If you don’t drink what do you do to relax?

[C1239]

I’ve never been a big drinker but I find now even a glass of wine or prosecco leaves me feeling not great the next day so I just don’t feel like the odd drink is worth it anymore. It must be an age thing?! Just wondering what other people do to get to get that relaxed feeling or just to feel the difference between a week day evening and a weekend if they tend not to drink?

I do like a glass of wine or a gin but can go months without a drink. Music when I'm cooking can give me the same Friday feeling.

I used to drink but it doesn't really agree with me anymore. It is all just a state of mind really. The only reason you find it 'relaxing' is because you have linked the habit with your downtime. I work full time and am busy doing dinner etc when I get home so my downtime is when I sit down and watch TV with DH/take the dog for a walk/have a bath etc. I find all those things relaxing and can't understand why I used to think drink was relaxing as it actually gave me anxiety the next day.

Chocolate. Too much chocolate...

I do drink at the moment but have stopped for months at a time. I love exercise, then a hot bath with music and then getting into clean sheets with shaven legs more delicious than wine!

Read on a sofa. Do 10 mins of yoga or of meditation. Silly dancing to music to cher or aretha franklin!

I think more and more people are turning away from alcohol. The hangover from even a small amount and the stress and anxiety that goes with it means more and more people are opting out.
The company that invents hangover free alcohol will do well.

Cry

Watch a good programme or film, have a bath, cook a nice meal, chat to DC or DH, go for a walk, listen to a favourite playlist and have a proper singalong to it, head massage from DH.

And eat a shitload of chocolate but that needs knocking on the head 🤣

I like alcohol free stuff and my cbd vape

It's a mind set. The rest are just props used to trigger that mindset.

Curl up with a hot choc with whipped cream and a decent book
nice long bath with lush or nice bubble bath
glass bottle of coke

Reading, crocheting, scrolling crap on here, Netflix or similar. And no feeling rough the next day 😀

Cooking, netflix, a bit of Ben and Jerry's.

I would have the odd drink but find I'm more anxious the next day so I stopped more or less altogether. I love a pamper night so having a bath, doing a face mask or scrub and my nails and tan. Feel like I'm going into the weekend fancy! I also like going for dinner or meeting friends for coffee. Sometimes I'll still go out out but not drink alcohol. I've only really missed it once or twice in the last year and then I've had a mocktail.

Cbd oil is good for anxiety. But in terms of wind downs other than a bath or a massage im still not to sure

Maybe meditating or lying in a dark room and listening to a podcast/binging a good series

Basically just you time doing something you love?

Id love to know what others do because i hate drinking to be my clutch even if its just to take the edge off. I want a much more convenient healthy outlet without it being the gym/walk something that involves leaving the house when ive been out running around like a headless chicken all day

Been dry for 10 years plus so books films tv series are my chill out things and talking books as well. I loathe what most people enjoy as a night out karaoke gigs. Love my bingo night though on a Thursday.

Eat, vape, watch films.

I put my candles on, have a shower and get changed into pjs. This makes me feel relaxed and in 'wind down' mode. If I fancy a treat I'll have either chocolate or a nice pudding.

Last drank alcohol in 1996! 😄

I've never drunk so I am not sure what I do if that makes sense, I just 'be'.

Super early night, like 8pm, book and bed with clean sheets

A tall long glass of something non alcoholic or a mocktail

Hot bath, curling up on the sofa with a book or Netflix (currently watching The Crown), candles, yoga….it’s a mindset I think.

Have a bath
Read a book
Lie on bed with a face mask on

If it's Spring/Autumn/Winter
PJ's on.
Cup of tea (maybe a special posh teabag if I want it to feel different from normal).
Maybe a bit of chocolate.
Sometimes I'll have saved a podcast or bit of TV to watch.
Candle.

If it's summer:
In the garden
Feet up
A cold 'special' drink (lemonade or appletiser normally).
Podcast.