Giving up/ Cutting Down Alcohol Thread Part 16

maggiem

Declaring early again for tonight so 5/20.

Interesting question CuppaTea. Bit like Maman, I had a stressful job and used wine to distress on arrival at home. I was opening a bottle every night - which I (mainly) shared but thought things needed to change when opening a second bottle.  This excuse no longer applies,  not working, but the drinking had become a habit. This thread does help but strangely enough only when I am using it so I have had a few times when I have started drinking more and at the same time stopped posting. I'm hoping this year to meet my annual target which would mean I hadn't gone off piste for a whole year. That would feel like a real success. 

maman

When I said yesterday that following a plan helped me, I didn't say it was easy!! I well remember the first few weeks when I was at a loss with what to do with myself in the evenings.I just had to have a drink in my hand and consumed copious amounts of water. An alternative soft drink never appealed because they're mostly sweet and full of calories so that wouldn't have worked for me. I'm happy now with a cuppa as I find hot drinks better as  have to drink them more slowly. My current favourite is my version of masala chai.  
5/10 AFDs please Shaggy

Barny1979

6/20 AFDs today 

Arkers

Good afternoon everyone,
6 please Shaggy
Arkers x

Wanna_Bee_Free

Good afternoon Arkers and everyone.
5 for this evening please Shaggy. I have vivid dreams both of my AF nights this week; I think knocking myself out with booze stops me dreaming. To be honest I am sleeping better but feel more anxious from the dreams. My dad who's in his 80s had an operation cancelled due to take place to remove cancer on his ear. We just had 5 days to get used to the fact it was probably for the best at the moment and now he's in tomorrow. I can't help worrying about the speed and priority he's being given at the moment, the tumour must be more serious than many things. I am also struggling with being too far away to do anything to help except cross my fingers. I thought about taking a day off work as I know I"m going to be useless tomorrow but decided not to. I don't have a full day to do at the moment anyway.
Thanks for letting me blurt everything out on here, my first reaction on getting the news yesterday evening was to want to pour myself some wine but I told myself sternly it wouldn't help and for once I believed myself!! 

maman

I'm glad you're listening to yourself wbf!  
Try not to think the worst about your dad's op. It could be because it's straightforward and won't need to be followed up with immunosuppressants. Plus I've heard that they know that stopping planned treatments/procedures is causing a lot of stress and fortunately there is still a lot of bed capacity. Take care.

PriceySOS

6 please, ta xx

Wanna_Bee_Free

Thanks Maman!

CuppaTea

The last 2 days have been very stressful and sad due to two lots of bad news. Of course I resorted to wine and ended up regretting it the next morning. 

Feels like I’m responsible for everything and everyone. The kids are very upset. One is leaning on me and one is withdrawing. I feel sad and tearful too. 

But I’ve told myself the wine stops today and I need to claw back one of those days. 

Wanna_Bee_Free

Morning Cuppa Tea, sorry to hear you've had two lots of bad news. I hope today is better for you all. Good luck clawing back one of those days today.