LESS Alcohol ~ FEBRUARY 2025 ~ One Day at A Time

A = 5
AF = 5 Yeah, tied!

Yesterday I was tempted, but just kept reminding myself how good I will feel in the morning and throughout the next day going AF... had a ginger/turmeric herbal tea instead.
Temporary gratification (loser) vs. Whole next day gratification (the winner!)

Current:

AF - 7
A - 4

Two drinks last night at my son’s birthday dinner party at this really great restaurant. I was fine with alcohol, but it was a 5 course meal, and there was So. Much. Food. Like, way too much but all delicious. Not one, but two desserts which were out of this world. So today I wasn’t even hungry until about dinner time, and even that was very mild. I finished off that half a glass of wine from the other day, and didn’t pour another. Tomorrow will be AF.

I never heard of a donut burger! Thank you all for supportive words, you have no idea how helpful you all are to keeping me going.

@NonnieDoiron congrats on that 11 day streak! It's exciting to get a new job. Hopefully the people are really cool. Cool people is my #1 job requirement, above money.

@SurferGirl I hope your strategy works to get you not drinking day 2 and your husband supports you. Long while ago, my husband I got into drinking every other day and found it quite easy. We sustained that for a couple of months fairly effortlessly, doing it as a team. Day 2 in a row never worked out for us well, the cravings were the very strongest. Day 2 and particularly the evening of day 2 was always the worst for me. I remember self medicating with melatonin and calm gummies and herbal tea then putting myself to bed at 7pm just to make the damn day 2 AF end faster and shut up my screaming wine devil. My day 2's involved a house rule of not going outside because I'd drive to the supermarket to pick up wine for certain, so I kept myself at home lockdown. Then day 3 was 'catch up A day" when we'd go overboard to make up for the lost drinks the days before. We'd repeat the no-drinking 2 several times until we got caught up in a cyclical pattern, reliving nasty day 2 cravings over and over each week.

Late for work and I need to do a gym escape late morning.

AF - 12
A - 0

I’m having an issue at dinner with my MIL. I sit next to her at the table, and the noises she makes are completely disgusting and disturbing. I know some of it she can’t control. But, there are things she can do to help with some of it like taking smaller bites, use a better adhesive on her dentures, or use her oxygen while she’s eating. I told my husband I can’t do it anymore. I can’t eat at the table with her. I’m prepared to eat in my bedroom, but he just wants me to trade seats with him. I don’t think it will help because she’s so loud.

Apologize in advance for the lengthy post...

Thanks @Womona ...I have had some time as of late to seriously review my overall alcohol consumption in my life and have watched several interesting interviews and podcasts (Dr. Huberman and Jordan Peterson come to mind) about the effects of alcohol on the body and brain as well as the reasons why some people struggle more to stop drinking than others.

As I reflected on my long association with alcohol (another story but I started drinking when I was 16 and I am now 60), I came to the realization that I had not been the best version of who I could be in terms of a father, husband and role model for my two sons. There were certainly times where I could have been much better at both and alcohol definitely played a role in making me somewhat less than I could have been. I was never a particularly heavy drinker but I had gone from drinking on a Friday or Saturday night to weekends to drinking every day of the week.

My daily routine the last few years was to come home from work, say hi to my wife, turn on the TV, have a couple of beers, then maybe some wine or whiskey over the course of several hours before going to bed and starting the cycle the next day. Weekends were for football or working in the shop or outdoors...and drinking more beer until evening then switching to wine or whiskey. My wife had expressed her concern about my drinking multiple times but I felt I had a handle on it. (Also led to several disagreeable arguments - there's a clue right there.)

Going AF through January and part of February was more eye-opening for me than anything. Not only in terms of my overall health (not missing that draggy feeling in the morning at all!) but also mental and attitude...I used to read voraciously and had stopped in the last few years. Now I want to read again - about to finish one book (Four Thousand Weeks - Time Management for Mortals by Burkeman) and already have the second waiting in the wings (Meditations by Marcus Aurelius). I started calligraphy as well - something that had always intrigued me. Plus I work out and exercise via classes or at home - any number of bodyweight-only workout routines that only take 15 to 20 minutes and I have a rower. Or there always a walk down the street...

I am also purposing that my time at home be to listen and talk with my wife, work in my shop, read, calligraphy (still suck at it but keep practicing) etc. And yes, NA beer is part of that but has started to be less and less a factor...and I don't want a crutch or band-aid!

At the moment, I expect that I may still have an occasional drink but at no where near the frequency and volume as before. I don't want the distraction to take away from the other things I want to start accomplishing in my life starting now. I will continue to post here as a way of staying accountable.

I think a key takeaway for me from the YouTube clips I watched or listened to is that when alcohol is removed from the daily routine/habit, it has to be replaced with something constructive and meaningful to the individual...whether it be exercise, hobby, family, church group, volunteer work, etc.

Something that you enjoy or calls you to become better as a person.

Otherwise, alcohol will always call you back. Always.

I’m trying to be af and only drink on weekends. I hope totally be af eventually.

@itladyee nice job moderating on super bowl Sunday.
@looneycatblue congrats on the record sleep score!
@MissMay only 2 weeks to fall out of shape - YIKES! I've been going weeks at a time with no workouts, guess it's time to get my butt back to a regular gym schedule.
@globalhiker month 6 - IMPRESSIVE! Your jim beam story is inspiring, I'm looking forward to the time when I have a few months under my belt and no longer get triggered by certain things.
@SurferGirl1982 I know what you mean by negative feelings; I try to tell myself I'm only human, and then focus on some positives.
@tobinross thank you for sharing your story, and also the video link.
@NonnieDoiron What if you wore some earbuds and turned some music on that only you could hear? or as Womona said, turn some music up loud in the room.
I'm going through something similar with the BIL He has no teeth and if he's eating something he can't chew he basically pulls it out of his mouth with his fingers and puts it on the side of his plate. It's disgusting and I no longer eat with them - I eat all my meals in my office/art room. If we go out to eat we can usually talk him into wearing his dentures, but they're loose and he refuses to spend the money to get them fixed or get new ones, so he just goes without all day.

Hey all,
Back here after having a pretty successful January.
Thank you to those that put this together and take out of their own time to keep this going.
I got a pretty nice promotion and started on Thursday.
I had to leave my facility that i loved and go back to an old one that i didn't leave on the best of terms with some people 2 years ago. I don't know if it was the build up of nerves, excitement for a promotion and sadness from leaving my amazing coworkers but i really really really wanted a drink last night (yes 5 days into the job). BAD. i was trying to think of excuses as to why my husband and i should drink so i called him on the way home "hey we never had celebratory drinks!" he laughed and started talking about something else. which i am grateful he did, he knows i don't actually want to drink - I'm just fighting the demons sometimes. Because lets be real here, it wouldn't have been one drink. i would have bought a bottle and had way too many and since the norovirus I'm not eating that much so i would have been a mess and then went to my new job like a train wreck. I haven't had a craving like that in a long time.

its not that i never want a drink again in my life, i just don't want to give in to the demons. id rather have a drink in a controlled way.

AF - 12
A - 1

4 A
1 LA
8 AF
(A means 3+; LA means 1-2; and AF means none)

@EricONeill4928 Welcome to the group. You'll find lots of no-judgement support here, so chime in anytime you want or need to.

Happy Valentine’s Day to my LA friends!

Chose to have some wine last night instead of today. Tomorrow is an early morning and I need to be a chauffeur to baseball again. Counting AF tonight!

Current:

AF - 9
A - 5