Less Alcohol ~ JANUARY 2022 ~ One Day At A Time
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Fit_Happens_2021 wrote: »I'm thinking through my goals and the ways in which I will try to help myself reach them.
Question to others who are reducing (but not going completely dry).
Do you have alcohol in the house on the days you plan to not drink? Does having it in the house on days you are abstaining make it more difficult?
@Fit_Happens_2021 - We use to buy 6 bottles of wine at a time because you got a 10% discount. Now we usually drive to the store to pick up the 1 or 2 bottles planned for an evening. No longer concerned about the discount. If DH buys 6 bottles and comes home with them ... then they are likely to get drunk in 5 or less days either by DH or both of us & my sister.
All other alcohol in my home I don't seem to have as much an issue with. It is in a cabinet. More out of sight out of mind.5 -
Happy 2022 welcome to the newcomers and to our very important seasoned monthly contributors.
While Dry January is a popular resolution and how many of us found our way to this great group of monthly accountability and support, the name of this group and the goal for all of us is “Less Alcohol”. What form that takes for each of us is very individualized. For many it is complete restriction, or only drinking on special occasions, having a schedule (AF weekdays and a little more relaxed on the weekends).
Another wonderful term is“mindful moderation” which is normally my strategy. Moderation is what worked well for me for weight loss and maintenance, and when I took a step back and looked at my patterns of drinking in past years I saw that while I wasn’t drinking to excess every single day, I was certainly drinking mindlessly many days and that was leading it to become more of a habit than I liked. I started tallying my days (AF, A, and # of drinks) each night. Focusing on balance and moderation and not just drinking out of habit or because it was a good day, or a bad day, or a TUESday made me really think before I poured a glass or think before I had another. There are definitely still days when I have a drink or two but I’ve gotten past the point of feeling horrible and shameful when that happens. I love my non drinking days too - hot coco, mocktails and H00. I love that those come pretty naturally to me now- at first in years past, they were tough and I used to have an internal debate between my drinking brain and my non-drinking brain.
I haven’t landed on a specific goal related to consumption this year, only to continue to practice the mindful moderation. If dry January happens, so be it. If I have a few throughout the month I won't crawl in a hole.
**Do please remember not everyone is participating with the same goals. Be respectful to others less drinking decisions. Being forceful with opinions on either side of this less drinking journey may cause tensions that we don't need. Thank you in advance for being considerate to others.
Best of luck to all and Happy New Year my "less alcohol family"!
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@Fit_Happens_2021 good question
My home is not alcohol free in the least. My husband belongs to a wine club and a huge delivery comes quarterly. Lucky for me I hate wine.
Then there is our bar area he likes to keep stocked in case people come by to visit.
Oh and the bottles of hard liquor given to us as gifts this holiday are sitting around also.
There was a time I could not open the frig or cabinet without wanting to pour something. It has since become very manageable to reach past the bottles.11 -
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looneycatblue wrote: »Hi all, I posted this in another forum, so thought I would share some here too, (lazy?)
I am going to try out a Dry January... I even covered my bottles with socks this morning as a reminder not to indulge. Silly I know, but maybe that will get me to think twice.
@looneycatblue I'm cracking up over this sock reference. We may need to see what this looks like.
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My standard drinks chart so we all can be reminded what ONE drink really is
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I like to change up my goals so for January, my plan is to be AF 27-29 days and no drinking in the house.
Wishing you all success in reaching your goals!5 -
Yay! I am in again this year! Even if I have two drinks I always feel bad the next morning. Doesn't stop me though. So in for this Dry January. Let's do this!8
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Hello again to familiar peeps, and welcome to new comers! Let's do this!!
@Lilylady3k Thank you for your response, I am pretty much the same way when it comes to wine, I feel I have all the resolve of a wet tissue in evenings if wine is in the house. Not so much with liquor, I can ignore that mostly.
@looneycatblue I want to see sock pics too LOL, I think putting socks over the left over Christmas Bailey's might be helpful for me!
@MissMay Thank you for the visual on what one drink really is. I find it such a comfort to come back to this thread with new resolve for 2022, you all helped me more than you know in 2021. If dry January happens for me I would be overjoyed, but my goal is for less right now so as not to overwhelm myself before I start.
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Wow it looks as if this year is starting with a bang! AND the sock idea, considered it stolen!! Can you get a sock over a industrial size bottle of whiskey?? gonna give it a go. Maybe even give the top a bit of a hat, googly eyes and a smirk? If I can pull it off a picture will follow
Last year I had really lofty goals about alcohol and drinking less each month. This past year has taught me a lot about my own will power and triggers.
Yes I did have AF days last year, which were firsts in many many years. This year I will continue to focus on less the days I drink, and incorporate more AF days.
I have made a promise to myself, no more beating myself up mentally for drinking the night before. I know the drink, takes a drink. I actually have a printed power point slide (in color mind you haha) of the whole saying ...first you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink.....and a poster sized picture I took while hiking of a path we were on. It reminds me of the saying "change your own path". I have these hung in my home office so I can see them all the time. This year I will move them around every few weeks to just keep my brain focused on them and not skim by them cross eyed.
wishing everyone a wonderful 2022!
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Lilylady3k wrote: »
I try not to drink when stressed
I've been pretty successful with that aspect since I retired in Jan 2019!
Usually mine now is a couple of glasses of wine in the evening and not a whole bottle or 2 of wine.
But then I enjoy the wine ... and really don't feel guilty about drinking it so long as I want it and not "need" it like I did back in 2016-2018 when I was mindlessly drinking. Now it is more mindful, I'm not sluggish, I don't have trouble sleeping, etc etc. I'm okay with my plan.
Happy for you that you quit and that you feel no need to drink and that it tastes like ethanol to you. But that is not me.
We each are on our own journey with various goals that we individually set.
Yep, everyone needs to find their own healthy relationship with alcohol. I was sharing my personal experience. The previous person quoted talked about needing to not drink as a response to stress, and I shared my experience with how drinking for stress made the stress worse.
It's great that you've been able to not drink in response to stress, I think that's really the key to managing alcohol. It's the stress drinking as self-medication that usually ends up being difficult to manage.2 -
Sock covered bottles 😁
I just realized how much more fitting these are, Fat Cats!
Steal away... let's see yours!12 -
just had to add my own spin HA this is fun
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First MOCKTAIL of the new year.
Chocolate orange martini
YES it is as tasty as it looks.
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I'm going to attempt dry January this year. It's going to be hard because I'm an emotional drinker. Here goes - wish me luck!11
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Family dinner this evening. Really didn't want wine this evening. We had none in the house, I planned to have an AF evening but my sister showed up with 4 bottles! Oh well stuck to my original plan. DH & my sister had a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine this evening. I remained AF trying to be supportive of my daughter and daughter-in-law that are both pregnant (they like wine too).
Kicking off 2022
January accountability: 1/1 days AF
Alcohol: 0 days (0 drinks)
Goal: Limit 1-2 glasses per day; 12-16 AF days per month. Aim to drink no more than 2 nights in a row.
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