Dry January

[Stroller]

Like a lot of people I've been drinking a bit too much wine during the Covid crisis.  So I'm trying for a dry January this year.  That's drinking no alcohol - my nappies will stay as wet as ever.  I've done this before, but last January only made to the 20th, when my wife was diagnosed with cancer.  She's a lot better now, although still undergoing therapy, so we're in a better state now.  So, 1 day in and so far so good. Anyone else doing the same?

[Cute_Kitten]

Being able to control one's urges to consume alcohol is always a good thing. Best of luck! 

[DailyDi]

I come from a long line of addicts, so I do not drink or do drugs, except for the very rare shot of moonshine. No judgement to those who do, just can't trust myself to do anything "in moderation" or I wouldn't be so overweight lol.

Wish you the best on your dry month, and also for a better year for you and your wife!

[AbabeBill]

Good luck with it. It’s not a bad idea. It’s very easy, to slide into over doing anything, and especially now. I’m not entering into anything similar myself, but I understand very well, how easy it is to do to much. My dad drank to much, and I always have felt how easy it would be for myself to overindulge. I could very easily, but I stick to only a beer, wine, or whatever on very limited occasions. Cold beer, at the end of a long hot day, would be an example. I don’t want to fall into, what my dad became! 

[oznl]

I've floated this idea once or twice but with very little support from my wife who is inordinately fond of a glass of wine or three on our rear deck of an evening.  Best I've been able to do is to re-introduce alcohol-free nights during the holidays.  On previous holiday periods, we've slid into drinking every day.  Whilst I have to take responsibility for myself, she is something of a bad influence on this matter.  I love a nice craft beer and a glass or two of red in front of crap telly is also pretty good.

This year's "holiday", we manage 2 - 3 "dry" days per week.  It seems that once I START drinking of an evening, I don't seem to stop.  In earlier times, it was alcohol that caused me to not remember using my night nappy although now, that can happen with or without alcohol. 

Good luck though and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on any benefit this conferred upon you.

[Stroller]

Thanks all.  I wouldn't call myself a problem drinker, and I'm not the addiction-prone type either.  I do get into the habit of using alcohol to dull things a bit in the evening though, and that's been every evening for this past awful year.  Over the past year I've had a more-or-less strict rule of no drinking before 7pm, and I've typically been drinking rather more than half a bottle of wine a night, sometimes as much as a bottle.  That's too much to be good for me, and I've got things to do this year anyway.  My plan is to go dry for January, then just drink on Friday and Saturday evenings after that.  I've found in the past that it's easier for me to stop completely then start again in moderation than to cut down.

[Dubious]

I never get drunk, cause of medical reasons, but I occasionally drink
I have always set max 1 beer per day, and tried to keep it max 1 per week

This year I'm gonna keep it max 1 beer per month, to save money and lose some weight

I'm also gonna try harder cutting out ice cream and other stuff with sugar
I'm "allergic" to sweeteners 

Main reason, or maybe only reason I do any of these is to fit better into diapers and so that I can keep buying medium

[astrodiaper]

On 1/2/2021 at 10:37 AM, DailyDi said:

I come from a long line of addicts, so I do not drink or do drugs, except for the very rare shot of moonshine. No judgement to those who do, just can't trust myself to do anything "in moderation" or I wouldn't be so overweight lol.

I’m in the same boat. I was in treatment for off and on for about 10 years, and I saw some stuff that I eventually had to tell myself that none of that was normal. I’ve also watched far too many relatives destroy themselves with alcohol and meth. 
Having said that, I do like a drink once in a great while. I’ll also admit that I’m a fan of the whiskey the kantor at my church has been making for a while. (A bottle of that lasts quite a while.). Then you have the guests that offer you something from other places. I had a guest hand me a cream ale from up north, as a tip. I’ll probably have that when I get off work this morning.  Aside, that will probably be all until my birthday in March, and even that’s iffy. 

[Stroller]

Well I'm halfway through the month now, & so far so good.  I expected to find it a lot harder than this, so I'm really pleased about that.

[astrodiaper]

20 minutes ago, Stroller said:

Well I'm halfway through the month now, & so far so good.  I expected to find it a lot harder than this, so I'm really pleased about that.

Keep up the good work!

[Stroller]

It's 4pm Greenwich Mean Time on 21 January, so I'm exactly 2/3 of the way through January.  I've not been exactly dry, but I've had no alcohol so far...

[Newbee]

Keep it up stroller you don’t have long to go.

[justforfun]

I'm glad dry January is over!

I was starting to feel a little guilty drinking my gin and tonic thinking about all the people who had to deal with the month without a drink!  ?

[DailyDi]

So... did stroller make it a month. And if so what did he drink to celebrate? lol

[diaperguy85]

ha! i thought a different dry!  still, big congrats to those that did a booze-free january!

i spent most of this january out of diapers, last one was jan 4th, and the next one was the 29th. 

as for drinking, i'm not a heavy drinker, or even a moderate drinker. i'm a pretty light drinker. last year i took dry-january a bit further. i didn't drink from new year's day until st paddy's day. mostly because i wanted to, but also that i was hurting hard with (what i believe to have been) cat scratch fever. my joints felt like they had sand and gravel in them, mostly my hips, knees and elbows, plus a general muscle weakness and ache. so no drinking because i was medicating with ibuprofin. got over everything late march, early april. by then i was using a topical treatment, so that was better. and even for st paddy's i didn't drink much. 

[Stroller]

Well I made it, with far less difficulty than I expected.  I've done it a couple of times before, but this time there was a lot less mental struggle, so I'm really pleased.  I celebrated with a small glass of damson gin.  My plan now is not to go back to drinking every night, & make it weekends only.  Thanks for the support!