Less Alcohol - AUGUST 2020 - One Day at a Time

Hey all, nice to read your check ins. I hadn't planned on drinking this weekend, but Saturday there was a crazy heat wave here and I just couldn't do anything I had planned. I went for a ride with my daughter early but it was already getting hot. It almost reached 100 at our house, which is unheard of on the Oregon coast. We filled up our big inflatable kiddie pool with cool water, and spent the afternoon lounging. I had made some blueberry lemonade with the kids earlier that day- with our fresh picked blueberries and some fresh-squeezed lemon juice. It was so good, and as I lounged in the kiddie pool I thought, WOW this would be good with vodka. Well, I couldn't resist that temptation and so I enjoyed 2 cocktails that afternoon while relaxing in the kiddie pool during the heat wave. I can't say I am too sorry about it, it was very enjoyable. What I am sorry about is having a THIRD cocktail later that evening- I didn't need it and honestly didn't really enjoy it.

This week we are going camping for 4 nights, starting tomorrow. I really want to not get into my usual habit while camping of drinking an entire bottle of wine a night, every night. My goal is to only enjoy alcohol TWO of the four nights we are camping. I do not know if this is possible for me, but I really want it to be.

Aug 1: 2 drinks
Aug 2: AF
Aug 3: AF
Aug 4: AF
Aug 5: AF
Aug 6: AF
Aug 7: 2 drinks
Aug 8: AF
Aug 9: 2 drinks
Aug 10: 3/4 of a bottle of wine
Aug 11: 3/4 of a bottle of wine
Aug 12: AF
Aug 13: AF
Aug 14: AF
Aug 15: 3 drinks
Aug 16: AF

So far in Aug: 10/16 days AF

2 weeks alcohol free!!! 🚫🍷🥂🍾🍻🍹🍸

Before I loose track!

10.5 AF / 17

To be honest, it's been a challenge week for me...I did not stick to my rules and made excuses because of the extreme heat. It is really bad and my hormones are not happy.

What I see is that I really need to be able to run an hour in the mornings, to socialize at work, to be doing something meaningful for the world, and to breathe clean, cool air. How difficult could that be?

These are my basic needs. I have not been able to do any of these things this past week.

I am not able to open up our windows for 10 min in the early morning because it's insanely hot. I did force myself to take an early walk but the air was smokey from a fire. Ugh. Hot weather at age "almost 55" with hot flashes feels like hell..

I am Dawn. 59 (for one more month), I live in SE BC
My goal has remained the same, one that I feel comfortable with: 16-20AF days each month.

Saturday August 01 - Drinks, fancy fruity ones that I concocted.
Sunday August 02 - AF - Didn't really want to be AF, but did.
Monday August 03 - AF - Too windy to go to a lake today (I float on a mat) so I did some stuff around the garden. It is still going to be 100 degrees for a couple of more days, I am going to try to only work in the mornings so that I can get to the lake while it is super hot and not windy. Motivation to not drink is how my belly swells up so big the day after having drinks. Planning on AF again tomorrow.
Tuesday August 04 - AF - Long stressful workday when I should have been at the lake, second to last really hot day. So badly wanted a few cocktails, but fought through it with my newfound "don't drink when you are stressed" tactic. Those cocktails won't be going anywhere, I will have a few on a happy day. Lake time Wednesday no matter what.
Wednesday August 05 - Drinks. Last hot day here, so went to the lake and had some yummy cocktails when I got home.
Thursday August 06 - AF - I will try to be AF tomorrow also to get 2 in a row.
Friday August 07 - AF - Might have drinks with a friend this weekend.
Saturday August 08 - Bunch of drinks with a girlfriend. I was making them, so put half of the alcohol in mine. We had a nice visit.
Sunday August 09 - AF - planning on racking up a few of those.
Monday August 10 - AF - This didn't post for some reason, probably human error : - )
Tuesday August 11 - AF - I really have myself convinced now to not numb myself with alcohol when stressed out. If I have a few drinks when I am happy I enjoy/savour them more. I will probably be making Mojitos again before the mint is finished. When it is almost done I make a giant vat of mint tea, strain it, then freeze it into containers to later put in the blender for a nice minty frozen iced tea drink (no alcohol).
Wednesday August 12 - AF - I have a long hard workday ahead tomorrow, so no drinks tonight.
Thursday August 13 - AF - Very long hard workday today, I really really wanted drinks, but hanging tough.
Friday August 14 - 2 wine and 1 cocktail, feeling woozy, out of the habit of the alcohol, but have a Mojito date with a gf for Sunday, one day to recuperate beforehand.
Saturday August 15 - AF - I didn't feel well all day today. A few weeks ago I had 3 ounces of wine and it was the same the next day. Wine just doesn't agree with me anymore. Even though I like the taste, it is definitely not worth basically missing the whole day after.
Sunday August 16 - AF - Following @MissMay 's sage words from page one and looking after my tomorrow feeling today. Postponed my Mojito get together for today with my friend, told her yesterday when I was feeling so yucky that I just couldn't.
Monday August 17 - AF - Another nice hot day here, a quick trip to a lake. I felt like having drinks, but was so thirsty I settled for another of those Club Sodas (otherwise i would have downed drinks too fast)
Tuesday August 18 - AF - Cucumber club soda in a fancy glass of course. It was great! I did manage to get away to a lake mid-day today for an hour and then went back to work. I have an awesome tan : - )
Wednesday August 19 - Drinks. Although I have resisted drinks on my stressed out days for around 2 months, today was just too much. So, I blew a drinks day alleviating stress. I stopped at a friend's place on the way home from work who offered me wine, I had water, since it is looking like wine makes me sick the next day. The first sip of alcohol when I got home really tasted good and relaxed me so much. I will try not to make a habit of it again. I should say that I won't make a habit of it again : - )

Rolling total 14AF days out of 19 days

Another AF day in the books for me ... I might start reporting in on Monday's only since that is my WI day and the end of the month. That is unless I do start to indulge and then I will need to report back more often LOL

Right now I'm not struggling since I don't crave the drinks or really not even in a situation to think about it ... but I use to drink daily because DH would open a bottle of wine, face to face book clubs, bunco, alumnae meetings, etc etc where we all drank. I find that meetings over Zoom is just not the same and so I drink water.
Plus DH has decided to go sober which has made my AF days go much easier ... nothing in the house!

Lots of helicopters and water bombers in the skies around here. Big winds are in the weather report, so that is not good. I live right downtown, so I am sure that they will somehow keep it out of the town.
They are burning terribly around Penticton BC and California where it is flamed by wind. We almost had a reprieve this year from fires. People are getting evacuated in California and Penticton.
Hope that you are all safe.

AF yesterday for me....our local AZ fires are contained and the wind is blowing in a favorable direction so I was able to run this morning.
@dawnbgethealthy let's hope that rain in the forecast gives the area a good douse....!

Hi Everyone! Just caught up on a week's worth. Wow! Missed y'all.

I've decided to not feel burdened by tracking this month and just listen to my body. It's told me that even only 2 glasses of wine make me feel so crappy the next day that I don't exercise and the only thing I can think of to feel better is hair of the dog and junk food. It's so difficult to get off that "merry"-go-round. I did limit to half glass yesterday and I hit the hiit this morning. More but still low energy. I ask myself--why would I ever drink again when it's so important to feel good and strong and healthy and sexy. Answer: I don't know! Instant gratification? Addiction? Escapism? I do think, like Rock Star @dawnbgethealthy maybe I can't process wine anymore.

@dawnbgethealthy thank you so much for sharing your awesome memories and photos. Sooooo coooool!
@MissMay You are doing aMAYzing!!! and such an inspiration!

Glad y'all are here and wish you a wonderful, safe weekend. Try to find something to make you giggle. Back to cramming for an upcoming interview. And designing political yard signs during my breaks. (Creativity comes out in strange ways during these times...)