The Giving Up/ Cutting Down alcohol support thread - number 13

Arkers

Good afternoon everyone,
7 AFD please Shaggy.

Arkersx

CuppaTea

9/18 pls. Half way there.

debjay

10/15 for tonight please.

maggiem

7/14 please Shaggy :j my first Smiley! I had planned to drink Friday Saturday and Sunday but did notice that the amount increased over the 3 days. Today has been harder for lots of reasons, a fairly cr***y weekend and spent all day playing catch up! I also took the questionnaire Honey Bear posted and was not impressed with my score 11 - I need some thinking time to process that as I Seem to be trying to avoid thinking about having a serious problem.

Maman I too have got in and opened a bottle to catch up in the past. I do really want to 'mindfully' drink rather than just pour the wine down my neck. I did try Sainsbury's AF red wine hoping it might be ok but everyone on here was right, it was totally disgusting, so much so it has all been poured down the sink.

However I have managed an AFD today so onwards etc.

ElusiveLucy

6/13 for me please Shaggy for tonight

sukeyboo

Calling in early on 8/12 please Shaggy

maman

My first smiley's creeping closer. No plans to drink today.


6 AFDs please Shaggy.

cathybird

13/21 for me today please

ElusiveLucy

7/13 for me for tonight please. No plans to touch a drop

Honey_Bear

maggiem wrote: »

7/14 please Shaggy :j my first Smiley! I had planned to drink Friday Saturday and Sunday but did notice that the amount increased over the 3 days. Today has been harder for lots of reasons, a fairly cr***y weekend and spent all day playing catch up! I also took the questionnaire Honey Bear posted and was not impressed with my score 11 - I need some thinking time to process that as I Seem to be trying to avoid thinking about having a serious problem.

Maman I too have got in and opened a bottle to catch up in the past. I do really want to 'mindfully' drink rather than just pour the wine down my neck. I did try Sainsbury's AF red wine hoping it might be ok but everyone on here was right, it was totally disgusting, so much so it has all been poured down the sink.

However I have managed an AFD today so onwards etc.

Well done on the smiley! The first thing to do is to congratulate yourself for being brave enough to take the questionnaire and then post the result on here. I don't know if you have a problem or not, MaggieM, and I don't know whether you can moderate but I do know that in 10 years I never once managed 7 days AF in a month, so all is not lost.

The reason I had to stop was that I knew that the most important relationship of and in my life wasn't going to survive another night of me behaving badly because I'd had too much to drink. No specifics but it was that stark - The Booze or Him. Crunch time hadn't happened but it wasn't going to be long before it was going to because when I'd had too much to drink I was horrible, and tough though giving up was, it was nowhere near as tough as the thought of living life without my Beloved. Ultimately, he was more important to me than booze, thank goodness.

I'm not advocating being totally AF for anyone else. All I know is that having finally stopped after 10 years of drinking way too much on top of 10 years of drinking too much, I wouldn't go back to alcohol if you paid me. Life is simpler and a lot more fun without it and I don't miss it at all. Thank goodness.

If you want to moderate, give it your best shot. If that doesn't work you might want to seriously consider what else you can do to tackle what might be a problem but I would urge you to find out about what your options are before you take the plunge. Dry January would be a possibility, for instance, because loads of people do it, you'd get lots of support and it gives you enough time to think about it, plan alternatives to booze including how to socialize without alcohol and to read up about how other people make it work for them.

Most of us have woken up and said, 'Never again.' That's the easy bit, the tricky bit is sticking with it. I think we learn from our more from our successes, so setting yourself a longer term goal in addition to monthly targets is a great way to dip your toe in the water.

I couldn't have given up if I didn't have every ounce of support I had which included this thread, but did not involve sitting in a circle in a dusty church hall. That would not have worked for me at all.

15/30 please, Shaggy.