Less Alcohol - JANUARY 2021 - One Day At A Time

I tried 2 new teas yesterday to stay away from coffee and alcohol. Afternoon: chocolate rooibos with soymilk and a dash of chipotle powder
Evening: Ginger +probiotic

@mainelylisa - I totally understand working from home stress! DH worked from home since 1996 and myself since 2000 (but I did have a local office 45 miles away) ... but between the traveling and time zone challenge calls with Europe, India, Asia, Australia and across the US I sat in my chair way too much and did not get the exercise. My suggestion is ... get up and move at least once per hour and try to focus on something beside the screen during that time. Toward the end of my work career I finally started standing during calls or lift hand weights if I could. It helped but whew I was happy when DH and I agreed that I really didn't need to work any more.

Retire if you can answer YES to these 3 questions:
- Have you had enough?
- Do you have enough?
- Do you have something else to do?

Yearly Goals:
1) Make my bed everyday. - EVERYDAY!! Woohoo!
2) Walk at the minimum once a day. - Every day but one day due to timing/errands of when I normally walk, but I made up for it the next day by walking twice as long.
3) Dry January - 8/10 days AF
4) Stay close to calorie goals. - So far so good! I am tracking everything, the good, the bad and the ugly.
5) Read/Finish one book a week (52 book goal for year) - I somehow left this one off the list initially. I am an avid reader and love this goal! Finished Book #1 yesterday and started Book #2!!

I have a foster dog that needs put down due to a myriad of reasons, but I feel horrible making the call. I am usually the one that fixes them up. I haven't been able to fix her, and her issues are both mental and physical. Her behaviors have actually retriggered my anxiety. It has been a looooooong month, including the fact that my son has lingering side effects from Covid (he is only 10, so he should have "bounced back" technically) and I had to test my daughter (age 11). I think that is why these goals are so important to me.

I drank on Saturday, and it wasn't horrible. But still due to giving into stress. I'll still take 8/10 days and on to 11!

1 Day AF- Yay! Starting the week off right!! Had a couple cravings yesterday evening but made it through by sipping on a diet soda

1 AF day / 1 Day.

Goal- 5 AF Days/ 7 days. (AF Sun-Thurs)

Reading all your threads has been inspiring. I have a goal of AF from January 10 to February 13. Then be AF Sunday to Thursday. I know this will be hard for me but it is something I need to do. Baby steps.... as well as tracking food and exercise

Well I am resetting my counter which is fine. I had two days with a few drinks each night, now the alcohol is no longer in the house so we will begin our count again. For the first time this does not terrify me as it has in the past. Is it because I went a full week AF and didn't die? was able to sleep? did not gain any more weight?
These questions LOL

I love that everyone here is so honest about drinking or being AF
Thank you

Thank you to the original poster and all the others for sharing! I can relate and I am so happy that I'm not alone in this journey! I am 55 years old and have weekend binge drank for almost forty years. I had a year break when I was pregnant but quickly fell back to my 20 beer weekend habit.

The older I become the worse I feel when I am drinking and many days afterwards. The hangovers are HELL and lately I notice that it is doing me no justice in the aging department. There is really no benefits to keep doing this to myself over and over again. I realize now that I am not a "moderation" type girl. I learned that lesson the hard way.

Back in January of 2019 I decided enough was enough and I joined Annie Grace's 30 day alcohol experiment. I managed to make it to 13 months of sobriety but unfortunately I blew it in February of 2020. I don't know why, I think it was just me wanting to numb out and forget about everything in the world. At the same time I was battling menopause, (hot flashes, severe mood swings) and my seasonal bout of depression. Unfortunately I talked myself into having just one, then it was two and now it is like I never stopped at all. I regret that I gave into the drug so easily, I would have had over 2 years of sobriety by now. In the 13 months that I quit alcohol I felt absolutely amazing! I effortlessly lost 20 pounds, and my checkup at the doctor's after 8 months of abstinence was better than it ever was in my adult life! I even went of my antidepressant I had been on for 14 years! I can't imagine where I would be right now if I didn't succumb to the evil voice in my head telling me I could just moderate.

So here I am back at it. January 2nd, 2021 was/is my quit date, just like it was in 2019. My short term goal is 100 days AF. My long term goal is to kick alcohol to the curb forever. There are no benefits, only wasted days and wasted nights. Anyways, that is my story. Wishing you all an amazing recovery! Take Care! xo

New month, new year.
I am Dawn, I live in SE BC

I will post with my usual diary style to keep track of my AF days.
Keeping to my usual goal of 16-20 AF days per month, which is manageable for me and doesn't put too much pressure on me.


Friday Jan 08 - Drinks. No regrets on that, they weren't stress induced.
Saturday Jan 09 - AF - One of the city outdoor rinks still has ice, the other lots of bare ground. I went for a little skate today once I found that out.
Sunday Jan 10 - AF - Great day outdoors for a big chunk, skating, hiking and stuff. Really really wanted drinks when I got in, but I just had drinks on Friday, so I didn't. I had some really good club soda flavoured with blackberry/tangerine in a wine glass. 0 calories. I had a giant steak and prawns instead of the calories from booze.
Monday Jan 11 - AF - No brainer to stay AF tonight, early long day tomorrow as Tuesdays are for me.

Rolling total 10AF day out of 11 days