The abstinence thread

7 days for me - no big plan, just deciding not to drink a day at a time. Weirdly I woke up this morning with a phantom hangover

7 days for me - no big plan, just deciding not to drink a day at a time. Weirdly I woke up this morning with a phantom hangover

Booze flashback?

If I'm going to have a hangover I at least want a good reason.

Went to Belgos last night and had too many Belgian beers which gave me good reason this morning. But I do try to spend a bit of time off the lash as otherwise I'm just prone to drink too much.

Maybe I should try this. Longest I stopped drinking was for 2 months a couple of years ago. But I love pubs and boozing. I just don't love the hangovers. Perhaps I should stick to ordering lime & soda and just do loads of other drugs.. that'll work won't it? :)

Once again the annual 'few weeks off the booze' is nearly over. 24 days and I just need to make it to Friday. Oh how I'm looking forward to that large glass of red with my lunch.
I have saved so much money. I feel a whole lot healthier and less bloated.
BUT my god sobriety is boring.

Get more interesting friends.

Never seen this thread before. I attempted to give up drinking beer daily a few years ago, during the Tennants Super carry-on, only to find I immediately got pains in my sides (kidneys, appendix, not sure), which I didn’t have when drinking. So I promptly started again.

Hangovers are so debilitating these days, and I'm only 30

^So true.

Long gone are the days of being ok by the time you wake up. Mine last from Saturday until Monday these days.

My plan was to not drink for the whole of Jan. I didn't drink anything for the first two weeks, which was great.. Then relented last Friday night post-work and got totally smashed after a no-lunch, no-dinner display of amateurism. Since then I've cut it out again, and my only relapse was having a glass of wine with my girlfriend after the cinema on Saturday - which was all very civilised (wine was shit though).

What I've found is that I actually don't miss being in the pub and getting smashed at all, what I really miss is being able to have one glass of really nice wine with dinner. I'm hoping my tolerance and balance levels have been reset a bit and I'll be able to maintain normality in Februrary. Going to try to not drink beer at all, as I drink it like it's juice and can put 4-5 pints away very easily in a couple of hours midweek. Not good.

It's interesting that since giving up drinking I've not smoked a single cigarette. I feel a hell of a lot better as a result.

I have been pissed since approx Dec 22

I have been pissed since approx Dec 22, 1998.

.

I have been pissed since approx Dec 22

Good work.

And on the 28th day she drank!

Just noticed this thread, and am now in the first week of three months of sobriety.
Not drinking isn't so hard, I find I just leave the bar/pub earlier, and its always great to wak e up on a saturday or sunday morning with no hangover whatsoever and your raring to get amongst the day.

Also I've been on the booze pretty much constantly for the last year so a rest is required, and it leads into my quest to spend more time and be quicker on the track at herne hill this summer.

do miss the old pint of cider at the end of the day or a glass of wine with some pasta.
oh well, come may..

Alcohol destroys me now for up to two days after. Approaching 40 with a long history of drinking and whatnot, I think the time is coming when I have to stop drinking :(

I think giving up alcohol entirely, unless you have a serious problem is the wrong way to go about it.
This thought is backed up by evidence that I can't be bothered to find, but was shown in one of our lectures on alcoholism.

It tends to turn alcohol into a demon that it is not, and tbh, one drink is not a bad thing.

Personally, when i feel like a break, I don't go to clubs, and when in pubs order the best drink ever invented: the shandy.
Since new years i can count the number of drinks I've had on 1 hand, not out of choice, but out of necessity.

So, thats my 2p. Don't give up for the sake of giving up, just drink in moderation for a bit.

What young Doc H says.

Or give up if you want to, just don't think "ooh i'll give up for a certain amount of time". Do or do not.
As Yoda might say.

Are you advocating shandy drinking, damo?

^I went through a stage at university where I despised alcohol and all the pointless excess it entailed. So I didn't drink for a couple of months. Then I realised it wasn't alcohol that was the problem, but the fuckwits who are unable to restrain themselves, ever.

So moderation = good. And I enjoy a beer or two. But not 5 so much any more.

I'm advocating Lime and soda drinking. With the occasional foray into shandies and weak bitters.

You pink skipping rope.

I have no self moderation. Utterly powerless so abstinence is the only option.

My returns to intoxication are evidence of this.

I also don't rinse it out till 5am and longer anymore.