DRY 7!!!

[mollyonthemove]

The new thread for the alcohol free and the wanna be free . come and join us

Brilliant desgust isn't it !

Im a bit worried about some up coming family events where the pressure to drink a lot is never ending.
The constant go on ,just have one etc just doesn't stop.
in the past I just said I had a headache and they left me alone but eyed me suspiciously

maybe Ill just say I don't drink anymore but really don't want the probing that will follow.
Any tips welcome.

PinkPop My advice is just say you're on a health kick and no booze is part of the plan :) I have also been known to stretch the truth and say I'm on antibiotics - that normally shuts people down without question. Sharing the truth before you are ready can be wobble inducing so take care of you. What you drink and why is no one's business but yours!

Pink, I'd just say you're on a health kick...then further down the track say you enjoyed so much how you were feeling you decided to carry on

Im not interested in discussing this with my extended family unless I want everyone in the village and beyond to know

I don't tell them an awful lot about my life because they "overshare" and distort things to feed off the drama# whole other thread there !

Im not going to wobble, I just cant stand their overbearing insistence on making people do what they want ,not just drinking but over eating as well.
I think there is an element of justifying their own habits as well.

Im just going to go with " I don't drink alcohol" and leave it at that!

The trouble is if I say Im on a health kick, they will make it their mission to get me to drink and it will become the "thing" at that event until someone "wins" They wont !
Its awful really ...

My DH doesn't like particular food ,really not like as in it makes him feel sick.
They all take turns in trying to make him eat it and think its very funny

He is polite but you can see how wearing and fucked up they are!

• disclaimer ,I see them only on duty visits, so about twice a year.

Geez, they sound delightful . Yes probably best in those circs to spell it out clearly!

Pmed you Desgust

I am going with the truth.
I don't drink alcohol as it doesn't make me feel very well!

PinkPop - I'd go with a kind of "I'm not drinking alcohol" turn of phrase. No doubt they'll prod further ("ooh! How long for? Why? What's WRONG with you?" etc etc etc yawwwn ) and then you can go for a casual shrug of the shoulders and just say "I don't know, will see. Right now I can't see the point of it and am enjoying not drinking." What can they say to that? Fuck 'em.

I have used a thousand and one excuses;

On antibotics
Doing Dry July
Doing Lent
Doing Dry January
A friend and I bet each other we could go 4 weeks - 6 months- 1 year without
designated driver
Alcohol doesn't agree with me
health kick

etc etc

Teapot They see anything like that as a challenge, we all have to eat and drink to excess to prove that they are good hosts and that everything is rosy,"aren't we having a great time"

They will prod and go on and on ,involve others and try to trick DH into eating food he doesn't like .

Actually Im going with" I don't drink, it doesn't make me feel very well" ( which is the truth) and just ignore them .

I have family also who get a kick out of that sort of thing too. I am not close to them, shall we say. Do you really have to go? It sounds ghastly.

Feeling good today. No triggery feelings. House is also really clean!!!! AND I took DS swimming.... and helped him with his phonics. Hopefully coming out of my slump. :)

I will go - thanks you all for listening.
My house is really clean too,I walk/jogged 4 miles and have lost weight
Onwards !

Have been drinking (to excess) for over 20 years. Don't drink much through week but weekends I tend to binge. Final straw was this weekend when babysitting grandchildren. Had promised oh and dd would not drink but did. Feel like the worst g-parent in the world. Even feel physically sick typing this as I can see I have a problem with drink. I need help / support but don't know where to turn.

Morning all..... woke at 4.30 bouncing off the walls. Think I might go for one of these 'runs' I hear so much about on this thread.

withme (I'm not going to call you disgusted ) please don't beat yourself up and please do know that you are far from alone. There is nothing inherently wrong or bad about you that you have done this - it's the alcohol. The feelings of shame just serve to keep you/us drinking. Please believe me when I tell you that you are in a privileged position to have realised that you have a problem and need to stop - thousands of people never have that realisation.

In terms of help, it worked for me to sign up for an Allen Carr seminar because it gave me a focus and a date "not too far away" for me to stop definitively. It's expensive (about £200) but I really like the Allen Carr method and had used it to stop smoking. It also comes with a money back guarantee.

Other than that I can also recommend signing up to Soberistas - I think it's £13 for a 3 month subscription. Lots of people blog anonymously daily on there and there is a live chat room for support. I used that to talk/share during the early weeks and found it helpful.

I also read loads and loads in the early weeks and took myself off to bed very early in the evenings armed with my Kindle. It really helped to read people's stories and realise that I identified with lots of people who had successfully stopped. It helped reframe my mind from thinking that only really really out of control people needed to stop and to realise that there were loads of binge drinkers/problem drinkers who had also reached that decision (I identified as a binge drinker) and felt so much better for it.

Books I'd recommend are:
Jason Vale 'Kick the Drink'
Lotta Dann 'Mrs D Is Going Without'
Della Galton 'Ice and a Slice' (fiction)
Rachel Black 'Sober is the new Black'

Good luck :)

Fantastic post, TeapotDictator - Withme, as said, realising you have a problem puts you way ahead of most

Well, day 8 and this Monday is worlds away from last. I feel a bit tired and groggy but that's due to DTDs crawling into our bed at silly o'clock! Off to the gym tonight but will be taking it easy. Am thinking I might start a lighter version of the Exante diet next month (I've done Cambridge before and know it works, but I think I will take a slower approach)

Sorry withme i cross-posted with you and then ran off. Hope you did not think I was ignoring you!

Teapot has great advice, .... I use blogs very heavily. Some terrific books on Amazon also. Two I like alot;

www.amazon.co.uk/Drink-Intimate-Relationship-Between-Alcohol/dp/0007503563

www.amazon.co.uk/Eating-Drinking-Overthinking-Destructive-Relationship/dp/0749926708/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436778347&sr=1-1&keywords=eating+drinking+overthinking

:)

If that was my family pinkplop, I think I might just pretend to have a drink in my hand if at all possible.

Welcome withme. Can you talk to your oh about it?

Hope you enjoyed your run cheesy :)

Bank holiday here (bonfire night) and last night it seemed like every other person in the country was having a drink. Lots of parties on my street too. Sat in a complete strop feeling resentful drinking my becks blue. I have never had a sober 11th/12th bar pregnancies (and last year that was date I fell off the wagon) so quite a big deal for me. First time in a long time I've felt like saying to hell with it. Still not in the greatest of forms today, fed up being good. I'll do it but I won't be happy with it

Degust - I have DTDs too... :)

Hi all, this thread is very interesting. I decided yesterday to give up alcohol completely.

I think I've been dependent on it for twenty years, only giving up when pregnant and bf'ing.

I can never have just a couple. Ever.

Drink had led me to being seriously sexually assaulted, injured, on the verge of arrest, in a police cell when I passed out in a cab, almost losing my job (twice at least), jaundiced, cheating on an ex with several men (none of whom I was attracted to), self-loathing, weight gain and becoming a laughing stock to others.

But I still crave it. I'm glad I'm going to kick booze to the kerb at last.

Welcome PressEscape :)
Great post Teapot - although Allen Carr isn't the only option these days and neither is Soberistas

Lucy now that proper made me chuckle; it was VERY early in the morning when I posted!

Teapot