DRY 5

[allhailqueenmab]

Starting this before the old one gets filled up!
this is the thread for the alcohol free.
Join us!

[Tortoiseonthehalfshell]

That part of the book shocked me as well, CornChips! I always prided myself on never, ever driving if I'd had more than one drink. But mornings are another matter.

I think some of the AA people would call your driving thing a 'God shot' - one of those little messages that remind you of the danger of drinking, but without the disaster. Did you do okay with a park picnic? That sounds great, actually. I can't wait for the days to get longer here so I can do that with my girls.

[CornChips]

Good morning! The driving thing certainly shook me up terribly and it completely swept away all thoughts of alcohol. It did feel like a reminder of how dangerous and deadly it is, even when you are not actually drinking. I just feel so lucky that there was no-one driving anywhere near me. I still feel very unsettled- but that is probably no bad thing.

The park picnic was great, thank you. :) And, I invited the mother of another little DC who my childminder takes. I have always liked her, and we had exchanged numbers, but I always felt a bit shy to actually invite here for a coffee or anything. So we all got fish and chips and chatted in the park while the Dcs played and that was really peaceful. So maybe I have started a new friendship too.

[guggenheim]

Morning,just wanted to say that this stretch of sobriety is beginning to feel good.The blogs are wonderful,offering an alongside voice to aa. I only go to one meeting and it is great. i'm beginning to make some scary plans for the future which involve studying,rather than sitting indoors drinking and doing bugger all.

I will be 2 months sober in a couple of days time. I hope that I'm making progress again and I intend to do my best to stay sober or if I fall on my arse,to get up and get back to sobriety as soon as possible.

[Lucy2610]

Morning all!
Cornchips - me too on the over the limit in the am thing, and I would have been caught in uniform too!
Guggenheim - make scary plans, it helps me stay on the path - particularly when they come off! :)

[ClearHeadBrightEyes]

Hello all

Just checking as not been around for a while. Now on day 24....A bit shocked I am still here really.

It is the peripheral stuff that has shocked me about not drinking - better skin, better sleep, clear head, more money....

Went out with friends this week for a boozy night but stuck to non alcoholic drinks which saved a small fortune. What did shock me was how tedious these kind of things are sober! The conversation can be dull and frankly irrelevant. However it was enlightening witnessing behaviour through sober goggles rather than the bottom of a wine glass.

I keep thinking whether I want to stay AF or if after a break I try and moderate.

The reality of what I am doing is showing me how much alcohol was a factor and how it influences peoples behaviour.

Anyway I am going to stick at this for now and see where it takes me

[Fattymcbatty]

Hi all,

Can I ask a silly question? Last night I felt like drinking but instead i bought some alcohol free wine from waitrose and had a couple of glasses of that. Want actually very nice. It was 'less than 0.5% alcohol' and today I feel like I've cheated and have a blot on my clear run if not drinking for 10 days. I could cry! Am I being silly?

On another note, last night I went and bought sone stuff for a coffee morning this morn and a snacky picnic for after school as it's the last day. DH had a right moan at me as it was sausage rolls, cocktail sausages, mini muffins and Pringles (and biscuits for the mums at the coffee morning). He said 'what about our children's health, it's all sugar, blah blah....' It's not as if I give the kids this stuff often, it's an end of term treat. It really took the shine off it for me and I'm feeling quite unexpectedly down today when I thought I'd be feeling really happy.

[Fattymcbatty]

• wasn't, not want

[Lucy2610]

Hi FMcB
I drink alcohol free wine and beer and don't consider it a blip in the slightest as it has such a small amount of alcohol in it (and some beers are 0% alcohol). I also think it's very nice. Purists may disagree with me and I am aware that AA don't recommend.

Also sorry to hear that DH's comments made you feel glum. I treat my kids with these things too :)

Clearhead - congrats on 24 days and surviving a boozy night out! Keep going - it only gets better :)

[CornChips]

Hi FMcB.I am also sorry about your DH's reaction- I have also made a picnic tea for tonight, with cold sausages, cold ham, cold mini chicken kievs. That happens at least once a week! And I would class us as being pretty healthy- I am a bit fixated on food.

I do drink Beck's blue if out, but never alcohol-free wine as I hate it. I personally don't consider that a blip, and think alcohol-free beer is just really nice sometimes- with an Indian takeawy or something. I found Beck's blue to be an imperative in the first few weeks! I was at a 60th birthday the first 2 weeks I went AF, and drank Becks blue like anything... it made me feel less conspicuous, as our friends are massive massive drinkers and I have a history of drinking masses with them..... Don't feel like crying. I think you have to do what gets you through.

[Tortoiseonthehalfshell]

My DH bought me a bottle of alcohol free wine a couple of weeks ago, as a special treat for something - can't remember what, honestly. And it was nice, but it felt dangerous so I haven't drunk it again. Even if it did contain some alcohol, though, I wouldn't have counted it as a blip. There's more alcohol in the vanilla essence I licked off a spoon once (unthinkingly. Don't do that, it tastes vile), or the angostura bitters I mix with a soft drink.

I don't think I'd be impressed with a DH telling me off for the things I feed the kids, at ALL. Can you talk to him about that, tell him it ruined your day and hurt your feelings?

All these picnicky stories are making me feel really jealous. It's cold and dark and raining here, and it feels like it'll be cold and dark and raining forever.

[Bigglesfliesundone]

Hello everybody. Just catching up. Sorry too to hear about your dh reaction FMcB. I found that early on every little thing anyone said was clearly designed to really upset and annoy me! It was a bloody silly reaction from him, and feeling fragile doubles absolutely everything doesn't it? I'm 'guilty' of chucking the kids snacky rubbish at times - we all are .

Alcohol free stuff. Well, I used to drink that when I was pregnant or trying another half hearted attempt, but to be honest, not mad keen on the taste of them, so I just don't bother. I don't think 0.5 or whatever it is though could even be considered drinking and if it was the only thing available I would definitely drink it!

Life is fairly quiet in the Biggles household. Hot, sticky, skint usual sort of thing . We have managed to blag a week away though !!! A colleague of DH has bought a cottage on the coast and as it isn't quite ready (as in the lawn hasn't been mowed or something..) she is letting us have it at a third of the price in a couple of weeks. I can't wait! DS is refusing to come (nearly 15...) so we are hoping big dd will come and live at ours for a week to look after him, whilst we take 8 year old dd.

I am coming up to nine months now and honestly don't think about drinking very much at all. Of course, I am constantly wary and know things can change in a heartbeat but I really do believe I may have cracked it for now. I have managed to start running again - not very far or very fast, but it's making a massive difference to my mental state and if I can do in this heat, I'm thinking I can do it anytime !!

Have a great day all.

x

[Lucy2610]

Yay Biggles running again :) Congrats I know how hard it is not to when it is part of our thing. I ran 5K last Sunday and almost melted in the early morning heat!! Double congrats for the nine months :D

[CornChips]

Hi everyone,
Hope you are all well and fine. We are away this weekend, and I have made myself designated driver so no temptation. :)
I am in awe of Biggles, Lucy, everyone who ha racked up so much time!
'See you' all Monday. :)

[TeapotDictator]

Poking my head around the thread door as I'm just back from an Allen Carr seminar about stopping drinking so.... I guess that makes me an ex-drinker Doesn't feel real somehow, but then I used his method to stop smoking and that worked brilliantly.

I booked myself on the course a couple of weeks ago so have already told a few people I'm stopping - with mixed reactions. It really is fascinating to observe other people's response as it says so much about their own relationship to alcohol. I have been a binge drinker really, could go days without alcohol but have far too many (hazy) memories of getting far too drunk, ending up in embarrassing or dangerous situations, and frankly I just want my life back. No more hangovers. No more deep burning shame. Bring it on! :)

Hello all.... !

[Bigglesfliesundone]

hi teapot I always fancied going on an Allen Carr stop smoking day, just to see if it really worked as the book didn't I didn't know there were drinking ones -what was it like?

It's great this thread is! I am nearly nine months in ( have I mentioned that before ) and there are people here from one day to years and years. Some fab blog writers and loads of support. Hang in there

[TeapotDictator]

Hi Biggles :) The sad thing is, that I've actually been lurking on this thread since it started all those months ago. So mentally I've been flirting with stopping for a while. It does indeed seem like a great place to be. I am not much of a one for talk of buses and the like, I used to hang out on the conception threads years ago and couldn't handle that kind of talk then either...

I've known about the AC alcohol seminars and books for years. In fact I bought the book what must be 10+ years ago, read a bit of it, and left it there. The seminars are MUCH better than just reading the book. I have been free of fags for years now, and honestly would be sick if I even had to have a drag. I used to be a right Fag-Ash Lil

It was quite moving today, lots of people there and of course all there with the same intention. One man said at the start that if he didn't stop drinking it would kill him, and that he completely identified as an alcoholic. He left at lunchtime and didn't return, I think it must all have been a bit much, or maybe the rest of us didn't come over as having as big a problem as he thought he had. I don't know.

[Bigglesfliesundone]

.......NINE MONTHS TODAY .

If anyone had told me that Monday morning in October when I was lying in bed too hungover to go to work, crying my eyes out and feeling like the most vile person who had ever lived, cringing at my appalling behaviour over the weekend, loathing myself and thinking 'what is the point', that nine months later I would be running 4 or 5 kilometres most days(bar injury ), actually wanting to go out and do things with her children, losing my temper about once every two months instead of daily, going to bed and remembering the evening every night and generally being able to finally face up to things without running away; I would have laughed my head off.

It may not be long in the great scheme of things but it is a miracle to me.

Where is everyone ? I hope you're all enjoying the weather and drinking lots of cool fizzy!

Happy Monday x

[Haggismcbaggis]

Well done Biggles 9 months. I would make some pregnancy related sobriety gag. But I won't. It's amazing the time you and Lucy and all the "long term" people have racked up. Really inspiring for those of us starting out! Glad you are back running too.

I've been rather up and down! Last week I - fell into a neighbours pond, lost my car keys in the park and fell so badly down my front steps in a rain storm that I ended up in an ambulance with suspected break. My goodness - anyone would think I was pissed. But I wasn't .

Very down yesterday. Still feel very distant from DH. Really need to speak to him about why I am giving up alcohol. He still thinks it's just for the 100 days. And was saying - oh you must have a day off from that when we go to X restaurant on holiday.

Hope everyone is doing ok. Day 44 here. In some way it's gone quick - in other ways it's draaaaaaged.

[Haggismcbaggis]

Oh - and "hi" Teapot. Really interesting your post about the Allen Carr workshop. How are you feeling now. You are most welcome to the thread.

[NewNameNewDay]

Hello everyone. Starting again after a reasonably successful few weeks AF earlier in the spring, and then a catastrophic plunge back into 1.5 bottles of wine per day habit. Very predictable, very salutary - but my new name says it all! I really am going to try to kick it this time, and I know how much I will value your support (I hesitate to offer any of my own in return but am very happy to provide virtual hugs/encouragement/gentle kicks as appropriate!). There are some amazing stories on this thread and so much positivity - well done to you all, and I really hope to be starting a great story of my own too, for the sake of my health, my family and my future. Fingers crossed!

[Haggismcbaggis]

Welcome NewName! Its great to have you here. I can recommend lots of Bubble Hour podcasts - I don't know if you've listened to any. Something about listening to people talk about sobriety that reaches a different part of the brain to the written word.

[CornChips]

Hello everyone. :) Just checking in.

[Haggismcbaggis]

Hey Chips!

[CornChips]

[Tortoiseonthehalfshell]

Quiet around here this week, what? Good to have you around, NewName.

Nothing much to say around here. Writing. Blogging. Not drinking.