Cutting Down Alcohol Thread

cathybird

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Very sadly for me, but probably not unrelated to the 60th birthday celebration comment, OH and I were on a Brittany Ferry to France this week for a minibreak and if anyone has travelled with them, you'll know how lovely they are. While OH was eating his meal he had a half bottle of wine to go with it because we were, technically, on the first night of a (mini) holiday, and had a cabin so we could really enjoy the whole experience. For the first time in a very, very long time I really seriously considered reaching across the table and picking up his glass of wine to have a very satisfyingly large [STRIKE]swig[/STRIKE] mouthful. It was very, very tempting.

Honey Bear, I could be wrong, but do you think this could have anything to do with the fact that you don't post here as often as you used to? I find I need the daily reminder and my motivation recedes if I don't touch base with the thread (for instance, when I was on holiday last month). Hey but I could just be being selfish, I miss you posting every day!

maman

Honey_Bear wrote: »

And, I think for the first time, I can honestly say, I really was !!!!!! off about being told whether or not I have or had a drink problem.

Has to be better than being !!!!!! HB!:D:rotfl:


Seriously, if you thought your drinking was a problem for you. Then it's a problem. End of.


Cuppa, I'd agree with cathy that telling a simple version of the truth is probably best but whatever works for you. On the occasions when I choose not to drink with friends I generally just explain briefly. It's usually because I have something on later/next day that means I don't want a fuzzy head and drinking always makes me sleepy.

pollyanna24 wrote: »

Find it a tad annoying how the drink less app on my phone beeps at me at 10am to tell me to update my diary. Generally I don't drink during the week, but at least give me till 10pm till I complete the diary for the day!

That's interesting, I wonder whether the app designers thought that out. When I started on this thread, posting my AF day was the very last thing I did before going to bed at night which for me is after midnight. I really couldn't trust myself in the early days not to cave in. Now I make my decision when to be AF in advance and often post around 10 a.m., confident I won't drink. It would have to be a very last minute change of plan to undo my resolve and then I'd come back on here and explain. There's something great about the accountability on here that I'd never claim an AF day I didn't deserve.:)


Didn't manage to post yesterday, just busy.


:T on your 59 days Shaggy. That's quite a run!:T


4/10 AFDs please Shaggy and 4 for the SNC.

cathybird

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Mind you, last week I also got irritated by someone who I've never particularly liked (nothing to do with the bunch of friends I was with on Saturday other than they all know this other idiot and no-one seems to be fond of him) who saw me buying some handmade chocolates in my favourite chocolate shop and made a silly comment about putting on weight as I was paying for them. As I said to him, 'Thanks Jeff, that's just what everybody needs, being told they're getting fat.' Which he wasn't, of course, but it was what he meant in that way that supercillious people have of pretending to be teasing one in a good-natured friendly way, but are in fact being unpleasant because that is all they ever do. I've never heard him say a single kind or generous thing and I've known him be consistently borderline unpleasant for 25 years.

That is frankly just rude on his part!! I know someone at work like this and it is hard not to be hugely annoyed and needled by their remarks even though you know they're not worth the annoyance.

I can remember at least two occasions when I splurged money on stuff I didn't need and, when I'd sobered up, didn't want, either. Both times it was less than £250 but pretty close. I don't have the kind of money to afford that kind of spending, either. It only happened twice but I imagine there were masses of occasions when I spent smaller amounts I shouldn't have, but those two biggies really stand out in my mind, now, at least 10 years later.

Trying to remember if I had any big spends while drunk! I bet I did. It's all a blur though. Money management was always so vague to me in these days, and so was drinking - I just never paid any attention to the details of either, never knew how much was in my account or how many units I was taking in, didn't really register what things cost, I didn't keep track. It's hard to understand that now. I am glad it has changed though.

Poor_Single_lady

5/21 for today

Thank you.

maggiem

Thanks Honey Bear for another really informative and thought provoking post. It's interesting that you managed all through a long day of celebration without a twinge of desire (I don't think I could do that) but on the ship were tempted.

I'm not sure why sometimes I can go days without a drink or thinking about one and other days I can start planning when I might have the glass of wine.

So 6/20 and5SNC - would be great if SNC had led to better performance at work but not at all convinced that has happened. However, wine didn't produce an improvement either!

loveasale

Great chats today folks ,,,,,
6/20 and 4/5

Barny1979

7/26 AFDs today

AnnieG

I'm terrible at ordering things online when I've been drinking, I've had concert tickets turn up that I have no recollection of ordering!

I have been thinking a lot recently about giving a reason for not drinking, it's almost as though I'm ashamed of it. Fortunately I'm on meds at the moment that I can't drink with, but I feel guilty saying 'I'm not drinking at the moment'. If one of my friends were to say that I'd just accept it as something they want to do, so I don't know why I feel like I should hide it.

Cuppa tea you could always say you're driving early in the morning and do t want to be over the limit... but I think the advice given from others is best, just be honest.

4/20 for me today.

I'm going for 3 for the weekend... Friday, Saturday and Sunday

GlendaSugarbean

Thanks for asking about justifying non- drinking CuppaTea, really interesting question and some great responses (as always(. I find being honest is best, but I admit to being selectively honest. So I'll say drinking doesn't agree with me at the moment, but I won't talk about how, if I'm drinking, I'll go over what's advised as the safe limit for women. I won't talk about how it's more likely that I'll suffer from liver damage than if I was a man, and I won't talk about raising my breast cancer risk. Maybe because it feels like I'm implicitly judging my friends who choose to drink? Or general cowardice .

On the health front, if you're getting recurrent nagging pains please GO AND SEE YOUR GP. It could be anything or nothing. It may be something like a grumbly gallbladder, but you should still get it checked out.

Oh and I def suffered from alcohol-fuelled impulse spending! And impulse eating.

8/28 and 5/5 today .

Barny1979

8/26 AFDs today