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

cathybird

Morning all. Last night I was so tense after the week's work and because I have a busy weekend coming up that in the end I had a drink (one glass of cointreau). I was thinking of making tonight a non-AFD so I'll just swap the two nights. So still on 4/21 for today please. I did try all my usual remedies for tension btw (mint tea, chocolate, distraction by watching something on the telly etc).

Sometimes people on the thread say they regret sacrificing an AFD to only one drink but I'm quite pleased I stopped at one. In fact if all my non-AFD nights stopped at one I'd feel I was winning. I still overdo it on some of them.

Toni'sfriend

Failed yesterday, Had wine with my meal. Think I was being a bit too ambitious but today's another day.

Doshwaster

Early declaration of 5/20 for today.

Had a bit of man-flu for the last few days so haven't even fancied a drink.

Barny1979

5/24 AFDs today

Honey_Bear

6/31 please, Shaggy.

Toni'sfriend

Better today. 5 alcohol free days now.

Poor_Single_lady

6/31

This is proper hard HB. You will have to forgive me if I don't make the 31.
(Not to be defeatist or a downer) but not finding it easy at All.

I thought it would be the parties that would be main problem but home tonight with no plans and do fancy a glass of wine but have decided to try not to so sticking with that.
Went out for dinner last week and lunch without glass of wine. Didn't find it massivly hard but did miss it.
This week lunch out but with non drinkers- but still not easy.
Will just keep going and see what comes up.
No parties till later on in the month.

cathybird

Morning all, 5/21 for me please.

Honey_Bear

Poor_Single_lady wrote: »

This is proper hard HB. You will have to forgive me if I don't make the 31.
(Not to be defeatist or a downer) but not finding it easy at All.

I thought it would be the parties that would be main problem but home tonight with no plans and do fancy a glass of wine but have decided to try not to so sticking with that.
Went out for dinner last week and lunch without glass of wine. Didn't find it massivly hard but did miss it.
This week lunch out but with non drinkers- but still not easy.
Will just keep going and see what comes up.
No parties till later on in the month.

Sorry it's not plain sailing PSL. I didn't find it easy in the early days and sometimes I just didn't go out when we'd been invited somewhere because I knew the temptation would be too great. Fortunately OH was very supportive and my friends were very understanding. It wasn't long before I could pick up my social life again - although I soon realised that some of friends have drinking as not only a hobby, it's their only hobby. I'm happy to be around them during the early part of social events, but when they're all pi**ed I just come home and leave them to it.

As for lunch - I never drank during the day unless it was to celebrate something like friends' golden wedding anniversaries, or a wedding breakfast. Regular socialising at lunchtime never involved alcohol for me, in the same way that I never regarded going on holiday as a reason to drink, which I think some people do. (I did drink on holiday but only during the evening, which was always when I drank anyway.)

I saw a friend for the first time in about 10 years recently - she lives in Australia and was over here for a fortnight's holiday. My not drinking came up because she arrived with a bottle of red, and she told me she'd stopped drinking wine for a year but got so bored with her friends' company when she was sober and they were drunk she'd gone back to it. I found that surprising but on reflection quite understandable, I suppose. I think I'd find new friends, well, I know I would, because to a certain extent I have. I've certainly changed direction since I stopped drinking, spending more time doing things I enjoy and less time around boozy people.

As to having to forgive you - nothing to forgive PSL. Whether you drink is up to you and no one else on here has the right to feel disappointed if you decide you want to have one. My life is better without booze, but until you find a way to cope without it, it's always going to be tough. Have you tried AF drinks? Is it the taste of alcohol you enjoy, or getting tiddled? Have you thought about any of those things, or done any reading around the subject of cutting down or giving up booze? If I hadn't done any research on the subject I would have found it much harder than I did, and I found it very, very tricky at times even so. But obviously worthwhile in my case I have to say.

So far so good - you've racked up six days this month already so you're doing really, really well.

7/31 please, Shaggy.

pollyanna24

maman wrote: »

I think I'm feeling a bit fed up with the grey weather. It seems we had the promise of summer in early April and now it's been snatched away.:(


As a result I'd love to cheer myself up with a drink. It seems crazy that but it's more the promise of a drink to look forward to that I'm missing rather than the drink itself.

But I'm not giving into it!


4 AFDs please Shaggy.

I'm finding today quite hard. My kids are away at their dads, my parents are away and I've spent the weekend mainly by myself. And even though I'm doing stuff at home, I think it would be nicer to be doing it all with a glass of wine (or three). But I'm resisting.

I want to get to the stage where the sun doesn't come out or I'm not working and my automatic first thought is, ooh, wouldn't a glass of wine be nice?!

I want to be able to "look forward " to something else besides the treat of alcohol which is why what I have quoted above strikes a chord with me.

Once I have made the decision not to drink, I am usually okay, but looking forward to it after work keeps me going sometimes. Hmm. That didn't sound good.

I'm up to 4/12 (including today, but kids are due back in a hour and I'm not going out to get anything), so still on track.