No More Chardonnay for me! My booze-free Diary

Honey_Bear

Thanks for posting about that, Maryland Cookie. Anyone who has concerns about their drinking to the point where they actually do something about it probably has a cupboard full of memories that we're a little ashamed about. The friend who said the hurtful thing has gone up in my estimation for doing the right thing by apologising and acknowledging she may need to think about her drinking. Good, in fact, excellent. And I totally understand about not wanting to rock the boat amongst a group of friends who all drink - I'm in exactly the same situation. The people I really regard as friends, and always did, have been supportive. I wouldn't want to lose any of them either.

Honey_Bear

Hope the holiday is still going well, Chardonnay.

Chardonnay

Still going well thanks HB. Still not had a drink, still feeling really good! Hope you are,all ok Off out for breakfast in the sunshine, hangover free!

MarylandCookie_2

Great to hear from you Chardonnay, glad its going well and you're having a great time xx

Chardonnay

Thought I'd just say hello! Still having a lovely time, still not drinking.:) A lot of the family have gone down to a beach bar to watch the sun go down but I decided to stay at the villa with a huge bar of chocolate, mug of tea and my book. I watched the sun going down behind the mountain - bliss!

Hope you all have a great weekend! Back on Monday x

MarylandCookie_2

Sounds wonderful Chardonnay, well done on your abstinence, especially whilst on holiday. We're going to Spain next week, I don't think I'll be as good as you. My plan is that Im not drinking in the day, and will just have a couple of drinks at night when we're out for dinner.

Have a great rest of your holiday xxxx

Honey_Bear

Chardonnay, I was so thrilled to see your message about enjoying what you can do rather than obsessing about what you think you shouldn't or can't do. I hope the rest of the holiday went as well and you have a safe journey home.

Honey_Bear

Welcome back - if I've got the date right!

Chardonnay

Hello! I'm back! Thanks for the welcome back HB. You were correct, arrived home on Monday night

Really shattered to be honest! I thought I would feel rejuvenated with not drinking but that hasn't happened. Still, I had a really lovely time. I didn't drink at all. Most of the time it was easy - the worst times as I said, were when we were all out in the evening but the thoughts soon passed. They do AF beer in most bars/restaurants out there so that really helped and also mocktails! On the last night though I just had a couple of ginger ales which I did enjoy.

It was a different holiday for me but in some ways more enjoyable really. I ran 4 times on holiday and achieved a time for the 5k which I thought would not be possible for a long time! I ran with my brother, who paced me and my dad and it was such a great experience as they were so proud of me I would not have run at all if I'd have been drinking, I know that for sure.

I've carried on with my daily meditation and that is going really well. I went on lots of walks and spent lots of quality time with my 6 year old niece who I really adore, going home early with her a couple of times to put her to bed, to give my brother and sister in law a break. Again, I wouldn't have done that if I'd been drinking as I would have stayed in the bar or restaurant with them so that I could have another drink! I played cards a few times in the evening with my lovely nephew and family and found out that I seem to be very lucky where cards are concerned - winning 4 games out of 4, much to the annoyance of my family!

So I am really proud of myself for not drinking, although I had that little blip on the first day. I wouldn't recommend that but for me I think that it helped me to get it out of the way and realise that I wasn't missing anything. My best friend is so on board with me not drinking. She said I looked great in my holiday photos and that she can see how much not drinking is really suiting me. Hey, I'm a bit vain so comments like that really help me!

Belle replied about my blip and said she was going to keep count from Day 1 for me, which is fair enough as I did have a drink and so it would be cheating a bit to disregard it I guess. But she said that I could keep my own count if I wanted, whatever helps me. So that's what I'm doing. So if I just disregard that blip day and don't count it in my AF total, I am now on Day 59!! :j

Hope you are all OK and MC I hope you have a really lovely holiday! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Honey_Bear

I was getting slightly worried about not hearing from you, so it was lovely to see your post this morning. Your holiday sounds as though it did you the world of good, although I totally get your frustration at not feeling rejuvinated after giving up the booze. For some reason I'd thought that it would make me feel energetic and as though I was firing on all cylinders and was very disappointed to find out that, actually, I'd got to deal with other things as well, like dehydration and I've now started taking iron tablets, switching out the light earlier and getting more sleep. Gradually it's beginning to feel as though I'm finding all the little tweaks that, betwen them, are giving me back some va va vhoom. And there was me thinking it was just the booze! Meditation, running, yoga, do whatever works, and it takes a bit of trial and error for all of us, probably.

On the subject of Day 1, I'm with both you and Belle on this. I don't count the times I had a beer and a sip because I didn't know I was drinking it, didn't want it and stopped straight away as soon as I knew. You are on Day 59 as far as I'm concerned, but Belle's got her own rules and once you've reached the top of her waiting list, you stay on her radar. That's worth hanging on to. The other aspect of choosing to have one is that you now know what you don't like about succumbing to Wolfie. Knowledge hard won, but it'll help deal with the temptation next time and that's got to be a positive.

Welcome back!