DRY 10!!!!

[CheesyNachos]

Welcome! This is the thread for those of us who want to abstain from alcohol. We are all at different stages of our journey, and many of us have some hiccups along the way, but we are committed to an exciting, fulfilling, joyful life alcohol-free.

Previous thread is here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/relationships/2485290-DRY-9?pg=1

Everyone is welcome!

Teapot I feel inadequate about my blog when I read hers Haven't listened to them, not a big podcast listener. Yes I read that one about Rome. I know - you can have fun without booze who knew

Well you shouldn't, yours is a very different beast and is very highly regarded!

Another sober day for me. Have a feeling I will have a mid week wobble tomorrow, so will need to have a plan organised to deal with that.

Lucy do you share details of your blog??? I'm trying to read as much as possible. No worries if not.
I read Holly's article, I really liked it very much. I've read quite a lot of her site, in fact I was toying with signing up for her course at one point and PM'd her on Facebook between Christmas and New Year......but I haven't done. Her Facebook site is pretty good too.
Went to bed and listened to the Andrew Johnson app as recommended by Glad and I really enjoyed it so I'm going to try and listen daily for a month or so.
Orange recommend the app....give it a go if you haven't already.
Teapot re the kids.....you are only human my love. Just think how much worse it would have been if you were pissed or hungover. Give yourself a massive hug, good mummy.....and that's all you were doing, being a mummy and a lovely one
And the kids will have completely forgotten it within the space of 30 seconds because they just live in the moment......we can learn a lot from them xx

Morning all.

Lucy's blog is here Hurricane.

ahangoverfreelife.com/

It is a terrific mixture of informed comment on alcohol and addicition research; discussions about booze and society and plain old good stories and info.

There is a good blogroll on the sidebar of Lotta Dann's blog also here;

livingwithoutalcohol.blogspot.co.uk/

I love the blogs. I get so much out of them. I also am reading about alcohol almost obsessively..... my amazon account has taken a beating with buying heaps of books- alot about women and alcohol addiction etc. I find the blogs and the books really nourish me. Good ones I can recommend are Ann Dowsett Johnson's book about the relationship between women and alcohol; Dana Bowman's book 'Bottled' about being a mother in recovery (there is a strong Christian theme in that one, which I ignore but she is very funny and writes well).

Teapot don't beat yourself up. I agree with what Hurricane says. :)

Orange what plans for the mid-week? I need new ideas!!! So far I am planning a trip to Costa with my 5 year old for a hot chocolate today at my trigger time.

Doing well here. The ILs are still desperately unwell and the extended family has been told they ought to make the visit if they can. But I am able to deal with it calmly, and with resilience because I am sober.

Oh... another blog I read today..... she compares being sober to learning to drive again... I liked the metaphor.

www.sobersassylife.com/wrong-side-of-road/

Happy sober days everyone. :)

Oh wow!! Lucy.....I already get your weekly emails..... xx

Thank you Teapot Cheesy & Hurricane :) Off to do my day job

Cheesy ....sorry, I ran out of time this morning so I've only just had chance to read your post properly. Thankyou for all the links and recommendations for books. I'm going to be busy bu I love to read too. I also find it very nourishing X

Cheesy - my plan for tonight is to do some writing and eat some yummy food from M&S.

I have no booze in the house, so I will not drink tonight.

Survived the mid week slump. Turned down invitation to cocktail party on Friday - at this early stage, I just to avoid temptation.

Well done orange I would have done the same with a cocktail invite too. I bloody love a Margarita. If anyone could invent something that tastes like tequila without alcohol in please!

Its one of the few drinks I like the taste of

Well done Orange :)

Got a bottle of Seedlip arriving tomorrow dona - if it tastes anything like te-kill-ya (which is what I used to call the stuff) I'll let you know

To be honest, after the state I was in on New Years Eve - my last bender - I just don't trust myself.

I think that it wouldn't take a lot of encouragement for me to start drinking.

I have found that (a) having no booze in the house and (b) having edible treats is helping.

One interesting thing - I have been treated for OCD in the past. For many years, I have had intrusive thoughts - mainly about a love affair I had before getting married. Even though the man concerned was not that nice and I am happily married, I found myself ruminating... I was driving myself mad as he was the last thing I wanted to think about.

Since giving up the booze (apart from this weekend's lapse) the "stuck record" thinking has vanished!

I'm amazed and very glad.

Mmm... would be interested to know what the seedlip is like too.

Good idea to avoid temptation. I am supposed to go to acocktail party on Saturday. I am hoping I may avoid it also.

Night night Sober Warriors.

X-post Orange.

Funnily enough, Orange I find that my thinking is clearer and calmer too when I do not drink, and I dwell on things less. I can often second-guess myself over many social interactions and wonder if I should have said this or that and then get very anxious about it all. I don't do that nearly as much now. i am much more likely to just be calm within myself.

I'm doing my best to make my life less chaotic and toxic and just want my life to not be full of drama which is nothing to do with me. I am on the verge of going NC with close family because of the utter crap they are dumping on me. But still not drowning my sorrows. AA was good tonight with a share about that very subject :) Very thought provoking and moving.

Glad I went NC with some close family members 5 years ago & for me it was the best thing I have ever done. My drinking was tied up in it all and by implementing strong boundaries it allowed me to entangle myself and was a key part in me stopping and being able to staying stopped. Big hug lovely

that should have read unentangle myself!! :)

Or disentangle Lucy?

Re. NC with family, I've done it a couple of times over the years (about 7 years with my dad, about 3 years with my mum at one point) and now have a relationship with both of them but in a very different way. Don't regret it at all, for me it felt about self-protection and I really needed to do it.

I went NC with my mother years ago for about 18 months after she said some pretty unforgiveable things (tip of a very very very large iceberg). It made a big difference to me and my self esteem. I did eventually resume contact but it's on my terms and much healthier. (Although don't get me started about when DD1 was born and I was rushed to A&E with complications, very very poorly, and she demanded of the doctor, before he'd had a chance to examine me, that he write her a letter because by being there she was missing her holiday and wanted to claim on the insurance (as I lay there at death's door ).) Let's say it's a work in progress!

DAY 16 here. Gosh. Had some ups and downs but keeping on keeping on, as they say. Possibly overdoing things with sugar, but I know that's common, and as long as I'm not completely frying my pancreas it's at least not getting me (a) blotto or (b) hungover!

Interesting how many of us come from difficult families.

I love my parents but my dad has always had a sharp temper and can upset me very easily.

In the past, when I have gone to stay with them, I have always hidden alcohol and drunk it over the course of the evening in order to cope. They are the kind of people who rarely drink and the one, small glass of wine offered to me at dinner was far from enough. So, I would nip upstairs to drink from a bottle or two of wine and try not to seem to drunk.

Hi all, I've been reading all the posts, but not posting, just because I've been so busy, I am still hanging on in there and have been sober 21 days now.

I am NC with my parents.. I expect at some stage we will speak, but really I'm bored of being told that I am a failure, so at the moment while I am getting the drinking under control I feel it's best to be NC.

I'm supposed to be going out tomorrow night for dinner with friends, however I am finding myself really not wanting to go - they are all fairly heavy drinkers and I know I am going to find the evening hard. Wish me luck! I think I'll go early and leave early, that way I'll not be there for when everyones drunk.

On the upside, my once very stuck in the mud life, is drastically changing. I feel so much better and am full of energy.
I know if I drink tomorrow I'll go straight back to square 1, which as we all know is a bad place to be. Hopefully that will be enough of an incentive to keep me strong.

Indeed Teapot Was trying to do stuff in a hurry before heading out door to uni this am and as you can see my brain had already left the house