Cutting Down Alcohol Thread

shaggydoo

Annie 1/4

ElusiveLucy /5
Glenda 1/5
LoveASale 1/5
Maggie 1/5

Polly /5
Shaggy 1/5


Anybody else?

loveasale

I suppose I’m 1/5 for school night
[[/
Can’t remember how to make it red on my iPad ?

shaggydoo

January 2019


= 7 Days

= 14 Days

= 21 Days


= 28 Days


= 31 Days


= Target Reached


= Target Beaten



AnnieG 13/15
Arkers 21/15
Barney 20/25

BestLifeNow /TF
CathyBird 19/21
CuppaTea 11/18
ElusiveLucy 17/31

FabRab /31
Glenda 21/25
GreenKaren 19/30

HeleJenkins /29
Honey Bear 14/31
LoveASale 10/20

MaggieM 14/15
Maman 12/10
Nicnak 18/28
PollyAnna 19/16
Pricey 8/18
Rosy 21/31


Season of Mist 10/28
Shaggydoo 19/21
Sukeyboo 11/15

Sunwise 3/21
TammyKitty 16/26

WannaBeeFree 6/14





Please let me know if I've made a mistake!

Everyone Welcome Anytime of the Month!

shaggydoo

loveasale wrote: »

I suppose I’m 1/5 for school night
[[/
Can’t remember how to make it red on my iPad ?

You're on the list.


CathyBird is running an annual challenge if you want to join? Just shout out a target for the year.....

Tammykitty

Last weeks SNC - 5/5
Monthly total - 18/26


Current SNC - 1/5


The plan is zero drinking from now until February, had a night out on Saturday night, and loved it!

loveasale

I did not actually give up ,, but chose to drive every time I went out , a few years back ,,,
It was great ,, getting home sober , putting all stuff away neatly and waking up feeling fine!
I’d giggle at all the tipsy people telling me the same story over and over !
As I’ve said I’ve got all good things to come )

Season_of_Mist

Just checking in, hope everyone is doing good. Had an AF weekend (helped by working on Sunday with a very early start) and I’m calling in early for today, so I am up to 19/28, thank you.

AnnieG

Evening
14/15 today... tomorrow is target Tuesday!!
2/4 for the SNC
Loveasale, you could be describing me, I can't stop once I've started. I live on my own now but when my son was smaller he hated me drinking, he knew it only ever ended one way.
I think I'm doing ok with cutting down. I still have the occasional binge but I'm getting much better.

Honey_Bear

Shaggy, you asked about how I cope with stressful situations having given up the booze. It's a good question, because the first drink definitely relaxes everyone, so it's a quick and easy way to calm the situation down, which is why most people now reach for a drink when things get a teensy bit stressful.

I don't think about it, is the answer. As you pointed out, it's been nearly five years since I stopped drinking and the habit now is to not drink, rather than to drink or think about drinking. Most nights I don't even bother with an AF beer, because it makes me need a pee in the middle of the night and I'd rather not have to get up. For the first time in my life I'm drinking just under 3 litres of non-boozy liquid a day and they're all decaff coffees (yum) and fruit tea (luscious). I simply don't miss the liquid intake and I don't miss the alcohol.

As someone who doesn't drink, having a drink when stressed is not an option, whereas if you do normally indulge, it always is. Different game; not just different rules if you see what I mean.

I think in the early days of stopping I might have thought about it for helping in stressful situations, but not as much as other people or in the same way. I never really meant it when I said, 'I need a drink.' that was just an excuse to start drinking when no-one else suggested it was time to open the bottle. I'm one of those for whom one was too many, and yet never enough; it was a really, really bad habit, not a response to outside stresses.

Now, there isn't a single stressful situation that occurs in my life that I think or believe booze would help or make better. When Kelpie died, had he been put to sleep towards the end of the day maybe I'd have thought about it and been tempted, but I never drank during the day and he died about 11.00 am, so it didn't occur to me. And let's be honest, the stress was him dying, and having a slug of whisky wouldn't have changed that, so what would have been the point? I wanted him back, not a way of coping with losing him.

After all this time I'm very, very conscious that I regularly find myself in situations when I wonder how I used to cope with them when I drank, or with a hangover. How, in God's name, did I manage for 10 years of drinking an absolute minimum of three glasses of wine a night, often more? (Here's one person who's not a bit surprised three glasses of wine is considered a binge, but that's only with hindsight. Have you seen the size of wine glasses now? They were much smaller 30 years ago.) I honestly thought I was coping, and now can't understand how I was even upright most of the time. I have no idea at all how I managed to scrape through those years, but with hindsight I can't really describe them as 'living.' I existed, and I lurched from day to day, and that's probably the most accurate description of what was going on.

Drinking isn't on my mind, it isn't on my agenda and I never even think about it any more. Which explains why it's been a whole week since I was here and thought it might be three days or so.

Giving up completely is tough to begin with and then it gets easier and finally it's a lot easier than drinking. I'm at the third stage.

Cutting down is hard work, because you never really get any time off for good behaviour; the thought of it is always there. I'm very thankful I don't have that little devil sitting on my shoulder every day any more.

And, speaking purely for myself, it was my drinking that created a lot of the stress in my life - poor sleep, over-spending, bad manners when drunk, arguments, hangovers, headaches, sickness, being disappointed in myself the afternoon after a binge, all of those things are gone from my life and a few more. I can honestly say when I make a mistake, I'm 100% responsible and can own up to it without the shame of having been pi**ed when I made the mistake. I was so used to living with shame, but didn't actually realise that was what that feeling was. There used to be quite a bit of that kind of stress.

I still want to punch some people's lights out when they pi** me off; I'll never get rid of that kind of stress, but having a drink wouldn't change their behaviour!

I hope that answers your question. I still don't believe anyone should give up booze completely unless they feel they need to. I did, and it worked for me, but it's not easy and if anyone can moderate, drinking is a civilized thing to do, providing one stays civilized!

Maman, I agree with every word you said on the subject. I'm so sorry you're a bit under the weather. *Healing vibes* heading your way.

Green Karen, you're doing really, really well. Being AF I now have masses more time than I used to have, get more done and now need more time to cram in the stuff I want to do but can't because I'm so busy. It's good to know someone else is finding the same thing. My sleep patterns didn't stablize for a long time, and I still sometimes feel as drained as I used to when drinking, but I don't feel sluggish all the time, so that's great. I think we might expect too much of our aging selves sometimes!

rosy10 wrote: »

If you haven't seen The Favourite, I do recommend it; very funny and the 3 female leads were brilliant, esp. Olivia Colman.

We're going to see it on Friday - really looking forward to it. We saw Stan and Ollie 10 days ago. I was never a Laurel and Hardy fan, but having seen that film I have to say I'm a bit fond of them now. I think that makes it rather a good film.

(((Hugs))) Love a Sale. Welcome back. Your life sounds much as mine was, and the stimulus for knocking the drinking on the head is exactly the same - my relationship with my OH would not have survived had I gone on drinking. I didn't give it up for him, I gave it up for me. That/this relationship is the single most important thing I've ever had in my life and I'm not about to bu**er it up with over-indulgence that can be resisted. It's a tough one to crack, but who said life was going to be easy. It is so worth it. Good luck.

21/31 please, Shaggy.

AnnieG

Wonderful post Honey Bear, thank you