won't expire) old oven. It's the drugs man.

I hope you all don’t mind me posting so much. I just wanted to ask about personal experiences around the first few weeks.

I felt ok first 2 days but last 3 days I’ve had a lingering headache most of the day, the usual 400mg ibuprofen hasn’t really helped. According to my Apple Watch I’ve been sleeping nearly 9 hours each night, but waking up exhausted and have little energy in the day. This is very unlike me as I’m generally very active. My body just feels so tired and achy. I even had a nap today which is very unlike me.

I’ve been reading about sobriety fatigue and it looks like I might be going through that? I didn’t drink every day on a regular basis but prior to stopping I was drinking pretty heavily as was on holiday and then extended that holiday at home too so was drinking most days for about 3 weeks.

Just wanted to check in and see how others felt in this early part of their journey. I appreciate we’re all different. I’m just feeling a little low today (despite the pretty tulips and vanilla slice)

Hi try not worry and don’t worry about posting when you need to. It really helps early on. I felt like this and makes sense you would be exhausted after all that drinking. I’m starting to feel better again post 80 days and felt really good in waves. It just takes time. A good multivitamin and extra b12 and b1 should help. Alcohol depletes b vitamins. It also messes with our hormones and dopamine system so all of this needs to recalibrate. You’ll be grand soon

Thank you @Sunshinebound99 I already take b12 each day and got B1 today and took a double dose. I’m going to make some more nutritious meals this coming week. I haven’t been motivated to cook and make healthy meals when feeling like this so that doesn’t help either.

@TickleMeElmo1when I first gave up drinking I use to have a nap everyday. It was like I needed to catch on on normal sleep. Same true of fluids, I needed water.
It will even out but one thing I can do now is go back to sleep if I wake in the night. I couldn't do that for over twenty years!

Hello and hope everyone has had a good Saturday!

Have had a week of mental ups and downs but am feeling better today. Thank god for the weekend. I went to a small drinks party at a neighbour's tonight and it was nice; there were plenty of AF choices.

@Onewildandpreciouslife and @ShyMaryEllen I hope your scans went well last week!

@TickleMeElmo1 I identify a lot with what you posted about your drinking, including hiding it from my DH and also carefully calibrating my drinking in an attempt to stay on the right of functional (though every now and again I would miscalculate and get totally sloshed). It's great that you told your DH! As someone who has detoxed and then relapsed more times than I care to count, I've also had the night sweats and the fatigue, and they do go away fairly quickly if you stick with it.

@TwoNicePuppies well done for picking yourself up and jumping back on the train so quickly.

@VillageIdiott it's a great achievement that you managed to navigate the last few days sober!

@REP22 I love the photo of Sid at the polling booth. Very belated thanks too for the socks recommendation for DS; that's a great idea. We have a Mountain Warehouse in the city centre, so I will go on a sock mission.

@WendyWagon fingers crossed for you that the new meds suit you! It's a shame what you say about new builds being harder to sell. Having lived in plenty of older houses over the years that were drafty and damp, I would think a new build would be very appealing. Btw your cake sounds delicious.

Next week I'm really going to try to focus on doing positive things for myself every day: headspace meditation and so on. Last week my head went a bit crazy and I spent some time arguing with people on MN (under a different username). Weirdly enough, arguing with people on MN never ever brings me joy. Duh. It's like I get into a slightly self-destructive mode and do things that foster negativity, when I should be doing the opposite.

Wishing everyone a peaceful Sunday tomorrow.

Morning all.
So good to hear from you @elusivehope - a week of positivity sounds a great idea.

Good luck with your event today @VillageIdiott

Not great news on the scans unfortunately- it’s probably too outing to say more at the moment but they are looking at various treatment options so will have a plan in a week’s time.

Still sober! I’m long enough into this game to know that I would only be drinking alcohol for its anaesthetic purposes, which seems a bit pointless given all the downsides

@Onewildandpreciouslife I'm so sorry to hear it's not the news you were hoping for. We'll done for staying sober. I hope the treatment plan can be started quickly.