Sobtober

I did dry July and I’m still going. I was drinking way too much and have never felt better!

I drink way to much, probably more than anyone on this thread has admitted to, but I would never put off any of my hobbies  (or anything else unless it involves driving a vehicle on the public highway) as a result of a hangover / excessive drinking. One of my favorite things is riding home from the pub, under the moon light and the influence of 6 pints. No public highways involved (almost).

Still going here.  Stopped on August 29th.  I now have lots of alcohol in the house and still keeping on the wagon.  #resist.  5ish weeks to go.

reading the jam shed wine thread got me to dig this one back out.  3 weeks completed yesterday, and on reflection my sleeping is a LOT better, though dreams seem more vivid, or maybe just I am remembering them more.

Transitioning from a fairly small but pretty regular amount of wine/beer/spirits to none certainly seems to be doing me some good, I think…

how are others getting on ?

After 580+ days dry for some reason I’ve started craving. Not sure if it’s a seasonal thing, a whisky by the fire, red wine with a slow cooker casserole etc?

So I rewatched Rain In My Heart on BBC iPlayer last night. I’m staying dry.

I’m going to have a cider tonight.  It’s been a helluva 3 weeks at work and today marks 8 weeks off the booze.  I’m happy with that.   I’m not saying I’ll start drinking again, but tonight is a tiny reward for good behaviour.

….and here we are, rolling into the last weekend of the month. It’ll be 2 cans of Infinite Session zero beer for me tonight, quite used to that routine now and no strong desires for anything alcoholic, dunno how long that’ll last, we’ll see in a week or so..

@lambchop I’ve not seen that film but I’m bearing it in mind. My cravings haven’t been too bad (dry since May), we were camped within sight of my favourite micro brewery, ( Bear Claw in Spittal, Berwick Upon Tweed), earlier this month on their monthly mid-week open tap. I was close to going, not just for the beer but to see people I’ve got to know over the years. It’s not just beer I miss but also the atmosphere of pubs – not including Boston! @sadexpunk – from another thread – bottomless brunches are another problem with our drinking culture, ram as much of a dangerous drug down you as fast as you can the bar owners let someone else reap the consequences…

@sadexpunk – from another thread – bottomless brunches are another problem with our drinking culture, ram as much of a dangerous drug down you as fast as you can the bar owners let someone else reap the consequences…

@wheelsonfire1 oh mate i know youre right but, i guess theres a line where id start to become a bit of a ‘fun sponge’.  wifes already looking forward to it and my ‘i might drive’ comment was met with a look of disdain and “but itll be november then, you said just october!”.

but yeah, youre absolutely right about bottomless brunches, so maybe a compromise is just ‘drinking normally’ whilst they all drink themselves silly.  see, im a fun sponge already 😀

well, only a couple of days to go I guess !  many folk still in there ? I haven’t had a drop in 30 days and feel definitely better for it.  Better sleep, better mood and loads of PBs on the Wattbike on Zwift !

I keep a close eye on my health stats and can see that my blood pressure average has dropped 3 – 4 points on both sys/dia, and that’s from a baseline consumption around the government limit of units of about 15 a week.  Resting HR also down about 4 bpm.  Weight not changed much – dropped about 2 kg to 78kg, though I could do with stopping evening snacking and pulling that to 76.

I don’t have any desire to get back into a habit of regular small amounts, so hoping it has enabled a reset to very occasional beer, wine or a dram, we’ll see.  I may take the plunge and knock it on the head for good after Christmas, or maybe before.

How are other’s experiences ?

well ive finally succumbed but i spose i knew i always would at some point.  pleased with myself tho as even tho we went to the pub on nov 1st, all i had was a few diet cokes whilst the others were on beer/wine/prosecco.  and thanks to this thread i think ive changed the way i look at alcohol now, mainly due to the link that @wheelsonfire1 put up which was a really informative read.  worth linking to again for anyone that might have missed it.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/24/the-truth-about-booze-how-alcohol-really-affects-your-body-from-first-flush-of-happiness-to-hangover-hell

and yes ‘health reasons blah di blah etc etc’ which we all know anyway, what really struck a chord with me was the last paragraph…..

If you don’t want to give it up entirely, perhaps the trick is to balance the (relatively) small health risks of low consumption against the fact that having a glass of red with some friends remains a lot nicer than the other health risks we are routinely exposed to. “Alcohol is the best drug for socialising that we know of,” says Nutt. “And the whole history of humanity is socialising – we’re an enormously social species and alcohol facilitates that. The problem is that about 10-15% of people really struggle to control their drinking and quite a few people drink more than they should without knowing it.” Nutt suggests two things. “First, you should be aware of how much you drink, in the same way you’re aware of your weight and waistline, and try to reduce it if necessary.” The second point may take some practice: “Never have a drink that doesn’t give you value. Most people have one drink and carry on – but most of the value comes from that first drink.”

and particularly those last 2 sentences.   “Never have a drink that doesn’t give you value. Most people have one drink and carry on – but most of the value comes from that first drink.”

we had my grandaughters birthday part yesterday in town.  i walked in the pub and saw Neck Oil on tap.  its one of the few that i actually really enjoy so i had a pint.  then we went across the road for the meal.  nothing took my fancy so i just went on diet coke again whereas before id have just chosen the ‘least worst’ option just to carry on drinking.

TLDR:  im going to drink far less than i used to, and only drink when i feel that theres some ‘value’ to it, drink by drink.  so the first one or two might be lovely, but if i dont particularly fancy that third one then i wont.