Less Alcohol - NOVEMBER 2020 - One Day at a Time

Couple of glasses with the wine & cheese party and then couple of glasses much later with dinner sitting at an outdoor Italian restaurant. Nice evening.

Nov accountability: 10/19 days AF

5 DAYS! Did it The next week is going to be difficult with the holiday. My mom is planning on bringing over jello shots for Thanksgiving... Who makes jello shots for Thanksgiving?? LOL!! 2020 has been so weird, might as well finish strong. Lord help us lol

5 days AF!! / 5 days

Goal: 5 AF days a week. >5 days AF / 7 days.

I do not post in these threads that often but sometimes I have time to reflect on where I was and where I am and I have a thought to share.

It is obvious to everyone that drinks past their comfort level that it is a negative. I was certainly drinking past my comfort level. What I didn't always realize is how much of a mental anchor I was dragging around. In addition the the anxiety alcohol was in my thoughts a lot. It was also permanent ink on my schedule. By 7pm I should have my first drink in my hand. If anything interrupted or delayed it I would get agitated.

The physical anchor was more obvious. I weighed far too much and even if I was not hung over I felt a dullness that I had to fight through to get work done.

As I began to make progress in my overall self improvement alcohol was finally put back into moderation. Weight loss got easier. But it didn't stop there. As that mental and physical anchor lessened I did more "other" stuff. More quality work. More exercise, More volunteer work. More time helping friends, family, neighbors, etc.

Where alcohol was crowding out my best quality life, as my better quality life began to take over, it crowded out the alcohol. Each and every time I think about drinking now I think about what I want to do the next day and I wonder if I would do it as well if I drink. It is just not a risk I want to take anymore in my normal routines. Perhaps on vacation I might feel differently but I am not even sure about that anymore.

Much like the weight, I really had no idea how much I was giving up to drink and how much I would gain by drinking less.

I'm back on this thread again - and glad it's here! I have had some good periods without alcohol, but it always seems to creep back and make friends again. I don't binge or drink large amounts, but when it gets to be every day with occasional days where I drink enough for it to disturb my sleep, then I have to kick it back again.

So here I am. It has taken me a week or so to get going, but today went AF and am making a plan! I want to stop for a while to get ready for a surgery I will be having some time in the next months (they are very vague about when it might be...). It is not major, but I am soon turning 67 and want to be in the best shape possible for this.

SO my goal for right now is to have 1 (ONE!) evening a week where I get a pint of IPA or a dram of good scotch. I'm at maintenance weight, so I'll be sure to stay there and keep my exercise regimen up as usual.

I love the opening page of this thread with the list of resources. I have tried several, and always find a fresh approach helps get me going. I need support, though - so thanks again for being there.

During the insane days of this last summer I went a wee bit wonky about not being able to nip down to the wine store for a single bottle [THEY WERE FREAKIN' CLOSED, ALL OVER THE STATE !!]. BUT...an online purchase of a certain [large] amount would allow a home delivery. And, boy, did I take advantage of that. Not particularly to drink, but to fill my antique wine rack. Like stacking up freeze dried provisions against the coming disaster. The UPS guy and I became very familiar. There are almost a hundred bottles resting in my wine cellar. One of my "post-Covid" bucket list items almost completed, fill my wine rack. Others, like following up on the invitation by a stranger on the street to visit his newly opened "art mecca" [now a vacated building], and once again enjoying jerk goat at Leon's [now another vacant building] are empty promises. SADS.

Middle Daughter & I have not entered a grocery store since late last winter, enjoying the services of online shoppers. Sometimes they make mistakes in their selections, which are refunded. One recent goof was substituting Port Wine Cheese for pumpkin cream cheese....WTF ?? Not acceptable in their gluten free household, so cheese freak Mama got the mistake. Oh, boy...pull out the fancy *kitten* crackers, warm the cheese to room temp, slice an apple, uncork a bottle of sorely missed Chianti...Well. There's a newly minted family joke !! Tasted just like Cheez-Whiz. There's yet another catch-phrase for our extended family to howl over.
The Instacart folks, and the shoppers for the stores Middle Daughter uses are heroes. Maybe not on the order of the hospital and EMS guys, but, they do what we don't dare to do.

Yep, @MissMay , the situation in Da 'Burgh is not great, and no matter what the "guidelines" are, Middle Daughter works in a MAJOR government building where they are NOT followed. Lots of "yaddayaddayadda" . She's the one in the entrance of her cube armed with a spray can of Clorox....

Since the early days of this month I've felt a lifting of last year's depression, less interest in drinking, just joy in general...

Happy anniversary @Lilylady3k !

@dawnbgethealthy the ice rink picture is the best one of you yet, shows pure joy

Low-key weekend for me, hearing it will be especially risky to be out given most everybody who wanted to travel to Arizona is already here or en route....college students, sports teams, snowbirds, people from higher Covid states escaping. Odd that a travel advisory is issued now (seems a bit late I think) since visitors are here already, that or people already have reservations.

Bars everywhere are open and packed inside, how crazy is that! I only know this because I drive by their parking lots and they are full. Bars are supposed to be closed but if they serve something to eat, it's now a "restaurant" and they can stay open.

Well quarantine day 4 for me and this needs to be an AF weekend. Maybe I will jump in the car and drive out to some remote mountain trail and run away from all humans.

This COVID-19 spike has freaked me out—not sure why but I am honoring where I am and what I’m feeling. So, I placed my first grocery shopping order this morning, for pickup Tues 5pm. The craziness of regular Thanksgiving shopping and my sudden true anxiety about Covid combined. My husband at first said he’d go, but when he saw I was 90% done with the cart, he backed me and said we’d try. We are major picky foodies. So letting someone else do this for us feels strange.

I checked that we had an assortment of wine beer, and AF beer ( and lots of other options). So don’t need a liquor delivery. Just trying to keep my anxiety down without a drink. Off to rake (some more) leaves 🍁!

And welcome and welcome back to one and all. I’m often reading your inspirations, even if not posting. So thanks!