Giving up/ Cutting Down Alcohol Thread Part 16

Barny1979

16/20 AFDs today

marahouti

Good morning everyone.
23/21 for yesterday please cathybird. Thank you. X

cathybird

July

7 days =

14 days =

21 days =

28 days =

Target reached =

Target beaten =

July targets

Arkers 5/TF

arsenalbarnie 2/TF

Barny 16/20

cathybird 25/21

Cuppa 12/18

lantanna 12/11

maggiem 13/18

maman 11/10

marahouti 24/21

PriceySOS 17/24

Season of Mist 19/31

Shaggydoo 21

sukeyboo 11/10

WBF 6/16

ALL WELCOME TO JOIN!

marahouti

Good morning.
24/21 for yesterday please cathybird. Thank you. X

maggiem

Wow - so many people exceeding their target 👏👏👏. 

Declaring early for tonight - need to do next 6 days AF to make target 🤞so 13/18 for today, Saturday. 

cathybird

Morning all, it's 25/21 for me today

PriceySOS

17 please, thanks xx

Honey_Bear

Hi Everyone! 

At exactly this time six years ago I was getting ready to go out for drinks on a friend's boat, packing a bag with tomato juice, tonic water and no booze.  I so did not want to drink that night because I was tired of the pain of hangovers, tired of being tired for days after a heavy night's drinking and so, so bored of the whole boozed up thing.  We walked down to the boat and the minute we arrived the host shoved a glass of bubbly in my hand and that was the end of my good intentions.  I didn't eat enough (there were only canapes and I was starving) and I can still remember most of my behaviour that night.  I'm not sure everyone has entirely forgiven me if I'm strictly honest although I have apologised to everyone.  Literally everyone (except OH) said they were steaming drunk too, but that doesn't mean they've forgotten what I said.

It's not okay to tell someone who posts nothing but selfies that I don't see the point of selfies and that people who post nothing but selfies are self-obsessed.  I mean, it's really not okay to say it, and even if I do think it, it didn't need to be said.  I'm not sure what I said to someone else in particular, but I can say that I'm pretty sure it was equally stupid and rude.  And then there was the screaming and shouting at OH all the way home, and once we got home - for another five minutes or so when he offered to walk the dog because I was so drunk.  I fell over and cut my ankle rather badly and nearly didn't get up, thinking it would be quite peaceful to just go to sleep where I was on The Hoe.  The only reason I didn't was because I knew if I did go to sleep I'd let go of the dog's lead.  She was elderly, very deaf and she'd have wandered off and no doubt been killed - which is why I eventually pulled myself together and went home.  That dog saved me.  Thanks Mrs Dog, long departed friend.

Giving up booze has been the single most self-disciplined thing I've ever done.  Giving up smoking 14 years ago after several attempts over 30 years was tough, but giving up the booze is much, much tougher because it's so socially acceptable to drink, and pretty much everyone who drinks gets drunk occasionally so everyone's pretty tolerant of it.  I'd gone past the point where it was socially acceptable and my behaviour had become unacceptable and was getting worse.  I stopped because OH had got to the point where he said, 'You crossed a line last night.'  I can't pretend it was the only time he was upset about my behaviour when drunk, and I always apologised but he was right - I had that night six years ago. 

I'm so grateful to all of you who helped me get through the first five years.  With this thread, and Belle of Tired of Thinking About Drinking, I turned my life around.  Nothing else.  No AA, no meetings, nothing I had to pay for, just the support of people who'd decided they were going to 'fess up that sometimes we drank a bit too much and we'd like to do something about it.  And so we did, and so we do.  Thank you everyone, particularly Maman, Shaggy and CathyBird.  Without all of you, past and present, I wouldn't have made it to the Sober Side which is where I still live, very happily.

Somewhere during the last year, so between the fifth and sixth anniversaries, I also stopped needing to have an AF beer during my evening meal as a substitute drink.  I don't even think about it any more, and I'm really glad about that.  I don't get cravings any more, haven't for a couple of years at least, but they tailed off during the first year and by the end of Year 2 I didn't get them at all.  Red wine still smells delicious but I'm not tempted by it, I just enjoy the perfume.

I'm sorry I haven't been contributing for quite a long time, and I doubt I'll come back to post daily.  It's not that I don't think about you all, but it's done.  The booze thing is just done.  Having to post every day would remind me about alcohol and the truth is I don't even think about it any more, even though OH still has a glass of wine every night with dinner.  I like that I don't think about it.  I'm surprised if anyone mentions being drunk because I've honestly forgotten that's what people do, which is amazing when I think about how important it was for so long to me.  20 years.  20 years of drinking a bit too much, 10 of them drinking to excess. 

It was a hell of a difficult habit to break, I've broken it, and that feels good. 

I do miss you all, and I do still think about how much the good friendship of this thread meant and means to me, but if I may I'd just like to celebrate here once a year, to mark the anniversary, and leave it at that.

25/31/6 please, CathyBird.

maman

Lovely to hear from you HB. I think of you often. So pleased you're in the place you are. Who'd have thought a dog made all the difference. Why am I not surprised. 😁

lantanna

Great post Honeybear. Alcohol can cause so much misery, my mum and dad had one of their massive arguments last night, alcohol involved. Today my dad falls off a ladder punctured lungs, fractured ribs.. they are still not speaking and he’s in hospital. Alcohol doesn’t have a negative effect on everybody I know and I’ll never be tea total but this forum is fantastic whether you want to just cut down or abstain. Everybody is always so welcoming and non judgemental. Everyone’s journey and experiences are unique.