Cutting Down Alcohol Thread

GlendaSugarbean

Finally posting 21/21. The temptation to have just one glass of the wine we have in the house was so strong, but that would be four days in a row of drinking in the evening and I do not want to go there.

November: going to try for 25 days.

CuppaTea: it is so hard to stop once it gets to be a habit. Good luck!

shaggydoo

Morning,


I had some really sad family news yesterday evening which would have normally been a trigger for a drink - but resisted - you guys were in my thoughts - so thanks for being here.....


Small victories...



Shaggyx

shaggydoo

Annie 3/4
FabRab 4/5
GreenKaren 3 /5
MaggieM 3/4
Maman 3/4
Nicnak 4/5
Shaggy 4/5

shaggydoo

Updated Monthly challenges above at #2744 and #2745 ^

GlendaSugarbean

Sorry to hear that, Shaggy

Willowtree222

Hope you're ok Shaggy? Sorry to hear that. It's about breaking the habits more than it is drinking sometimes.

x

fatrab

Sorry to hear that you've had bad news Shaggy

I went for a walk last night with every best intention of exercise but had a F*it moment and ended up having 3 pints in the pub. Seriously annoyed with myself as it also led to eating a few things when I got home that I shouldn't have that were definitely not on plan (but no take away, thankfully!). I'm going out on Saturday and had accepted that I'd be going for a curry and a few beers so why the hell I slipped last night I'll never know. At least I stopped at 3.

4/5 SNC
23/30 AFD
And I'll go for just the 1 weekend day please.

October FAIL!!

CuppaTea

So sorry to hear you had sad news last night. Hope you are ok.

Thanks everyone for your support last night, it was much appreciated.

No plans to drink today but will check in later as I do not trust myself.

Honey_Bear

FatRab, you had a wobble. It's not an October Fail - if it were, then anyone who said they were doing Sobertober or whatever it's called who had a single drink would have failed. Booze isn't like that - every day is a temptation and every day we don't indulge is a major victory. The next time you get tempted to slip into the pub on the way home you'll remember why it isn't such a good idea - not because you feel sh*t from a hangover, but because you don't have much respect for yourself the day after.

It was a blip, that's all.

Sorry to hear you've had sad news, Shaggy. Have a (((hug))).

Does it help knowing that you're allergic to it, NicNak? I'd be really interested to know, because I'm pretty certain that giving up is a mindset, not willpower itself if that makes sense.

Oh Cuppa Tea, I really felt for you reading your post. You're not alone, there are millions, literally millions, of people who woke up the same morning as you thinking the same things as you. There are a few thousand every day who resolve to do something about it and stick to that. You're back here, so you've done something about it - good for you.

Cravings are the downfall for all of us, and the good news is they do go if you cut it out completely. I'm not advocating that for you, but it's worth you knowing that, just the same. All cravings for things that are bad for us - fags, too much sugar, booze - disappear after a period of abstinence. For some people feeding the cravings even a small amount can kick it off again big time, back to where we were before - I'm one of them. I don't know anyone else who has stopped completely so I can't compare to see if what I've found to be true is true for everyone. My next door neighbour has the occasional glass of something when she feels like it (ex-heavy drinker) and the neighbour opposite decided to stop drinking for eleven and a half months completely until she got to 50 and then let herself drink again. She's got another six weeks or so to go and has been utterly, utterly miserable the entire year. I can't wait for her to start again, frankly because I don't enjoy her company any more. (Not sure if that's entirely booze related if I'm honest, but we'll find out soon enough.)

None of us wants to give up completely, but for a very few of us it is the first taste of freedom we've had after far too long. If you can give yourself a break from it - say until Christmas or New Year - you can find out if it makes you feel better about yourself and life in general. There are plenty of resources out there, not least Belle at the 100 Day Challenge which worked for me, or Soberistas - both online and anonymous.

I borrowed every book on giving up booze I could find at all the City's libraries and read every single one from cover to cover. I found blogs by women who had decided to blog about giving up booze. Some of them have made it so far, some of them haven't, but at least I found people who were going through something similar to what I was doing.

There is AA. It's not an organisation that I think is the best option for some of us, but it's there. When I was wavering I knew that if I had a drink I'd end up having to go and sit in a dusty church hall and say I was powerless to a bunch of strangers, mostly probably middle-aged men. That, to me, was such a powerful vision and so so galvanising I never allowed myself that first drink. It's the first one that's the problem, isn't it?

Feel free to message me if you want to blow off steam any time at all and I'll do whatever I can to help. Your post is exactly how I felt the day I decided to take the plunge and re-invent myself and I wouldn't have done it without the support network I created around myself. No-one can tell you how to do it, all we can do is point you in the right direction.

I told myself that when I got to 75 or 80 I was going to be allowed to drink again. Frankly, now, I have no intention of doing so, but at the time it really helped.

Your hard work to date has not gone down the drain. It's prepared you for what you want to do now.

Good luck with it.

25/31 please, Shaggy.

fatrab

Yeah, suppose so HB! Maybe I'm being a bit over dramatic but I still failed in what I planned to achieve this week and this month.


Going for midweek drinkypoos isn't the actions of someone who claims to be focussed on losing weight and saving money. Size 9 up own backside firmly administered.