I confess...

5 weeks ago today I had my last drink and decided on the Sunday to quit alcohol, if not for good, for an indefinite period, one day at a time.

I've always loved drinking and the culture around alcohol, but I have an impulsive, addictive nature and have always found it easy to start drinking and hard to stop.

I'm a fun drink, not nasty and it's been interesting to me that most people didn't realise that I was drinking enough to worry myself.

But, I had tried moderating over the past few years, since I became a dad. Notably I tried to not drink on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. It didn't really work. I would only manage it for about one week in three, and would always be super messy on Wednesdays etc.

So far, I am really pleased with stopping. I feel so much happier, my relationships are so much better Nd I am getting an unbelievable amount of stuff done.

The downside is the insomnia, which is passing, the cravings which are manageable so far and missing alcoholic beverages. The latter ia the hardest. I love beer, whiskey, cocktails, port, and more. They were a big part of my life and now they are verbotten to me. It's like being forced to stop riding bikes.

But, I'm glad I'm doing it and I hope I can keep it up.

The best thing that I did five weeks ago was book a GP appointment to get support. It was really helpful.

I'm not going to support meetings, but am open to them if things get rocky.

Also, being totally open with family and friends and talking about it loads has been great.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck and talk to people. I, and plenty others on here I'm sure, would be happy to chat.

Oh, btw, I rode the GSIAD last week sober. It was unbelievably fun.

I have been over 6.5 years without drinking. I actually found just going without drink and drugs harder than life with. Substances were a medication for me but had pretty awful consequences and side effects for me and the people around me. I needed some support to help develop tools that address the more underlying issues. These include focusing on gratitude, helping other people where I can, meditation, reviewing my days to see what went well and what could be done differently.

I was also at some of the GSIAD and at the birthday party. These days getting fucked up no longer appeals, but I don't feel envious of others doing it. I am fully aware most people have a healthy relationship with drink/drugs and that I do not.

Have sent you a PM.

Oh, btw, I rode the GSIAD last week sober. It was unbelievably fun.

This and @dancing james, you saying you went to GSIAD and the birthday party sober is good to hear.

Right now I'm struggling to imagine doing alcohol centred things while sober, even though I've done it in the past.

I stopped drinking beer at home a few weeks ago, more in an attempt to lose a bit of weight than anything else, and did this quite easily by replacing the beers in the fridge with nice soft drinks so maybe taking a similar approach when I'm these situations where alcohol is a focal point would work too.

I think for a while I've been telling myself that I don't have a problem while using alcohol in a way that really indicates I do. Maybe not the biggest or worst problem but still.

Something that I find difficult is that I really associate alcoholism with things I don't do, like going to the pub every night after work, binge drinking at the weekends that kind of thing, but that's such a narrow minded way of looking at it I guess.

I'd like to still be able to enjoy a nice beer occasionally and stuff like that but I don't know if doing that while cutting out the 'other' drinking is really a possibility for me. I think if I could do this it'd be more sustainable than cutting it out completely.

If I try to control my drinking it's not much fun but my uncontrolled drinking is not much fun either. It's a but like Pringles - once I have popped the cork I just can't stop. So for me it's about staying stopped and being happy - which is why I need some other behaviours and practices to help me stay content so I don't find myself obsessing about wether/when I can or should have a drink/drug.

Not for everyone I know but I'm a big g fan of alcohol free beer- as long as you avoid Kaliber it's nice, you can drink it all day and still drive home, and it's cheaper than the alcoholic version. It's also less likely to give you diabetes than coke.

August 14th 2010 was the last time I had a "drink" drink, never regretted the change.

That's interesting about the alcohol free beer. I've been staying away from it as I imagine to will prompt to want other beer. I should try a bottle of nanny state at some point, under controlled conditions.

Not exactly alcohol free but I had the Siren Half Mast the other week which is only 2.8% but still tastes great with none of the wateriness that some weak beer has. If you didn't know what it was then you'd have no idea it was half the strength. Lots of other breweries have started doing the same. E.g Kernel and their table beer

https://honestbrew.co.uk/shop/siren-half-mast/

I like the Becks blue label, the Erdinger is also good, Cobra is vile and should be avoided. There's another one that the supermarket has but I can't recall the name- Dutch I think, also nice.

I do like Nanny State but it is often sold out.

My brother doesn't like alcohol much and while he drinks small amounts of alcoholic beer on occasion, he mostly drinks alcohol-free. There seem to be quite a few brands available in Germany now. The original one was Clausthaler, but I suspect all large German brands must have an alcohol-free variety by now.

I steadfastly avoided alcohol-free versions of anything when I gave up booze - I find the zero-tolerance approach to be more appropriate for me.

That said, I do miss out in terms of choice, particulaly when it comes to soft drinks that aren't mostly sugar.

Bavaria? Recall that being ok.

next up: decaff coffee and christian rock...

i'm pretty much cutting right back to 'an occasional beer with a meal on holiday' / 'pint in a pub garden after a bike ride' levels of drinking. hopefully anyway.
i love booze in all forms but im 45, single with a 6 year old child. when i get drunk i end up smoking rollups which just compounds the feeling like shit for days afterwards.

Yup did the drunk so I'll smoke thing on Friday too.

I was in bed by 9 last night, too old for that shit.

Bavaria? Recall that being ok.

Bingo, that's the one.

I steadfastly avoided alcohol-free versions of anything when I gave up booze - I find the zero-tolerance approach to be more appropriate for me.

That said, I do miss out in terms of choice, particulaly when it comes to soft drinks that aren't mostly sugar.

It's an interesting one, to me the alcohol free beers are all of the good part of beer (taste, social aspect) with none of the downside. I can see that they could be considered a bit "nicotine inhaler", but they're not providing a booze analogue, it's essentially just hoppy, fizzy water.

Clausthammer is good. You can get it from Waitrose. My fav is Kronbacher, but I've only had that in the pub and not yet found a shop supply. I refuse to pay more than I would for actual beer as it seems wrong.
The blue Erdinger one is nice, if different. The label markets it as some kind of life giving elixir so you get to feel like you're having one of your five a day. Perfect mid summer ride pint if it's ice cold too. Had one just before pushing over the Walnascar "Road" in the lake district last summer in about 28 degree heat. One of the best pints of my year.

I think our nearest Waitrose is in Bromley, which feels deeply wrong.

thats walking distance from me

Nanny State is really tasty and as a bonus, I've found it often to be way cheaper than 'real' beer.

£2.50 a bottle at the bar I was in last night. It is 0.5% though, so technically not alcohol free.

brewdog tho...

Beckenham.

I believe that's a UK food labelling thing- labelled as 0.5% means "maybe more than 0.05% but less than 0.5%", in the rest of Europe that's classified as alcohol free but in the U.K. It's technically "de-alcoholised"

huh, TIL.