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

Honey_Bear

pollyanna24 wrote: »

It's now late enough that I wouldn't consider drinking, so quite proud of myself.

Haven't found it too hard, but do find that I have thought of little else cept whether I should open a beer or not. I do have af days, but I think it's cos I'm setting myself a challenge that has made me think of booze a lot more than usual.

Well done for sticking with not drinking, Pollyanna. It's a tough habit to break, and of course you thought about it more because you weren't actually drinking. I found, in the end, that going to bed early so I didn't think about it at all was the easiest way to break the habit and once I'd got through the first two weeks or so it didn't bother me anywhere near as much. Although - I had discovered I loved early nights!

Of couse you don't want to give up drinking for ever, no-one who kicks the habit does. I couldn't have faced it either, but I decided that I had to stop drinking for 100 days just to deal with what had become a problem habit for me and once I'd got to 100 days the idea of going back to bad old habits seemed rather a sillly idea for me. I'd done a lot of background reading on drinking during that 100 days and none of it was comfortable. We all go back to drinking exactly the same amount, in exactly the same way, within a matter of days of starting to drink again.

This time of year, with Christmas approaching, is one of those times when we all manage to convince ourselves that Christmas won't be any fun without alcohol, so that's a good reason to keep drinking until new year, and then there's new year's eve and that won't be any fun without booze, and so it's not worth cutting it out until January's under way. The reality is that a lot of people have a thoroughly enjoyable time without booze and anyone who decides they want to be alcohol-free can do so too.

Don't beat yourself up, just have a little think about what you want to achieve and then be realistic about how you are going to manage the process if you're going to change the habit. It was a tough choice for me but it's one I've never regretted.

maggiem wrote: »

Well coped last night and feeling quite proud of myself as hotel has a lovely restaurant but I drank tap water (faint tinge of martyr here but the soda and lime small glass I had on Sunday cost £2.60 which seemed a bit steep to me) and the food here is more expensive than my maximum allowable amount. So 11/14 for me please

£2.60 for flavoured sugar water???!!!!!!!! I'd call that taking the pi$$, but pi$$ is what we call booze, so I can't even call it that! The real irony of course is that the mark up on soft drinks makes them far, far more profitable than alcohol, a huge chunk of the price of which is tax. I'd have felt faintly saintly as well in your shoes.

Green_Karen wrote: »

Still not in right frame of mind to cut down but am still posting as can only help me.

I have been debating the whole 'is it easier to stop completely' thing and am reluctant. I gave up alcohol for 6 months a while back thinking I would not drink as much when I started drinking again, but went gradually back into nightly drinking. I really did find it easier not to drink at all. No daily thinking about whether I drink tonight or not every night was simpler.

I have always had it in my head that I would one day be like my friends who scarcely/never drink. A few of my friends never liked alcohol so never got into any bad habits. I envy that, but it isn't who I am.

And really have the best/happiest times in my life been when I have been under the influence of alcohol, I am almost 100% sure they haven't been.

There's not a word of this I don't endorse, Green Karen, and everything I've written above in connection with Pollyanna's comment went through my mind when I read your post. No one wants to give up booze, some of us realise we have to and are fortunate enough to be able to do with a bit, or a lot, of support. Having a drink is something I'd regret, not having a drink is something I never regret.

22/30 please, Shaggy.

CuppaTea

Wise words HB and Graeme. Thank u.

15/18 for me pls.

PriceySOS

17 please, Shaggy, ta

Sandypan

Evening all,
Have managed 22/30 tonight and am very pleased with that, I'm definitely an all or nothing so don't know what I'm going to do after my self imposed "dry November" is over!

Sleeping now after 22 days is amazing, only waking up once between 10pm and 6am and not having to cover up eye bags in the morning is revolutionary for me!!

Thanks Shaggy for keeping score and everybody on this forum for their motivation it really helps.

Barny1979

16/20 AFDs today

Green_Karen

4/14 AF days today please.

Wanna_Bee_Free

4/14 AF days for yesterday please. I'm not going to drink tonight either. Have a good Wedneday everyone.

Honey_Bear

Thanks CuppaTea.

Sandypan wrote: »

Evening all,
Have managed 22/30 tonight and am very pleased with that, I'm definitely an all or nothing so don't know what I'm going to do after my self imposed "dry November" is over!

Sleeping now after 22 days is amazing, only waking up once between 10pm and 6am and not having to cover up eye bags in the morning is revolutionary for me!!

Thanks Shaggy for keeping score and everybody on this forum for their motivation it really helps.

You're doing brilliantly, SandyPan. Huge congratulations. I'm so glad you're sleeping better feeling the benefits of staying AF for so long.

I don't know about you, but I had absolutely no idea, none, of how much effect drinking had on me. I understood the hangovers and thought that popping some ibuprofen sorted them out (a bit of simplistic wishful thinking, obviously, plus a hefty dose of denial!) but the rest I just assumed was poor diet, not getting enough sleep because I was watching TV or reading too late into the night, and the moods and emotional ups and downs I assumed were just family legacy. It took me quite a while to realise it was all, all of it, the after effects of drinking too much. OH also found that after more than 20 years of not being able to sleep through the night, miraculously he suddenly could when he cut his drinking back by about two-thirds or three-quarters when I stopped. I'm still convinced that there are masses and masses of people who can, and do, drink moderately, as my OH can, but I'm not one of them and I know I'm not alone.

23/30 please, Shaggy.

New_Me

+1 for last night please Shaggy

shaggydoo

Afternoon

2 more AFDs for Monday 7 Tuesday.



Shaggyx