Less Alcohol - AUGUST 2019 - One Day at a Time
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thestewartsrock wrote: »My first day didn’t go that well. I had a stressful day at work and instead of meditating or excercing, I had a brown ale while discussing my day with hubs. But, I did consider a second and stopped myself. I had a seltzer water instead. Baby steps?
In my eyes you did well. You took the step to cut back, and quit at ONE. Good job!
That's what I'm saying. My life would be so much better if I could have just ONE drink, lol. You did well!4 -
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I really struggled not to stop and buy a bottle on the way home from work. But, I have to get up at 4am for work tomorrow so that kind of deterred me, which was nice, as it used to would not deter me at all, lol. I told myself it would make more sense to wait until tomorrow, since the next day I don't have to get up until 6am. Now we'll see if tomorrow I can talk myself out of collecting what I promised myself today LOL4
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yotetrapper wrote: »I really struggled not to stop and buy a bottle on the way home from work. But, I have to get up at 4am for work tomorrow so that kind of deterred me, which was nice, as it used to would not deter me at all, lol. I told myself it would make more sense to wait until tomorrow, since the next day I don't have to get up until 6am. Now we'll see if tomorrow I can talk myself out of collecting what I promised myself today LOL
That was a great save @yotetrapper. Every little "good reason" we give ourselves not to drink more than we want is a winner. Most of the time nothing happens over night the way we wish it would.
Stay strong.2 -
I am going to strive for the same as usual, 4-5 AF days per week. I will post daily to keep me accountable.
I was pleased with my 20 AF days for July.
August 01 - AF - I didn't want to be, but have to start the month off right. Many things planned for the weekend and there will be drinks involved. I will have to be strategic so that I don't have drinks 2 days in a row.
August 02 - AF - Again, didn't want to be. It is a long weekend with lots going on here in British Columbia. I want to not look terrible tomorrow, so no booze for me tonight.
August 03 - 3 drinks.
August 04 - AF
August 05 - AF - Going away Wednesday or Thursday for 5 or 6 days to a riverfront bluesfest in Montana, where the drinks are so much cheaper than Canada and I will have no responsibilities. I may have drinks, but will try to not have them 2 days in a row. Planning AF for tomorrow.
August 06 - 2 1/2 drinks. Kind of different that I couldn't finish my 3rd drink, I put it in the freezer. Tuesdays are the days that I sort of have scheduled to have a few drinks if I want them. Not sure what I was thinking when I said that I planned AF for a Tuesday. All good.
August 07 - AF
August 08 - 2 drinks (8oz red wine). It was lovely after a fantastic active day.
August 09 - 1 beer, 1 wine at the festival
August 10 - 2 wine
August 11 - 3 drinks - so much for not doing 2 days in a row. I will get back on track.
August 12 - AF - Back home and of course 3 pounds heavier. For sure I danced and walked lots, so it could have been 6 pounds. Getting on track.
August 13 - AF - Tuesday, my sort of planned day to have a few drinks, but seeing as I had drinks 4 days in a row on my holiday I needed to rack up another AF day. In fact I will need to be AF tomorrow too if I want to see 4AF days per week at this juncture.
August 14 - AF - Just squeaked to my 4AF days per week. Of course 5 would have been better, but the 4 days in a row of drinks put me behind. I don't think that I have had 4 days in a row of drinks since October. Playing catch up now.
8AF days out of 14 days so far.1 -
Just a random thought. Have any of you noticed the role music plays in your struggle to drink less? I listen to all kinds of music, but old time country is my favorite. I have a mixed cd in my truck that I listen to quite often. But I've began to notice a correlation between listening to those songs, and drinking. I get off work, start up the truck and that CD starts playing and the next thing I know I'm pulling into a liquor store. These past couple weeks I've taken to driving to and from work in silence.
I think sometimes all it takes to slip up is to hear a sad song at the wrong moment. Or maybe not even a sad song. Maybe Sweet Home Alabama or Freebird comes on and it reminds you of the jukebox at your favorite bar and off you go.
If you've noticed this, or even if you haven't but realize that yes, the music is usually on in the car when you decide to drink, maybe try turning it off or listening to a different genre of music and see if that makes a difference.
Just some early morning thoughts....4 -
yotetrapper wrote: »Just a random thought. Have any of you noticed the role music plays in your struggle to drink less? I listen to all kinds of music, but old time country is my favorite. I have a mixed cd in my truck that I listen to quite often. But I've began to notice a correlation between listening to those songs, and drinking. I get off work, start up the truck and that CD starts playing and the next thing I know I'm pulling into a liquor store. These past couple weeks I've taken to driving to and from work in silence.
I think sometimes all it takes to slip up is to hear a sad song at the wrong moment. Or maybe not even a sad song. Maybe Sweet Home Alabama or Freebird comes on and it reminds you of the jukebox at your favorite bar and off you go.
If you've noticed this, or even if you haven't but realize that yes, the music is usually on in the car when you decide to drink, maybe try turning it off or listening to a different genre of music and see if that makes a difference.
Just some early morning thoughts....
Interesting.1 -
@dawnbgethealthy said "I don't think that I have had 4 days in a row of drinks since October."
WOW that is a 10 month gap! 👏
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Those are deep early morning thoughts @yotetrapper. I hope that does not discourage you from listeningt to your tunes. Gotta love sweet home and freebird though......saw Ted Nugent last week in concert. That man rocks the stage and gets everyone fired up beyond belief. Here is the kicker...he does not drink. True story.2
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Hi all! Welcome new members!
I was on vacation last week and had about 3 drinks per day- over my goal of two per day.
Had lunch at the club yesterday by myself. Saw some people at the end of the bar drinking my favorite cocktail- a delicious fig martini. So in a nanosecond I ordered one too - even though I had just got done telling the waitress that I didn’t want a drink with my lunch because my productivity goes down the hopper if I drink midday. Which is exactly what happened.
You know what? It wasn’t as great as I remembered, and I didn’t like how I felt after drinking it. So I blew my goal for something that wasn’t worth it. Disappointed in myself that I caved so quickly.
Also, on vacay, hubby and I stopped into a bar/grill during the day to get their specialty drink, a frozen rum runner. We used to drink them all the time at this particular place when we vacationed down the shore 20 years ago. It, too, did not live up to the memory.
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Jumping in here although I have been reading for a while. This thread is very inspiring. Last night I thought of all of your posts when I was tempted to have more than I planned (2 gin and tonics). I wanted to be able to post this morning and say that I had not poured a little "extra." My short term goal is to stick to planned amounts, then decrease them a bit and weave in some AF days. I had several in June and just one in July. I felt much better this morning than I did yesterday morning and there were no hazy memories of the previous night.4
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Yes @yotetrapper I have "drinking" songs and if one comes on the radio or is playing in the store it's triggery for sure! The worst is my brothers music,he was a gifted rapper with some darn good songs but he committed suicide 2 years ago and I'd drink,put my earbuds in and just cry,at those times it felt cathartic bit in reality I don't think it was letting me mourn properly cuz after two years his passing is still too much for me to handle, especially these summer months cuz it happened in May,funeral in July plus his birthday,ugh,no wonder I've been an irritable wreck this summer,I do love my sober songs too though,bless you all are doing well ❤️5
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@yotetrapper
Definitely music is so tied with emotions, memories, deeper feelings in general. Different genres I am sure evoke different feelings. I was recently at a Blues festival where drinking seemed to go along with it. It didn't make me personally want to drink, but 12 hour days out in a field did include going into the beer tent a few times. Blues in a smoky bar might have affected me differently.
Conversely, I know young people who go to Shambala and the type of music played there lends itself to wanting to do drugs like Ecstasy.
Sweet Home Alabama sure is a party atmosphere sort of song.
And yes @MissMay I knew that Ted Nugent doesn't drink. Women who want to look after their skin, like JLo, also list abstinence as their beauty secret.
Nice that we can define our triggers and either avoid those, or somehow try to change our associations that we get with them.
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Yes @yotetrapper I have "drinking" songs and if one comes on the radio or is playing in the store it's triggery for sure! The worst is my brothers music,he was a gifted rapper with some darn good songs but he committed suicide 2 years ago and I'd drink,put my earbuds in and just cry,at those times it felt cathartic bit in reality I don't think it was letting me mourn properly cuz after two years his passing is still too much for me to handle, especially these summer months cuz it happened in May,funeral in July plus his birthday,ugh,no wonder I've been an irritable wreck this summer,I do love my sober songs too though,bless you all are doing well ❤️
I feel for you.....as I also lost my Brother to suicide. That was 4 years ago. Still painful when I hear HIS favorite songs or maybe music from a concert we went to together. I know a big problem with him was alcohol, heck he gave me my first hard liquor, Jack Daniels straight from the bottle playing drinking games.
Hugs to us💜5 -
Well, tonight was a total loss.4
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I am going to strive for the same as usual, 4-5 AF days per week. I will post daily to keep me accountable.
I was pleased with my 20 AF days for July.
August 01 - AF - I didn't want to be, but have to start the month off right. Many things planned for the weekend and there will be drinks involved. I will have to be strategic so that I don't have drinks 2 days in a row.
August 02 - AF - Again, didn't want to be. It is a long weekend with lots going on here in British Columbia. I want to not look terrible tomorrow, so no booze for me tonight.
August 03 - 3 drinks.
August 04 - AF
August 05 - AF - Going away Wednesday or Thursday for 5 or 6 days to a riverfront bluesfest in Montana, where the drinks are so much cheaper than Canada and I will have no responsibilities. I may have drinks, but will try to not have them 2 days in a row. Planning AF for tomorrow.
August 06 - 2 1/2 drinks. Kind of different that I couldn't finish my 3rd drink, I put it in the freezer. Tuesdays are the days that I sort of have scheduled to have a few drinks if I want them. Not sure what I was thinking when I said that I planned AF for a Tuesday. All good.
August 07 - AF
August 08 - 2 drinks (8oz red wine). It was lovely after a fantastic active day.
August 09 - 1 beer, 1 wine at the festival
August 10 - 2 wine
August 11 - 3 drinks - so much for not doing 2 days in a row. I will get back on track.
August 12 - AF - Back home and of course 3 pounds heavier. For sure I danced and walked lots, so it could have been 6 pounds. Getting on track.
August 13 - AF - Tuesday, my sort of planned day to have a few drinks, but seeing as I had drinks 4 days in a row on my holiday I needed to rack up another AF day. In fact I will need to be AF tomorrow too if I want to see 4AF days per week at this juncture.
August 14 - AF - Just squeaked to my 4AF days per week. Of course 5 would have been better, but the 4 days in a row of drinks put me behind. I don't think that I have had 4 days in a row of drinks since October. Playing catch up now.
August 15 - AF - I didn't want to be AF today, but I had to make up for the holiday drinks still.
9AF days out of 15 days so far.2 -
yotetrapper wrote: »Well, tonight was a total loss.
Why?0 -
yotetrapper wrote: »Well, tonight was a total loss.
That was last night.
Today is a brand new day.
Remember ONE day at a time is our motto. ☺2 -
Haven't stopped yet but cut down only had 1 glass of wine last night.3
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I looked back at my 2018 calander that I keep for tracking on here. I am better this present day August, than last August at this time. Under the talley by 2 standard size drinks for the beginning of August. Not an earth shaking news event....but one that keeps me honest with myself and accountable for what I put in my mouth.
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yotetrapper wrote: »Well, tonight was a total loss.
That was last night.
Today is a brand new day.
Remember ONE day at a time is our motto. ☺
You're right. And I woke up today wanting more than ever to be done with this nonsense, I feel like crap and sure didn't have fun.
Shockingly, when I stepped on the scale this morning though I somehow managed to drop 3lbs overnight. So I guess I can't complain too much, lol.5 -
Thanks for the welcome MissMay. I did have more than planned last night and I see how different I feel today than yesterday. Need to keep working on sticking to my plan. I appreciate this thread.3
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I looked back at my 2018 calander that I keep for tracking on here. I am better this present day August, than last August at this time. Under the talley by 2 standard size drinks for the beginning of August. Not an earth shaking news event....but one that keeps me honest with myself and accountable for what I put in my mouth.
Had similar epiphany last night. On my tally for August I have 7 days AF so far out of 15. In both June and July I had a total of 7 days each month. Out of 30 and 31 days. Months prior to that weren’t much higher.
Still not ready to formally commit to a set number of AF days per week or per month but buckling down on a number of fronts in August should yield some benefits that hopefully carry through into the fall and winter months.3 -
Let's just blame it on the full moon...
Day 16 AF.
Also counting the calories and $$ saved by switching to AF beer instead of Chianti. And the more productive early morning hours. Even if they are just spent watching deer and listening to the birds squabbling outside.
Maybe I'll dust off my Bluegrass CDs to replace Cable News [MY "trigger"] ??3 -
Oh that darn moon again making us all crazy. Thanks @forestdweller1 for reminding us. Happy 16th AF. Love saving those green backs too.1
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