Good morning, fellow sobernauts, IWNDWYT, 😁!
We may be anonymous strangers on the internet, but we have one thing in common. We may be a world apart, but we’re here together!
Welcome to the 24 hour pledge! I’m pledging myself to not drinking today, and invite you to do the same. Maybe you’re new to c/stop drinking and have a hard time deciding what to do next. Maybe you’re like me and feel you need a daily commitment or maybe you’ve been sober for a long time and want to inspire others.
It doesn’t matter if you’re still hung over from a three day bender or been sober for years, if you just woke up or have already completed a sober day. For the next 24 hours, let’s not drink alcohol!
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IWNDWYT! Today is Day 8. I think I got over the hump of the extreme exhaustion.
I had off work and ran errands most of the day…
I scored at the thrift shop though-- found the entire series of The French Village, completely avoiding Amazon, for about $35. Amazon price $104.50; Mercari price $55. I saw it when I was dropping off my car load of stuff. Also got a bunch of housework done. I did pick up an Annie Grace book (Live Naked AF) from my holds at the library.
Anyhow I was thinking about how I will handle cravings and that point when my brain splits and starts telling me that I can stop and just have a glass of wine or two and go home and be just fine. When it conveniently forgets how once started, the brain goes into gremlin mode and decides fuck it, I am buying a bottle. And how amnesiac it is regarding how I feel the next day and that vicious circle trying to overcome feelings of withdrawal making all that I did today impossible the next day.
I think at first I am going with snapping a rubber band on my wrist. Make it painful to pursue that line of thought. But there have to be carrots too. Soon the weather will get nicer (hopefully) and taking a walk outside instead, and drinking a lot of water, having a piece of chocolate, continuing a project I am involved in, reading a good few chapters of a book (reading was always my escape when I was growing up). Anyhow, I figure I better have something prepared because it is inevitable to have those thoughts after the getting sober honeymoon ends and a stressful day happens. What worked for you?
Well done for developing plan before the cravings hit, that’s excellent.
I found it helpful to break habits. So before I started cycling to work, I changed the bus I caught from the station, because the stop for that bus wasn’t near the supermarket where I’d go in to buy wine. If I’m working from home, I mark the end of the working day with an exercise session instead of a glass of wine.
I got more organised and started meal planning and getting groceries delivered, so I always had food in the house and didn’t go to the supermarket for a ready meal and “I’ll just get wine while I’m here.”
Saving up the money I wasn’t spending on booze and buying myself rewards for milestones.
Cycling to and from work, which in combination with the meal planning means that once I’m home, I’m not leaving the flat and there’s no wine in here but there are food and books and my bed.
Playing the tape forward - yes, it’s a lovely sunny day and a glass of wine sounds nice, but think forward to tomorrow morning when you’ve drunk the entire bottle and you’ve got a murderous hangover and you can’t cycle to work and you’ve got to get the Tube, with other people, and you with a hangover. Eurgh.
Going to bed. Nothing like being under the duvet in your pyjamas with your teeth clean for stopping a booze run. When you’re an adult, you can go to bed whenever you like and nobody can stop you.
HALT the BS - am I Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired, Bored, Stressed/Sad? Address those and you may well find you’ve addressed the craving, because the craving is a symptom of something else.
I very rarely get cravings these days, and if I do, I just sort of watch it as it crosses my mind and then disappears out of sight. I’ll then consider what brought that on, and usually it’s the ghost of a habit, or an association, like the aforementioned lovely sunny day.
Bit of a rough week last week. It was my birthday Saturday (yeah thanks I’m not much of a birthday guy). So we celebrated, I had a few glasses of wine but nothing too bad. I was actually pretty happy with the amount I drank. Usually these nights would end with shots of hard liquor and we’d keep drinking until we’d about pass out. I guess my friends are also maturing a bit. Yesterday I went fishing and had a couple of beers. I had a couple after that because we had dinner at a friend’s house.
Now it’s time to go back to ‘normal’. This is usually where I struggle. The normal just feels tedious and meaningless. Basically I tell myself I need alcohol and unhealthy foods to enjoy myself. As long as I can fill in the blanks with some meaningful activities, I’ll feel a lot less as if I need any of these things.
Happy Birthday! Maybe write down all the stuff you can pursue/occupy yourself with? I am glad you were able to moderate. That has not been my strong suit. You don’t need alcohol and unhealthy foods! Although… I will fulfill an unhealthy food craving before I will drink right now. Start at the top/the best stuff-- life affirming healthy stuff/feeling good stuff like going swimming or a nice workout, a good conversation with someone, a hobby focused social event… working down towards a good movie, a pleasant nap, a long bath, to a good book, a really good dinner (healthy), a creative activity, a binge watch, a nice dessert. Learning something new. Look for quality.
IWNDWYT & IWNDST
