LESS Alcohol ~ JANUARY 2025 ~ One Day at A Time
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4 months and 4 days AF done. I just realized today that I used to spend 25 hours a week under the influence of wine. 3 hours a day during the weekdays (15 days) and 5 hours a day each for Sat and Sun. Then Sat and Sun I would nap 2 hrs each day due to alcohol fatigue. I don't nap like this anymore and fatigue is gone.
Now I have 29 new hours back to me to figure out what to do!
I am surprised to write this because I never realized how many hours I lived weekly in a state outside of myself. No wonder it's a bit challenging to figure out what to do with this "new" time.
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@globalhiker Just WOW about your friends that eat and drink all day in bars and wonder why they are gaining weight. So many people are in total denial. I was one of them. I cannot believe the tens of thousands of dollars I have wasted being well; wasted. My husband and I have set a firm budget for the first time ever on how much we can spend going out. We have both lost weight since Jan 1 ( he is doing dry January with me) and have saved so much money and calories. We did go out for Indian food last night and both had only water with our dinner and the bill was easily half of what it would have been had we had our usual 2 drinks each, followed by stopping at the wine store to get more for home. It is an insatiable need once I start.
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globalhiker wrote: »4 months and 4 days AF done. I just realized today that I used to spend 25 hours a week under the influence of wine. 3 hours a day during the weekdays (15 days) and 5 hours a day each for Sat and Sun. Then Sat and Sun I would nap 2 hrs each day due to alcohol fatigue. I don't nap like this anymore and fatigue is gone.
OMG ~ what a revelation! I never looked at it that way as well, but I "was" about right with you.
Wine bottle would open at about 6pm for 3ish hours x 6 days = 18, then Sunday could be anywhere from 3 to 5 hours.
Another "thing"....I use to be a happy drinker. As of late, I found that I was "happy" until a point but anything could easily tip me to the dark side.
I also am chuckling at my grocery bill which is $20 to $30 cheaper each trip
Love these discoveries!!!
@Womona ~ yes, I love numbers and spreadsheets!!
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globalhiker wrote: »4 months and 4 days AF done. I just realized today that I used to spend 25 hours a week under the influence of wine. 3 hours a day during the weekdays (15 days) and 5 hours a day each for Sat and Sun. Then Sat and Sun I would nap 2 hrs each day due to alcohol fatigue. I don't nap like this anymore and fatigue is gone.
Now I have 29 new hours back to me to figure out what to do!
I am surprised to write this because I never realized how many hours I lived weekly in a state outside of myself. No wonder it's a bit challenging to figure out what to do with this "new" time.
Girl I love numbers and these statics have me grinning happily.
Congrats on your gained hours of life back.7 -
Totally love your share, @globalhiker! Isn’t it crazy to quantify our drinking hours in writing…..so happy for you to find freedom from that. I can relate and am much happier now that I’m flipping it around with mostly NA days.
You have some great new things happening in your AF life!
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Time becomes quite precious when you get to be my age, the other side of 60! The extra time we find without wine nights is glaringly real. AF last night and I made time for a hot bath with magnesium salts and listened to a mindful meditation to welcome the new year and new things. Very soothing. This weekend, I’ve reincorporated other short meditations with stretching exercises in my yoga room (aka grandkids play room). I also had one of the best nights of sleep all week!
So far, week one of reset (dryish) January is going well. Increasing days off and having longer stretches of NA is my main goal.
Current:
AF days - 4
A days - 1
To quantify - I gained 16 hours back to use for health and wellness in the last 4 days - woohoo!9 -
Another alcohol free day. Too tired to say much else!
Alcohol goals
-no drinking/use for 3 weeks (until after I have a medical procedure on Jan 17).
- only 2 days after that where I can drink, less than 3 drinks each day.
- max drinks for the month 69 -
AF - 5
A - 0
Went for my walk today, and my hip was giving me real problems. So, the walk was cut short. Still picked up 2 kitchen-size trash bags of litter after about a week of no walking. Supposed to rain tomorrow, so may not walk.
I have my interview for my new job tomorrow. I believe it’s just a formality since the boss-lady called me herself to tell me she wants me in the role. I’ll be starting something brand new soon. 😬
Birthday party is next weekend. Weather may not cooperate for my friends/family that are supposed to be traveling down from NC. That will put a damper on the party.🙁 Hoping it’ll be a typical “southern snow chance”… maybe it’ll happen, but it’ll be gone by noon! 😉
It’s late. I’m off to bed. Good night all.6 -
Woops had a glass of wine with dinner yesterday. lol
I am able to moderate now and drink occasionally if I want to without any fears of daily drinking again.
AF = 3
A = 1
cheers!
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Dry January is out the window, so I need to set some new goals. AF Mon - Thurs and don't drink 2 days in a row. If that would have been the goal to begin with, I would have nailed it this week
Went to the casino Friday with SO and had 4 glasses of wine. Nothing Saturday, then 4 glasses yesterday during football. I will abstain all week. I will abstain all week. I will abstain all week! My goal is not drink until Sunday with playoff football. We'll be tailgating with friends, so we know how that's going to go.
AF = 3
A = 28 -
@Michieb125 thanks for your supportive words and it's cool folks like you and all the others that keep me going. You are so right time is precious. Looking back, I see lost time, wasted time. I could have gone snowboarding, rollerskating, learned to ski, traveled to Australia, hiked in Scotland, gotten a home with a bigger shiny kitchen, developed my next occupation, dressed myself better, run a nonprofit to do something meaningful, literally there are one million other things I could have done with all that drinking time and money wasted.
Back to work today. This week working on my cycling and zumba skills with my free time. I need to be chocolate-free today too.9 -
AF – 6
A – 0
First weekend in a long time with no drinks.
Woke up earlier than I usually would and didn't have hangxiety, YAY!12 -
Happy Monday day LA friends…..already January 6th - wow did that week fly by or what.
I considered having some wine while watching the Golden Globes but I didn’t have any here! Had the rest of a decent N.A. wine - had all 12 ounces for 120 calories. Chateau Diana Chardonnay- a little sweeter than I like but the color, and nose are nice. The taste is more like a Sav Blanc. I will pick up another one tomorrow at Bev Mo.
Logging early before my annual mammogram tomorrow,
Current:
AF days - 5
A days - 17 -
@Stepawayfromthetable You are doing something very right! Agree there are benefits of having no hangxiety! Good for you!
@xbowhunter this journey is all about finding our own individual paths to LA, glad you’re here!7 -
Love the terminology! "Woke up earlier than I usually would and didn't have hangxiety, YAY!" Hangxiety blows, Good work Stepawayfromthetable!
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SurferGirl1982 wrote: »@globalhiker I know what you mean about wasted time and money. You're doing great. Keep it up!
Also there was a great song titled Wasted Days and Wasted Nights. Back years ago I could have written that line.
So glad for my L.A. lifestyle changes.
We are all bringing it.8 -
AF again today. Been doing pretty well.
Alcohol goals
-no drinking/use for 3 weeks (until after I have a medical procedure on Jan 17).
- only 2 days after that where I can drink, less than 3 drinks each day.
- max drinks for the month 6
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Setting up for success!!!
Goals for January - 85% Dry (AF = 26 A=5)
Monthly Stats - On Target
AF = 6 ~ 100 %
A = 0 ~ 0 %
Current Streak - AF = 6
Longest Streak - AF = 6
DH is killing me. He knows that I'm working on dry January and I’m easily tempted. He mentioned something the other day about having a spare lemon. Which means he wanted to make drinks. I just ignored him. Now he just reminded me that we have a bottle of egg nog in the refrigerator that we need to drink. I just looked at him.
His birthday is Wednesday and I said I'd have a drink on his birthday. Yikes...
On a brighter note, the scale is being very nice to me...
@chicbuc ~ you're still doing fine. Just set new goals and keep going... I will admit, football was hard yesterday!
Month Recap by Day
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tracker ✅️🍷🍸
1/1 ✅️
1/2 ✅️
1/3 ✅️
1/4 ✅️
1/5 ✅
1/6 ✅
2023 - 2024 Stats
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~January AF =87% A=13%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February AF =58% A=42%
March AF = 0% A = 100%
April AF = 0% A = 100%
May
June AF =58% A=42%
July
August
September
October
November
December AF = 13% =87%
Best AF Month = January
2023 St AF =12% A=88%
Best AF Month = January
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@globalhiker I too, have regrets 'about would have, could have, should have,' but we must remember, "don't look back. You aren't going that way." In other words, we can't change the past. In Matthew Perry's very powerful book, which I highly recommend, he said, "If you spend too much time looking in your rear view mirror, you will crash your car."
We need to move forward and just try to focus on today. That is really all we have, isn't it. I have to try to keep this in mind, though I admit it is hard at times.
Today I am 8 days AF. This evening I had herbal tea and a nice bath and am feeling grateful for many blessings in my life.9 -
You’re living the dream!xbowhunter wrote: »Woops had a glass of wine with dinner yesterday. lol
I am able to moderate now and drink occasionally if I want to without any fears of daily drinking again.
AF = 3
A = 1
cheers!
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AF tonight, had about 3 glasses of the Giesen dealcholized wine while finally catching up on budget stuff, which got pushed aside due to the holidays. As you can imagine, this doesn’t put me in the best mood because it’s tedious. I usually have wine, but you know what? The glass of the fake stuff let me enjoy my wine drinking ritual without actually having alcohol. Yay! My plan is NA until Thursday.
Had two drinks at brunch yesterday, but nothing last night.
Talking about how much time is lost to drinking, yowza! That is very eye opening! I’m definitely down for a nap when I can get one, for sure, but especially after I’ve had alcohol during the day.5 -
I caved on Saturday...
My current goal is to not have anything to this whole week and next weekend.
I'm finally feeling better after a cold and can't wait to get back out there and get some hikes under my belt.
Yesterday was stressful and busy at work, so i was stuck at the computer all day. Besides that, I'm feeling that this is going to be a good week.
Current:
AF days - 6
A days - 18 -
AF - 6
A - 0
Was a little more tempted to drink last night, but I baked bread instead. Nothing better than the smell of fresh baked bread.
Had my interview yesterday, and I believe it went well. I don’t think it matters how well it went because the boss-lady wants me in the position because she knows I will do the job. I should find out today because they had 2 more interviews to do.
@SurferGirl1982, you are so right. Small rural areas are hard to live in if you want socialization. Unless you have school-age children who are active in sports or clubs or go to church regularly, there isn’t much outlet. We live in a small, but unfortunately, growing rural community. My teenagers are in school and actively participate. Our church is a 30-minute drive, but it’s a medium-sized Catholic community and has a great Youth Group my daughter enjoys. My husband and I participate in various events at the church, like trivia night and charity dinners. But, it does take driving distances and real effort to be social in a small town.
Personally, I would love to move to a more rural area. I would love to be surrounded by farm land. I think my husband missed his calling and should be running a farm or extremely large homestead. He enjoys it, and it keeps him out of my hair. LOL As long as I can work from home, I’m good no matter where we live.
If living closer to town works better for you, go for it. You’ll probably be happier, and that might also help with the drinking. If I were you, I would consider moving into an area of town where you can walk to places you want to frequent since you’re not a fan of driving, and that would also help with your fitness. Just points to ponder…5 -
@SurferGirl1982 Not everyone thrives in every environment. I would also be restless in circumstances such as yours. Perhaps make a plan, a list of small steps that you can do to work towards your goal of moving. Maybe start getting rid of stuff you don't need anymore. Declutter. If you own your property, start preparing it to go on the market. Don't overwhelm yourself, just do it one thing at a time. This would help fill your days with something other than drinking and give you a purpose. I myself always have lots of excuses of why I can't do this or that, but I am working hard on that this year. It isn't always easy but I am attempting it anyway.
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I recently read that willpower does not work. It is literally powering against your will. Your wants. Your desires. You have to want it (or not want it in my case; alcohol). When you no longer want something, you don't need to fight against it and it should fall into place. Now, I have been trying to quit drinking for 20 years and this is the first time I actually am not needing willpower. I want this. I want to be sober. But I am not picking up my gold medal yet....I know all too well about the wolf in the woods, always there tempting me. But right now anyway, I am not interested in going back into the woods. I'm fine out here in the sun.
Day 9 AF
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7 AF
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@SunnyDays930 that's very nicely said - out in the sun is a good place to be!
TIP for all of you self-improvers: change is way easier when you replace deprivation (whatever you want to remove from your life) with something else you enjoy. Fill up your life with happy activities and happy things, try to reduce the things that cause stress and you will see you don't need wine or liquor or beer to create false happiness for you.
Today I can't wait to get to my kickboxing class. That's my fun break for the morning.5 -
I caved on Saturday...
My current goal is to not have anything to this whole week and next weekend.
I'm finally feeling better after a cold and can't wait to get back out there and get some hikes under my belt.
Yesterday was stressful and busy at work, so i was stuck at the computer all day. Besides that, I'm feeling that this is going to be a good week.
Current:
AF days - 6
A days - 1
As in the title of our thread ONE DAY AT A TIME, Saturday is gone, it happened. I applaud your 6-1.
😁9 -
Making some AF gains!
AF = 4
A = 19 -
globalhiker wrote: »@SunnyDays930 that's very nicely said - out in the sun is a good place to be!
TIP for all of you self-improvers: change is way easier when you replace deprivation (whatever you want to remove from your life) with something else you enjoy. Fill up your life with happy activities and happy things, try to reduce the things that cause stress and you will see you don't need wine or liquor or beer to create false happiness for you.
Today I can't wait to get to my kickboxing class. That's my fun break for the morning.
Agree! Now that all my Christmas decorations and the tree is gone I have gotten back to my BeachBody workouts. Something about those kicking workouts that leave me in my happy place.7
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