To ask if you drink alcohol everyday?

[knockknockw]

I’m having a break from alcohol as I’ve drank far too much recently. I’m about 10 days alcohol free atm.

Been thinking about my drinking a lot recently, and I’ve realised whenever I try to keep 3-5 days alcohol free, it inevitably creeps up again until im drinking everyday again. Not a lot mind, one or two a day and always with dinner, (more on weekends)

does anyone else drink daily with dinner?

And if you don’t drink, how’s life without alcohol?

Enjoying a drink occasionally is fine.

But not that great to have one every single day

Pregnant now but before our rule was only alcohol at home on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Even then, only 1-2 drinks a night. It’s just not worth it for health reasons. I’d often have a nice alcohol free drink in the evening week days so it felt like a treat

No, only when I go out to socialise which is about once a month.

Once every two or three weeks. Sometimes I’ll go 3 months.
My friend just decided to stop one day and she’s 460 days sober now, she’s incredible. She said it’s like she has a whole new life without it.
I do love a cocktail though, I’ll never stop completely

I used to. Then I started the 5:2, which is pretty much a permanent thing with me now, so that was automatically 2 alcohol free days a week. Then I started having an alcohol free "bridge" between those 2 days, so 3 days a week. That's standard, but now I'm aiming for 4. I managed it this week, but that's possibly because I went to a party and drank too much on Saturday. I'd had a tough day and the compulsion to self medicate that bit too much ran away with me. Didn't make a fool of myself (I checked!), but had a hangover the next day.

I'll do an alcohol free month about once a year. I do feel a bit better the first week or two, then it bottoms out to just feeling slightly bored.

The next target is holiday drinking. Just because I'm in France I don't HAVE to drink unlimited wine every evening. It doesn't enhance an energetic camping trip with the kids!

Funnily enough, I think I drink too much because I'm trying to block the pain I feel when I think about the vulnerable, and the horrific things they have to go through. Non-human animals and humans alike.

When I was still with my ex she justified her heavy drinking because she "was a busy mum and needed to unwind". When her drinking started really damaging our relationship, she justified her drinking because I was "such a wanker". After we split up, she justified her drinking because she "had the right to have fun". When our children got put on the At-Risk register due to her alcoholism, she justified her continued drinking due to "having to deal with social workers". After social services said that I must have our children full-time otherwise they're going in to care, she justified her drinking because of "how much she missed her children". When she went on to miss months of contact with our kids, she justified her drinking as she was "just having a bad day" or relationship problems with her boyfriend de jour.

She could always find something to point to as the reason for how much she was drinking. She'd find things to dwell on that allowed her to break her promises to herself that she'd stop.

I understand her thought processes as I used to do much the same during my repeated attempts to stop smoking. Even today, 15 years after my last cigarette, I very occasionally find myself thinking mad things like "Well, if WWIII breaks out, I might as well get some cigarettes" or "When my mum dies, people would understand if I sparked up". How insane is that? But that's addictions for you. They mess with your head to make the unjustifiable feel justified.

I was having a glass of wine or two with dinner every night until I saw a photo of myself and looked like a triangle. I was horrified when I jumped on the scales and for the last couple of months have only had the odd drink on social occasions and no longer drink at home. Have lost a stone in weight, am sleeping much better and my peri-menopausal flushes seem to be more manageable. I didn’t see the benefits immediately but making ‘one small change’ is working for me and hasn’t been difficult. My only challenge has been boozy chums who dareIsay seem keen to derail my good intentions - one bought me a large bottle of gift-wrapped gin for my birthday when she knew I wasn’t drinking. I didn’t want it and passed it on.

Great post @HowardTJMoon

No. I like to have a drink, more than my husband. Usually this means that if we open a bottle of wine together we will each have one glass and then I will finish the bottle by myself over the next two or three days. But if we don't open a bottle I could go for weeks without drinking. I would guess I drink 2-3 days per week on average but rarely enough in one go to be over the limit to drive.

I would actually love to, but alas lack the organisation skills required to make sure I have any to hand most of the time and when I do, I end up being ‘too busy’ to finish everything I need to do so I can sit and have one. So, yeah, that wish is not panning out for me up to now and can’t see it changing. It is my ideal retirement though if I ever get to that point.

I rarely drink at home. If my partner and I don't go put on a Saturday night, Ioght have a couple of bottles of beer at home but not always. If I go put on a Saturday, I have 3 pints. No more; sometimes less.

I sometimes go for a drink with a colleague after work on a Friday, and we have 1 pint each and then go home.

A couple of times a month, my partner and I go for a drink after work on a Wednesday.

I don't really monitor it. If I want to go out for A drink, I do. But I can also go for a few weeks having nothing at all.

There have been periods in my life when I've drunk more but as soon as I realised I'd had a (usually only one) drink every day for 2 weeks, I stopped and had nothing for a couple of weeks.

I've never drank during the week. My mum and step dad were alcoholics, so gave myself a rule to never drink during the week (except abroad on holiday) Il have a drink usually one night every second weekend, sometimes less. Last drank end of last month and not going to till my holiday end of this month. I honestly prefer not drinking as think it makes me a lot more productive at the weekends.

We used to drink every weekend, once or sometimes two nights and would binge, wasted too much money and the weekend felt wasted and then I'd feel rubbish on Monday but stopped it last summer and honestly much better without. I've also stopped drinking spirits unless I'm out for an event, usually just have cider now or some wine.

I don’t drink much at all these days. Now and again I’ll have 1 glass of wine or a Gin & lemonade on a weekend, or a couple of glasses if out with friends. 12yrs ago I was diagnosed with a serious health condition, not linked to drinking but alcohol can make it worse. Before that I was drinking a few bottles of wine Thursday - Sunday, definitely too much. I really don’t miss it at all, I don’t miss waking up feeling crap and anxious. You do get used to it and feel a lot better for it. I’m 47 now and life is going pretty fast so want to remain as healthy as I can, especially with my health condition.

Yes you can tell people who drink too much as their face looks a bit flushed

Quitting alcohol in 2020 was the best decision I ever made. I genuinely enjoy my life more now. It's like everything could only truly be fun if there was a drink involved. I lost weight, a sleep better, the only downside is people find it awkward. Sometimes people ask me when I might drink again. Some relationships have changed and I worry about my children drinking because I struggle to see the positives in it these days but know it's not up to me to decide that for them.

No I don't drink everyday. We usually go out once a week and I usually have 2 drinks. I don't really drink at home much, only occasionally if the weather is nice and we sit outside and have a few drinks.

No, I like a drink and drink most weekends, heavily sometimes, but never everyday, very rarely during the week except on holiday

There was a period when I thought it was getting a bit much over a weekend, so now I only drink when I'm out or have guests.

No - once or twice a month or less for me.

I drank a lot more when younger but years of TTC, pregnancy and breastfeeding and I just got out of the habit.

Now it's only if I go out or an occasional night in with DH

I used to drink most days. It creeps up on you. A few years ago I did Dry January and it felt so nice I just kept going through till summer. Since then I don't drink much at all and I'm glad I don't. I feel more present in my own life now. Good luck with it OP. Nobody ever woke up in the morning wishing they'd drunk more the night before.

Agree with this too. It really does affect appearance.

I've given it up. Since peri, drinking has made me feel terribly anxious and shit (even one glass) and I've been quite astounded by the difference.

My skin is smooth and clear, my sleep is soooo much better and I wake up feeling refreshed rather than a low level of groggy. The effect on my mood has been the most striking. It really was a good decision for me.

Yeah. It's really awful when you are mindful yourself.

So well done! love this x

For me, i don't see the point in drinking alcohol unless i'm going to get drunk, which takes quite a lot!
So i only drink on holiday and at camping weekends, maybe 5/6 times a year. I still don't get hangovers though 😄

My dad drinks every night and has done for decades. He thinks he is great if he goes 1/2 nights without a drink - he doesnt see he is an alcoholic. He is completely reliant on it and creates an excuse that he cant sleep without it - despite the fact all it does is put him into an early sleep and he wakes in the early hours of the morning and cant go back to sleep.

I dont see the attraction of drinking everyday, I certainly think that anyone that cant go a day or two without a drink has a problem. Everyone uses an excuse, busy stressful job, need it to relax, etc. There are lots of people including myself with busy stressful lives that find other healthy ways to relax.

I have seen too many lives being ruined by alcohol and people think if they aren't falling down drunk starting fights on it that that's ok. Its a terrible example to set for children that you need to drink everyday.

If you drink every day in the week. I'd like to ask why. Why did it all start?