LESS Alcohol ~ JANUARY 2023 ~ One Day At A Time

Happy 2023 to everyone! I lurk for the periodic alcohol free cocktail tips and enjoy hearing of everyone’s successes (and I have also experienced your downs). I am posting to say that December 30 was my 1 year totally completely sober anniversary. Meaning not a drop of alcohol passed my lips all year - even for a taste or a 90th birthday toast. I had been mostly alcohol free for about 3 years prior, but with notable fails when I was depressed and down on myself, or when I decided that one glass won’t hurt since I’ve been sober so long, and it turned back into having a glass for no reason the next day too.

FWIW I have been thinking a lot about what it was that really helped me not make the choice to drink this past year and I think it is knowing the reason why I am not drinking, and having a meaningful enough reason why. In the past my whys were all health and weight loss related which were easy (for me) to blow off. But I ultimately decided my why is that I want to be really present for both the good and the bad in my life. I care for elderly parents and an elderly aunt and have plenty of stress and reasons to want to “escape”, but in these past several years I have come to realize both that I can’t escape and I don’t want to. I want to be present for every last minute that I have with them, and to experience their love, their wisdom, their crankiness, their forgetting who I am, and everything else that goes along with it. I would be devastated if I woke up and they were gone and I had missed the last years with them by living it in a haze of masking my feelings in alcohol.

You are all an amazing group of people, providing each other as well as countless others support and strength. I wish you all health, strength and success with whatever your goals may be. Less, dry, or damp 2023!

MissMay wrote: »

HELLO JANUARY 2023

Hi Folks,

I'm starting my third Dry January.

I'm happy I did it the first two years, so, keep a good thing going, right? Good luck everyone and Happy New 2023!

@bover145 - I'm sorry you have COVID and hope you feel better soon!

Hello everyone!
Well Jan 1 we had our planned beer out at lunch then I was done for the day. I will count it but kicking and screaming (sorta-I did enjoy it). Today I treated myself to a late Christmas gift to ME.

A book from Barnes & Nobel. Zero Proof Drinks & More. So far I am excited. DH is also committing with me (for now, I will take it) to try out the new recipes. I am finishing making some lemon/lime shrug and a simple mint syrup.
Tonights AF drink? Cucumber Lemon/Lime tonic will be one of them, then I think I will try the Mixed Citrus Radler.
That should tide me over for most of the evening.....of course as @MissMay and others whom we are fond of emphasis .....it's all in the correct glass.

If you would like any of the recipes let me know!....Can't believe I am this excited for evening to roll around to sip and not slide into bed.

Jan 1- AF
Jan 2 - AF - Back to work tomorrow- ugh

Today was better. We did a short helicopter tour which is always fun, then I dragged HBIC along for the day yesterday should've been - a short drive down through Wears Valley, stopping for trout for lunch in Townsend before taking a leisurely drive with stops at places like The Sinks, Meigs Falls, Mannis Branch Falls, and Laurel Falls before heading back up to the cabin by way of Gatlinburg. The hike up to Laurel Falls was cool, 400 some odd feet of elevation change over the course of about 1.3 miles, about 2600' at the top. It was crowded, though, lots of noisy tourists with selfie sticks perching precariously in alarming places and gibbering the way tourists do. Ugh. Mannis Branch Falls was kinda cooler, I knew where it was but it wasn't marked and didn't really stand out, so when I pulled off and we trekked down a path that wasn't much more than a rabbit trail, we found ourselves alone on the banks looking at a really nice spot. I liked the alone part.

Dinner was reasonable, and I ended the night with a cigar and a beer on the balcony, so yeah, two days into the year and two A days, and I am not going to sweat it. It was a good day. No idea what we're doing tomorrow. I might go buy a Microtech Ultratech at SMKW just because it's there and I can.

-m

Hi Everyone I'm Andy from Stockholm, Sweden.

Happy New Year!

I've posted on these threads on and (mostly) off for a couple of years. I going to try and keep posting this year even if I'm drinking regularly (which I hope I'm not).

I managed 45 days AF in 2022 (all in Sept-Nov) and when I do drink I drink way too much

My goal for 2023 is to stop drinking out of habit and on a daily basis. I turn 50 in May and I need to stop drinking like I'm in my 20s. Actually I couldn't have afforded to drink like this in my 20s

Short term goal is a completely dry January. I do better with abstinence than I do with moderation.

Medium term I want to have only a couple of drinking days between now and my birthday on the 1st of May.

So far I am 2 days AF and tonight WILL be number 3

My wife has said she's joining me for dry January and so far she is. Which is excellent.

Stockholm_Andy wrote: »

My goal for 2023 is to stop drinking out of habit and on a daily basis. I turn 50 in May and I need to stop drinking like I'm in my 20s. Actually I couldn't have afforded to drink like this in my 20s

Short term goal is a completely dry January. I do better with abstinence than I do with moderation.

@Stockholm_Andy - Wonderful plan! I hear you on it being difficult to moderate. When my spouse joins me I find it much easier as well. Good Luck! 🍀

Good to see you @Lilylady3k , I hope your holidays were good, if a bit chaotic?

Welcome back @Stockholm_Andy where are you traveling to next? We like pictures in this group. Stick with us, we will support you in your dry January!

Unplanned drinks 1/1. Got so used to spending holidays alone this year (with DH) that when we got invited unexpectedly to a gathering Sun, I was caught off guard (and hadn't had either Champagne nor Eggnog all season, so of course, I had both). That was most of this week's booze, but not beating myself up.

I made a graphic to help me quickly visualize my running tally. When the wine glass is empty, I'm done for week (or should be
Week 1