The Continuing Support Thread for those who want an alcohol free life - Autumn 2026

[Onewildandpreciouslife]

Hello and welcome. I’m glad you’ve found your way here. We are a bunch of people who are trying to live a life free of 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, solidarity 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.

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.

Whatever your stage on the AF journey, and whatever you’re going through, someone here will have gone through it too. 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.
Keep trying. Sobriety may not be easy - but I guarantee you that it is worth it.
Come on in.

@Lovechicken With you on costs! When I find myself thinking some 'posh' AF drink such as a bottle of sparkling presse is dear at, say, £4.50, I remind myself that I'd readily pay a tenner or more for a bottle of wine in the old days, or £7 for a glass of red if I was out, and I wouldn't stop at one! With AF drinks I tend to buy a 'posh' one on Saturday and have half Saturday and half Sunday.

The onion rings sound yummy! Onions are actually very good for you, they have antiviral properties, just the thing as winter colds start to rear their heads.

I had 2/3 of a curry I bought today (chicken and spinach) with a chapatti, and I'm going to have the leftover 1/3 in a jacket potato tomorrow. It was lovely!

Mother Root is lovely, if anyone is looking for a treat-like Christmas drink. The main one is ginger, and you drink it with soda, or fruit juice of choice. In a gin glass with ice and a slice, it's delicious, and strongly-flavoured enough to feel like an 'adult' drink. It's the same price as a bottle of spirits, which I find maddening when there's no extra tax on it, but I can recommend it.

I also like Little Rick CBD drinks. Again, chilled or over ice in a gin glass they have an 'evening' quality to them.

I had leftover takeaway curry to day too😀

Need to eat some of them onions, I’m drowing in snot 🤧

@Lovechicken interested on the magnesium drinks. Do they help with sleep? I’d be interested to try them.

Im a v big fan of the 0% tanqueray gin, tastes exactly the same without the booze and I often have one with tonic. Surprising how long the bottles lasting but I suppose that’s because I can actually just have one when it’s zero %

@FiloPasty its these from a company called Healthy Metal. They are supposed to help you sleep but I suffer dreadful insomnia and even sleeping tablets don’t get me to sleep so I can’t say they’ve done that for me!

they just taste really refreshing and feel like a grown up drink. I’ve tried mother root which was like a very expensive grown up ginger beer but it gave me terrible heartburn - as does the peach and ginger Trip which I also like (apart from the heartburn).

If you’re on Instagram, you can usually see a free trial of the healthy metal - it’s £4 or thereabouts for postage and they send you 5 sachets. So you could try before committing.

I’ve posted an image which should hopefully show!

@PhantomOfAllKnowledge it was actually the really cheap crisp type onion rings from Tesco - so probably about 0.5% actual onion and the rest just crap!

I like the Mango and Pineapple ones, but am less keen on the Lemon and Raspberry - I find those ones bitter.

I take a glass of the M&P to bed with me, alongside a carafe of water to top it up if/when I wake in the night. I don't know if they work or not, but I like the taste, and I'm a fan of a night time ritual.

May I join you all? I’m on day 260, and no-one is more amazed than me! But suddenly, out of nowhere, a little voice has started popping up now and then saying “maybe you can have the odd one”. I actually know that I really can’t, and even more daft is that I don’t actually want to! I really do prefer sober me, but it’s thrown me a bit. I went down a bit of a google rabbit hole and apparently I’m smack bang in the middle of the ‘complacent stage’, so that thought makes sense I guess. Has anyone else experienced this?

Welcome @Seareana definitely normal, we call it the wine witch. I’m over a year now and still occasionally just have a random craving but don’t succumb, I sort of acknowledge it for what it is, think about my reasons (shame, embarrassment, my health, my kids) push away the thought and divert my attention. It’s tough but this thread has been super helpful in that regard.

Complacency is easy to underestimate. I thought I was well past ever wanting a drink again, then I did. The trouble is that the old neural pathways are still there, so if we give in, it's not long before we are back where we started.

There's an article in today's Guardian about it:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/nov/03/my-secret-life-as-a-relapsed-alcoholic-addiction-sober

Ah, I know exactly the ones you mean - covered in onion powder - amazingly good if you dip them in a glass of Coke 😆

Well done on 260 days @Seareana! That's amazing.

I'm the same with non-alcoholic wine @FiloPasty- glass is enough. A bottle lasts for ages in my fridge, which was unheard of before.

@Lovechicken my sleep was horrific at the start. Kept waking in a panic in the middle of the night, then would toss and turn. Last night I slept for 9 and a half hours! For years I convinced myself I was a night owl, now I actually get excited about going to bed. I haven't tried the Healthy Metal drinks, but I've seen Dawn O'Porter advertising them and fancy giving them a try. I like the Trip magnesium ones - the wild strawberry. They def help me feel more relaxed.

Tonight I had my first night out since deciding to get sober and I had an amazing time. Drank a tin of 0% G&T when everyone else was on the cocktail tins, had a mocktail with dinner, then a 0% beer in the pub and a couple more 0% beers at the gig. I laughed, I danced, I chatted to people. Didn't feel like I missed out at all. Left afterwards on a high and couldn't believe I was able to get into my car and drive home. I'm still buzzing, which is why I'm on here and not in bed! Best feeling ever though.

Morning all.

@ShyMaryEllen thank you so much for The Guardian article. Hugely interesting. I might take out a subscription. I love a real paper but I get very frustrated by the obsession with celebrities and certain royal figures.

I'm in quandary lads.
It turns out the barn conversion hasn't exchanged as expected. It's the runner up to the beautiful thatched cottage. £150k difference in price but no outbuildings. Hum.
No chance of moving before Christmas now. It will be January. My buyer has pulled their finger out.

I've reached the conclusion on eBay unless it's cheap it's not going to sell. Very disappointed.

I had Sainsbury's fresh lemonade last night. Very sharp but I like that. Blue top chaser.

Morning all. Good to hear we are enjoying some good AF alternatives.

Day 4 for me today. Sleep still 💩 but slightly better last night.

Thanks to @ShyMaryEllen for the Guardian article which really hit home to me that alcohol is a drug!!! Of course we all
know that but make reasons for drinking without directly admitting it. It helps us relax, it helps us be more confident, it helps us forget our worries and problems. Well no shit Sherlock, drugs do that.

I expect most of us don’t get to 4pm and think “right time for my crack pipe” but that bottle of wine is effectively that for us problem drinkers. The article really highlights this for me and makes me realise truly that moderation will never work for me. I’ll always be seeking the high, not the “one glass”.

I don’t really like this analogy as it’s borderline insulting in my opinion, but I read on another forum “once you become a pickle, you can’t go back to being a cucumber” and I think for the first time I’m really starting to accept this.

@WendyWagon buying and selling is such a bleeding nightmare - in the long run, everyone is negatively impacted except lawyers and estate agents. I’ve said for ages that buying houses should be the same as buying cars - you get told the price and you buy it or not. No being outbid, no gazumping, no buyers pulling out. I genuinely believe we’d all benefit as most people are in a chain of some sort which can fall apart at any moment. I hope things work out for you soon.

Right - off to get ready for work.

Have a happy AF Wednesday team sober! ❤️

@Lovechicken you made me laugh out loud with the crack pipe!

I've been eating more since the weather turned and I've put on weight. Must stop with the donuts as I've bought new clothes.

I'm away for a few days next week. First holiday in three years. Eh up Yorkshire. I'm going to see my grandfathers house too ready for the family shindig at Christmas. My nephew is starting the family tree.

Morning all.
Glad you found us @Seareana . Ah yes, that snarky little voice saying “just have one”. If we could do that we wouldn’t have ended up where we did!!

I am listening to a brilliant book by Brad Stuhlberg called The Way of Excellence, and he talks about the danger of the plateau- when you first start doing something consistently, you make huge gains, but inevitably over time the gains become less obvious- although you can get sudden huge leaps in performance.

I love your post @CrazyCatMam - who would have thought that a sober gig could produce “the best feeling ever”. Maybe screenshot that post for when your own sneaky voice comes calling.

Glad the sleep is getting a bit better @Lovechicken

I will not drink today

Morning everyone!!

I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone’s response about your experiences with blood tests. It’s my turn today and I will let you all know how I get on. I’m so comfortable in my sobriety so no matter the results I will deal with it. I don’t ever want to drink and feel like I did in the past . I sometimes cry happy tears when I think about how far I’ve come in just 6 months.

My tests are to see where I am before potentially starting HRT- peri is really kicking in and as I’m not longer drinking I’m concentrating on looking after my health and well being. It’s about time!!

@Seareana welcome and congratulations!!! You’re in the best place to keep you going in a positive way

@endofthecorridoor so sorry to hear about your friend and so happy you joined us

I’ll catch up properly later

have a good day everyone

Morning all,

I‘ve found myself in a bit of a hole and am trying to dig myself out. I am trying to turn my sadness around and looking for the positives. I am not losing alcohol. I am gaining a life. Time. Health. Clarity.

Last night I played would you rather with DS (10). And he asked me would you rather… never drink tea again, or never drink wine again. It made me so ashamed that he knew that would be a difficult question for me to answer. So I turned it round into a positive. I was glad I got to tell him, I would rather never drink wine again because it is not good for my body, and tea is much better. I hope he will soon see the changes I am making to be a better mum for him.

Being able to just jump in my car and drive after a night out was definitely a “wow” moment for me!

I expect most of us don’t get to 4pm and think “right time for my crack pipe”

😂

@ShyMaryEllenthat article was so insightful. I’ve just ordered her book. Thank you. I’m day 4 today about to walk my dog and booked yoga tonight.

im so grateful my boss is on holiday this week so I can work from home all week. Interestingly this morning I woke feeling like I have a tiny bit more energy.

@CrazyCatMami remember during my 6 month AF going to a party having the most amazing time and driving home it felt revolutionary. That’s what I need to remind myself about.