The Cutting Down / Giving Up Booze Thread (Part 14)

Good morning, calling in early for 1/24 for today please
I know it's early but got 2 of the grandchildren for a sleepover tonight and I don't do kids and alcohol
Good luck for December everyone, I am lucky as mine does not involve lots of social events. I have retired so no work nights out and Christmas itself revolves around children not alcohol. For example last Christmas Day was 8 adults and 4 children and I was one of only two adults who had alcohol and that was only 2 drinks (until I got home)

Afternoon all, 1/21 for me thanks.

takingonedayatatime wrote: »

HoneyBear - I took the test you posted and did it as if I was still drinking and got a score of 19 :doh: . That is clearly enough reason for me never to go back to alcohol!

Well done for being honest, One Day. It takes guts to come clean with oneself and most of us are quite willing to bend the truth when it comes to uncomfortable facts about ourselves.

I wish they hadn't revamped the website because I'm not sure if they still got into the same level of narrative about what the various scores mean. I know that when I did it, the advice was that although I was still coping relatively well with the amount I was drinking, within a couple of years I would be at a stage when dealing with it, ie stopping, would be a lot, lot harder. When I did it the other day while looking for the link for you the first screen after finishing the test didn't go into that level of detail. It's probably still there somewhere - at least I hope so.

Mostly I found those sorts of assessment tools utterly useless, because there are clear levels of alcohol consumption - a glass of wine every few weeks, a glass of wine every day with food, a couple of drinks every day, more than a couple of drinks every day, getting p***ed every day, needing a drink to get going in the morning, binge drinking regularly etc. Most questionnaires just say if you're drinking every day, or exceeding 14 units a week (for a woman) you've got a serious problem and you need to do something about it. That's unhelpful because scare-mongering doesn't work.

If we're worried about our relationship with alcohol because we think we might be drinking too much, we probably are. If that's the case, we need to know roughly where we are on the road to ruin, because the salient fact here is that it never gets better of it's own accord.

What I like about that questionnaire is that it is, by and large, about behaviour. I hadn't realised just how predictable the result of drinking too much is - I can see the progression as I worked through the list of things that had either happened to me, or I had observed in other people.

It's realistic and informative, not judgemental, and that is incredibly helpful. I trust facts, I'm not interested in opinions unless the person delivering the opinion is professionally qualified to pontificate on the subject, like a doctor or a nurse specialist. I'm not that sure about 'addiction experts' because it's a question of how much training they've had and who provided the training. I'd never put my faith in a drying out facility for example that followed the model which states I am helpless over alcohol - and anyone who needs me to say I am before they will engage with me is not someone I trust.

Poor_Single_lady wrote: »

Happy December everyone.

Scraping 3 smilies! 21/24

Very pleased to be honest. Scaled down the social world dramatically recently but December is December so will be out a little bit like most people.

PSL that's an amazing score considering where you were when you joined this thread!

maggiem wrote: »

16/15 for November please Shaggy - and like others the thought of the target exceeded smilie helped last night when a half bottle of wine was jumping up and down calling to me. Yes I really am that shallow.

Can’t believe it is 1st December - gulp and barely a present in the house. May be a very busy time for my I Pad and a certain on line retailer as I am not sure I can face a visit to the high street. At least here although it is cold it is bright and that makes such a difference to my mood from those long grey dark days.

We're all that shallow when it comes to prizes for good behaviour!

I used to work in the city centre and was amazed to realise that no-one goes shopping early any more. When I was a kid the high street was busy on my way to school at 8.30, now it's dead at 9.00 am. On the days when it snows it's empty until at least 10.30 am.

Having said that each year I buy less and less for Christmas and enjoy it more and more. I certainly don't want the house cluttered up with stuff, having spent the past four years emptying it to the charity shops, Ebay, Gumtree, the scrapstore, the recyling centre and the tip. I loathe the cheap, tatty, over-commercialisation of it and I'm not buying into it any more - pun intended. No-one seemed to turn a hair when Christmas stuff started appearing in the shop this year BEFORE the August bank holiday. I'm happily making a few presents this year for people who've seen stuff I've made and said they'd love one (of whatever). They can take it to the charity shops, Ebay, Gumtree, the scrapstore, the recyling centre and the tip if they didn't mean it.

1/30 please Shaggy.

Good afternoon,
1 please Shaggy
Arkers x

Hiya, 1/20 for me please.

I was nearly de-railed at the first hurdle when my last client of the day gave me a bottle of fizz for Christmas (I won't be seeing her again until January). It was sitting there calling at me and normally I'd have had a glass and, because it's the weekend, then had another. Then, of course, I'd be finishing the bottle tomorrow night.

I managed to resist by having a gorgeous hot chocolate (mentioned earlier in this thread so thank you). Funnily enough I didn't fancy fizz then . I'm actually thinking of re-gifting the wine so it's not a temptation but that feels a bit mean.

Anyway, hope you all have a lovely weekend xx