DRY 17

[Loubilou09]

[This message is actually from Sober Sarah! She wanted this thread to start with links everyone will find useful. MNHQ]

If you're quitting alcohol for a brighter sober future come and join us here. A very welcoming bunch supporting ebach other every step of the way. smile
We have put together some helpful info and links, to help you do this Smile tiredofthinkingaboutdrinking.com

Tired of thinking about drinking, Belle's website filled with free stuff as well as subscription courses and an account of her four years sober.

joinclubsoda.co.uk/ Club Soda - to help you make the change you want.
www.sobersassylife.com Sober Sassy Life - A Selection of Articles, Blogs and Freebies to get you unstuck, and on the way to your Sober Sassy Life! Also has paid for courses.
thesoberschool.com/ - an online hub with the mission of inspiring and supporting women who are tired of feeling hungover

www.blogtalkradio.com/bubblehour - podcasts on a huge range of issues relating to addiction and recovery

www.smartrecovery.org.uk/ - an alternative to AA. Meetings nationwide and online.

Useful meditation or relaxation apps
www.headspace.com Headspace for calming the brain chatter
www.withandrewjohnson.com Andrew Johnson stop drinking app
Helpful blogs from people who are sober
sothisissober.com/ our own vxa's blog
www.alcoholfree2016.com our own Lily's blog
www.alcoholfree2016.com our own Lucy's blog
www.sobergrowing/blogspot.co.uk our own Sober Sarah's blog

All of these blogs contain links to loads of other brilliant blogs.

Sobriety counters
meetnomo.com/index.html
www.pilanites.com/streaks/

Hope this helps you ! Love Sober Sarah and Vxa

That sounds like a lovely weekend, Vidorra. I love having a family sunday dinner, it is a definite highlight of my week!

(This is Cocoa. I have just changed my user name... feeling a bit royal )

I admire your pragmatic approach to this Sarah and your ability to stop even when the cravings kicked in - there must be a lot of progress in that itself.

It is very interesting that just two drinks, so low in alcohol that it can be classified as non-alcoholic, was enough to set off the cravings. Thank you for sharing this - I think this is something that will really stick with me.

I've been waking with several days with a mild, dehydration like headache. I wonder if I'm not drinking enough fluids now? When drinking alcohol I would fill up a pint glass of water several times during the night as standard - now I'm just not doing it. Going to have to make a conscious effort to drink more water etc I think.

Hi there all and thanks for the lovely messages. To clarify they were Crabbe's ginger beer so 2 units each bottle. Drunk over several hours, but still :(

Yes it's nice to get everyone together for a night Cocoa, although I am very close to my family and see them most days. I've seen that described as weird here on MN Cooking is something I've found in the past two years I'm quite good at and enjoy - when I'm not swilling a load of wine down my neck at the same time!

Sung I had horrendous tension headaches when I first stopped and have seen a lot of people complaining about sore heads at the start. Make sure you're drinking enough water, check your caffeine levels (too much or too little), or if you have any clenching of teeth or tension around your shoulders or neck? I found massaging pressure points along forehead and neck with tigerbalm really helped.

Yrp, lots of water helped me

Lots of water here too.

I add a squeeze of lemon as well- seems even more hydrating, but that might just be perception!

Morning all, nice to see some new names in here.

Sad to say I hit the fuck it button and drank last Sunday...not sure why but think it was the angry in HALT. I was due on and pissed off and stupidly decided it would be a good idea. It wasn't and I will say no more about it

So roll on to Friday and I am hosting a girls night which had been notoriously boozy but two of us werent drinking. I bought quite a bit of fizz for the event as week as AF fizz and apart from a pang when I was cooking I managed the night perfectly fine - very happy with my AF fizz.

At the end of the night I thankfully had the foresight to grab all the bottles of alcoholic fizz out of the fridge and make my friends take it home (as per usual they had all been over generous and bought loads with them on top of the 4 bottles I had bought!) there was also a nearly full bottle of prossecco on the side that I threw down the sink.

I am so glad I did that as I unexpectedly found myself with the rest of the weekend on my own as husband was going to his parents and the children suddenly said they wanted to go with him. First thing that crossed my mind was a drink as no one to look after, no one would know...if there had have been some of the bottles left over I would have found it really really hard but as there was nothing it was way easier.

Went out with a friend instead and had an AF wine when I got home!

Interesting what you say about re-setting the clock sobersarah I might have to do that then...

The one thing I am extremely grateful for though is the huge changes in me...this time last year I would have just carried on for days, weeks and probably months after a fall but this time it's straight back to Dry on both occasions . This is not going to fool me into thinking I can moderate though....

Well done all KOKO

Another newbie here, can I join you please?

To cut a long story short, just completed Dry January and attempted moderating in February. After drinking on 8 days and lots of reflection I now realise that I can't moderate once I've had alcohol. With hindsight not really sure why I ever thought I would be able to?

Day 5 for me today, scared about the future and failing but I've made a list of why I need this to be my new way of life and really hoping to stick with it.

Welcome to the thread Mini, you are definitely not alone in not being able to moderate or the fact of trying unsuccessfully. I rebelled so many times against sobriety and got caught out with moderation lies I told myself. It can be overwhelming to think too far into the future, just deal with today.

Sorry to hear about your lapse Lou but sounds like you've got this What Af wine is it you drink?

2 months today. Happy with that.

Thanks for the support about the headaches - I will try water with a squeeze of lemon !

Hi Minibinx and welcome!

I think you did very well Lou - getting straight back onto Dry and getting the temptation out of the house straight away.

I am on day 12 now and I am 99% certain that I wouldn't have made it this far without this thread.

Well done on 12 days Sung I find things like flavoured and green teas really help to increase my fluid consumption too. I have a veritable collection since stopping drinking

I'd love to join you guys, too!

Day 150 here, it has been up and down but never for a second have regretted staying sober. Still very early days as I'm basically having to learn to deal with all my feelings without anaesthetic for the first time! And wow, there are a lot of feelings.

But I don't feel ashamed of myself every single morning any more.

I've learned more about myself than I ever have before, in just a few months

Life is slower now, in a good way. I can sit still, which I never could before.

I am less paranoid about my appearance - think I was always trying to hide signs of hangovers / alcohol. Drinking calories and slipping good meals, only to binge later. Makeup to cover dull skin and dark eyes.

My husband - who is indifferent to alcohol - is proud of me (and I am too!)

I've not lost weight, but my body has changed and I'm so much stronger and healthier

The broken veins I had on the side of my nose are going. My skin is clearer.

I've discovered some other ways to feel 'better', like solitude, exercise and eating chocolates and reading Jane Austen novels in bed

I've also started taking a look at the things that are making me feel like I need a drink. And asking myself if I still want them in my life.

I've found it liberating to do all the things that I have never done before sober. And discovering that I'd enjoyed them much more alcohol free!

No more 3.30am DOOOOOM

Learning to go easier on myself - seeing getting sober is a process that takes time and has peaks and troughs. Now is actually a bit of a trough for me, but even typing this out has made me see just how happy and grateful I am to be sober!

Sending you all support and love.

Hi guys, just my usual random check in. All going good here and still alcohol free. I have seen a few on about af wine/prosecco/becks blue etc. I have decided it is not for me .....too much chance of drinking an af drink and just going bigger it I'll get a proper one.

While not counting the days the app on my phone e is saying I am 174 days af, and I feel massively liberated, no anxiety, depression, worries about having to get up early, worried about getting to the off licence when in a late shift.

Weight hasn't gone down but that could be due to the fact that I'm eating chocolate quicker than willy winks can make it, although all the bloatedness has gone down.

I've also noticed meals out are a lot less expensive when not drinking.

Oh the 3 am doom wakenings......they are just awful.

I have just had a lunch out with my colleagues. For me it came to £16.40.(and that was with an exotic fruit mocktail for me). I was mentally tallying what I would have spent if I had been drinking and easily added another £12.00 to that. Madness.

(Now I am back at the hotel and going to put some hours in on work......the others have gone to the pub. I am actually happier with what I am doing!)

Hi all, had a name change ;)

Back on it after the lapse last week. Its a shit time for me on top of all the other total shittyness so I am not surprised I had a slip. Ah well, I treated it as another lesson to take on board and have carried back on being sober. Glad I stopped!

Evening, can I join the dry thread please?

I'm 56 days dry and have found it a revelation , the pounding heart and 3.00 am waking up with the fear have gone. I was also forgetting conversations I'd had after drinking, that's hard to admit.

I can't do moderation because one glass of wine or gin will send me back to the top of the slippery slope, I have to stay dry.

Hello and welcome :)

Hello!

I can't moderate either. I grow complacent and think I was 'overreacting with this sobriety thing' and then I am back where I started.

Thanks. I'm finding having an objective to aim towards massively helpful, I'm working towards 90 days sober and so far so good.

It's so reassuring to hear that the 3am feelings of doom aren't unique to me and that I'm not the only one that can't manage to moderate.

I've realised probably for a year or so that something needed to change. I've not really felt the need to drink everyday, mostly weekends (although these could sometimes start on a Thursday and last to Sunday) but when I do the elusive off switch just isn't there. I've tried moving from wine to gin thinking that would help - it didn't and if anything was worse because I just ended up having more.

This year I managed to complete dry January which whilst testing particularly on Fridays and Saturdays was really quite a revelation for so many reasons. Being honest it was just really good not to give drinking any headspace and was just so much easier than trying to think about how to moderate and then feeling a failure when I can't. I'm only on day 6 but feeling pretty determined to make this a new way of life and your stories are really just making me want to stick at it even more.

Evening all and welcome human and Classy. You have both done brilliant with stacking days up. I'll admit I used to forget conversations quite a bit myself, always bluffed it the next day as if I remembered.

Very productive Cocoa, it's amazing how much cheaper meals out are without adding alcohol into the bill. Hope you get all your work done and enjoy the rest of your evening, you're doing really well.

Not the greatest of days today. Woke up with my sore back bad and tired after dd waking me up last night. Pissed off at the mess of the house and the fact I managed to break my wardrobe door off flipping the mattress when I lost my grip on it. Oh and discovered I have developed an allergy to bananas. Sadface at no more cocoa, cherry and banana smoothies.

Bonus is not once did I think a glass bottle of wine would help, didn't even cross my mind. In fact my mind ran through how I could soothe myself without booze which is progress, decent sleep is a big priority tonight. Every cloud and all that

Hope everyone else is well.

Minibinx yes I did the wine > gin move after a particularly boozy night where I felt so rough I had to take the next day off work , somewhere I reasoned gin would be much easier to handle than wine. I ended up being able to drink a litre of gin over three nights alone ( Dh is teetotal).

I still can't bring myself to admit I'm a functioning alcoholic , I call myself a 'problem drinker' so it doesn't seem as bad. I know it is though.

Thanks Vidorra I confess I am feeling rather smug.

I did the wine to beer move when I was worried about alcohol %. Then I put on loads of weight and so did the beer- vodka and slimline tonic move. That was a very very bad move.

Sorry about your bad back and bad day. I hope tomorrow is a very great deal better for you.

Good morning everyone i hope you all had a great sleep.

I liked this blog post today ..... particularly the 5 point recap at the end of the post, which I really recommend if you want to scroll past yet another discussion about the Oscars. :)

wakinguptheghost.com/ignoring-your-better-judgment-or-whats-done-is-done-warren/