Health & Family Quitting alcohol and social life

I indulged with some wine on Christmas Eve. It was nice but it was enough for me.

Stayed away from any alcohol on Christmas Day although it was readily available. I wasn't interested in it.

 

Nothing for me so far these holidays, and not been tempted at all.

It has been so nice not having daily hang overs like Christmases past.

I almost missed Christmas Day altogether last year, the Christmas Eve street drinks went on a bit and a neighbors son works for a Tasmanian distillery, so we sampled rather a lot of his whisky. I managed to get from bed to the sofa by 1pm, then the sofa to the shower by 2pm then was barely alive enough to greet our guests by 3pm and somewhere near normal by the evening. That was the biggest catalyst for trying to go sober, I felt so bad that I almost completely ruined Christmas Day for my partner (I only semi ruined it by missing most of it, just glad I was able to come around enough to entertain our guests for dinner).

We went to a country pub the other day, it was a lovely day and I was rather envious of my mates pint of beer, it smelled and looked lovely. Wasn't hard to refuse though, a couple of Carlton Zero's did me well enough.

I've said before on this thread, I know myself well enough that if I go back to "the odd beer" it'll be back to square one in no time, so for me, sobriety is the goal.

Good luck to all continuing this journey through 2020.

 

Propagate ,that's good to read and i'm still in the same boat ,and your quote about ''the odd beer'' is 100 percent correct and in a few days time it will be over the one year ..
I read the other day about a well know tv host who has not had a drink for ten years ,and the reason he finished drinking was after a late lunch a few reds he was pulled over in a RBT went just under the limit and the impact shock as he waited to be tested again and the fear of everything from his highly paid employment his public image and money making potential hit him that hard that after the second test was lower and saying thanks to the Police he gave it up there and then..

 

congrats propagate, I hear a lot of people say they are going to lose weight/stop smoking/stop drinking

great to see that you are still continuing and feeling a lot better

edit: there is this heinekin zero product out now, I ve got a free 6 pack in my fridge
have yet to try it!

 

Very good stuff to read. More of it.

@willair, I know this sounds smarmy but it's a good feeling to roll up for an RBT without a care. And as you drive out looking at the faces of those waiting for their second test and thinking that could have been me.

 

The Heineken alcohol free one is actually very good, so good in fact that all our local bottle shops keeps selling out and can't keep up with demand! I've had to slum it wit the Cartlon Zero instead, (passable as a wet, fizzy, refresher but pretty ordinary compared to the Heineken).

Dan Murphy's carry a Dutch Wheatbeer that's zero alcohol, comes in a big glass bottle, cant for the life of me recall then name, but it is also very good.

 

Pretty simple to avoid the RBT, don't drink and drive!
Most establishments today have courtesy buses for this very reason. If they don't, catch a cab or simply walk.
Better still have a drink at home with neighbours / friends so that nobody has to worry about transport issues.

 

Yes Heineken 0.0 is the most popular alcohol free beer in Europe and the one I drink sometimes. I tried Carlton zero here and think it's ok, better than many others. A wheat beer called Bavaria is my favourite though and is what I buy if available.

Day 68 alcohol free now, survived Sydney NYE in a pub and flight from Barcelona with two small kids.

 

Just checking ,i hope everyone made it through the last week and the start of the new year in good health .

My aim was to go as far as i could ,now i'm over the one year mark something one year ago when i started and finished with drinking thought was never possible..good luck..

 

well, had my first drink since christmas, after work, caught up with an old client for drinks, he brought over a 6 pack of jack daniels double shot things, I had 4 of them, followed by a 3 beers, and im not a huge drinker

woke up in the middle of the night feeling horrible, and crap

the attraction to alcohol is getting very low, if it werent for social events, I probably wont drink at all

full respect (seriously) to those that drink all the time excessivly and function,

 

Great work @willair

8 months and 10 days for me. Feeling great about it now, (not something that could be said early on), I'm determined to stick with it. Haven't set a time goal as such, I'm in the mindset of being "sober" now for the foreseeable.

That was the first Christmas & New Year in 27 years that didn't have a least one severe hangover.

Life's too short to waste your weekend mornings in bed until 10am then spending the rest of the day in a foggy haze.

 

Nice going @Propagate and @willair!

Had wine (four glasses when one would have done) on Christmas Eve, nothing on Christmas Day and a glass on NYE.

That'll be it for me until some indeterminate time in the future which is likely to be months away.

 

Thanks @geoffw. I consider myself lucky as I haven't had to struggle unlike many others. I stopped and can stop without any issues whatsoever.

I do get annoyed with those who says it's only a matter of self-control and of course you can have one or two. Total rubbish. It's insulting to those who have problems with alcohol and it takes guts to, first, admit it and, second, do something positive about it.

Thumbs up to those who have decided enough was enough and best of to those who are attempting to reduce drinking too much or stopping all together.

 

A year after I quit alcohol, this is what has changed - ABC Life

 

Thanks for the link,it looks like a good read ..
Still sober ,i had to pick up the daughter with 2 of her Lady work-mate's 3-45 this morning when they had a problem getting home from the Valley..Went smack bang into a mobile rbt and drug testing unit in the 40 klm's zone near the inner city park..
Pulled over put the window down ,and maybe the drinks the Ladies had in the system made the car smell like a front bar at 10 in the morning ..Did the 10-1 countdown waited five minutes for the drug test then just drove away..Im working on 2 years now ..

 

This will shake the beer industry to it's core, brewers are worried.

Corona-virus

At least it doesn't affect malt drinkers, yet.

 

Chatting to one of the dads at swim club recently. It was interesting mentality, he rarely drinks as he can't see the point of drinking one or two with dinner etc but has to get extremely smashed and pass out.

I can't get my mind around that as I'm the total opposite - I prefer to keep my wits about me.

 

Took me a bit to get the joke ...

In regards to not seeing the point of having one or two drinks, that's pretty immature and harmful obviously especially for a father. I'm like you, the moment i start feeling tipsy, i'm off it.

Had a mate who does the same on pretty much every sitting and i always had his back (driving him back home and all) until i got to a point were i realised that by accepting his behaviour, I was not being a good friend but on the opposite, i was kind of exacerbating the situation ...

We had an honest chat about it and he's much better at it these days although he still does get carried away sometimes.