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Post by hardly on Aug 16, 2015 19:25:56 GMT
I'm not going to be updating this thread anymore, but I would like to give enormous thanks to everyone who has been following, and especially everyone who has provided kind words and support throughout this process. Cool, it's been a great read. I hope you got something from the exercise. |
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Post by Crumpy Six on Aug 16, 2015 22:04:31 GMT
I'm not going to be updating this thread anymore, but I would like to give enormous thanks to everyone who has been following, and especially everyone who has provided kind words and support throughout this process. Cool, it's been a great read. I hope you got something from the exercise. Thank you. I definitely have, and I'm not quitting the programme - though I will admit, this weekend has been something of a set-back. The problem is that I no longer feel comfortable sharing some of the issues I'm facing on a public board. A lot of the challenges I'm facing involve other people close to me who would not necessarily be happy with the discussion. It's hard to turn my back on the thread because it's been such a good source of support but I don't think I can keep using it in this way without over-sharing. |
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Post by hardly on Aug 16, 2015 22:40:12 GMT
Cool, it's been a great read. I hope you got something from the exercise. Thank you. I definitely have, and I'm not quitting the programme - though I will admit, this weekend has been something of a set-back. The problem is that I no longer feel comfortable sharing some of the issues I'm facing on a public board. A lot of the challenges I'm facing involve other people close to me who would not necessarily be happy with the discussion. It's hard to turn my back on the thread because it's been such a good source of support but I don't think I can keep using it in this way without over-sharing. Completely fair enough. My wife asked me the other day "are you going to talk about me on your blog" and I was like "no I don't think that's a good idea." Publicly writing about other people you know personally is dangerous ground even if you are not being critical. |
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
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I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Aug 16, 2015 23:57:16 GMT
I totally understand your reasons Crumpy. Thanks for sharing.
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Casinha
Master
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Post by Casinha on Aug 17, 2015 8:08:28 GMT
Godspeed.
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Post by Crumpy Six on Dec 29, 2015 11:14:00 GMT
Bumping this thread to report that I am now going to embark on Dry January! And hope that I do a better job than my abysmal effort at Dry August. We're still somewhat in the midst of the overindulgence of the holiday season, but I'm feeling very motivated to make January work. Here are some incentives to make it work.
- In September (immediately following not-dry August) my father-in-law died of cancer. It is very likely his cancer was a consequence of his alcoholism. I alluded to this earlier in the thread. Coping with his illness and decline at that time is partly why I had to abort this thread.
- On Christmas day, a member of the household got so drunk they pissed the bed. They were mortified to the point of tears and insisted that they had drank MUCH MORE in the past without experiencing such a humiliation, and so it surely was unrelated to the alcohol and must have been caused by "something else". If the level of inebriation wasn't troubling enough, the denial definitely was.
- I have barely been to the gym this month and am feeling like a slug. I have a fight coming up in either April or July, am in horrible shape and will embarrass myself if I don't pull myself together.
I visited the supermarket yesterday and bought every brand of non-alcoholic beer they had in stock. I'll review these over the next few days, but having tried a few of them last night (during games night! one of my weakest times) I can report that as far as I'm concerned they are a perfectly solid substitute.
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Post by Aynen on Dec 29, 2015 11:22:17 GMT
I wish you good luck this January! You can do it!
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Post by Spiderweb on Dec 29, 2015 14:19:13 GMT
Bumping this thread to report that I am now going to embark on Dry January! And hope that I do a better job than my abysmal effort at Dry August. We're still somewhat in the midst of the overindulgence of the holiday season, but I'm feeling very motivated to make January work. Here are some incentives to make it work. - In September (immediately following not-dry August) my father-in-law died of cancer. It is very likely his cancer was a consequence of his alcoholism. I alluded to this earlier in the thread. Coping with his illness and decline at that time is partly why I had to abort this thread. - On Christmas day, a member of the household got so drunk they pissed the bed. They were mortified to the point of tears and insisted that they had drank MUCH MORE in the past without experiencing such a humiliation, and so it surely was unrelated to the alcohol and must have been caused by "something else". If the level of inebriation wasn't troubling enough, the denial definitely was. - I have barely been to the gym this month and am feeling like a slug. I have a fight coming up in either April or July, am in horrible shape and will embarrass myself if I don't pull myself together. I visited the supermarket yesterday and bought every brand of non-alcoholic beer they had in stock. I'll review these over the next few days, but having tried a few of them last night (during games night! one of my weakest times) I can report that as far as I'm concerned they are a perfectly solid substitute. Are you in the UK? Have you tried becks blue? It's a passable alternative. |
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Dec 29, 2015 14:51:23 GMT
Good luck Crumpy. I assume it won't start until after the new year celebration?
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Post by Crumpy Six on Dec 29, 2015 15:26:58 GMT
Bumping this thread to report that I am now going to embark on Dry January! And hope that I do a better job than my abysmal effort at Dry August. We're still somewhat in the midst of the overindulgence of the holiday season, but I'm feeling very motivated to make January work. Here are some incentives to make it work. - In September (immediately following not-dry August) my father-in-law died of cancer. It is very likely his cancer was a consequence of his alcoholism. I alluded to this earlier in the thread. Coping with his illness and decline at that time is partly why I had to abort this thread. - On Christmas day, a member of the household got so drunk they pissed the bed. They were mortified to the point of tears and insisted that they had drank MUCH MORE in the past without experiencing such a humiliation, and so it surely was unrelated to the alcohol and must have been caused by "something else". If the level of inebriation wasn't troubling enough, the denial definitely was. - I have barely been to the gym this month and am feeling like a slug. I have a fight coming up in either April or July, am in horrible shape and will embarrass myself if I don't pull myself together. I visited the supermarket yesterday and bought every brand of non-alcoholic beer they had in stock. I'll review these over the next few days, but having tried a few of them last night (during games night! one of my weakest times) I can report that as far as I'm concerned they are a perfectly solid substitute. Are you in the UK? Have you tried becks blue? It's a passable alternative. Yes indeed  I have some in the fridge right now, though I haven't tried it yet. Becks Blue was the only brand of non-alcoholic beer I was familiar with until I did some research. I was both surprised and impressed by the range of non-alcoholic beers stocked by my closest supermarket. Here are the ones I've got in to try: - Sainsbury's low alcohol Czech lager (0.5%) - Bavaria 0.0% - Becks Blue - Cobra 0.0% - Erdinger Weisbrau Low Alcohol Ale (0.5%) - San Miguel 0.0% I am debating whether 0.5% beers should be allowed for Dry January. On the one hand it feels like cheating, but on the other hand, if they taste ok and the others are unpalatable, they will help me reduce my alcohol intake very significantly. |
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Post by Crumpy Six on Dec 29, 2015 15:33:55 GMT
Good luck Crumpy. I assume it won't start until after the new year celebration? Thank you! Yes, officially I'll be starting from day-break of January 1st (so will allow myself a glass of champage at midnight), however following the traumas of Christmas I have already begun experimenting with the low alcohol beers. There is no time like the present. I can already report that: - On December 27th, after some reflections on Wet Christmas, my husband suggested that we should begin Dry January immediately. - That evening, after returning from a 5-hour car journey to deliver his mother home, my husband changed his mind and had a pint. - Yesterday I drank 3 non-alcoholic beers where I would normally have had regular beers. I managed this despite having a load of bottles of Bud in the fridge, which was a victory. At about 9pm though, my husband got a bottle of wine out and the temptation was too much. So getting an early start on Dry January has been binned. But I am planning on making a truly concerted effort this time round. |
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Dec 29, 2015 19:01:22 GMT
Whenever you feel the urge to have a drink, go on the forum instead.
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Post by Crumpy Six on Jan 2, 2016 9:23:38 GMT
Saturday 1st January
Happy New Year to all! A couple of my friends from Japan were visiting today, and we took them out for a pub lunch then cooked them dinner. They had their 1 year old daughter with them (an absolute angel) so even though they had a beer each in the evening, they weren't inclined to drink much. This helped, as normally a pub lunch would mean a pint (or if it was just the two of us and we were cycling, a couple of pints or a bottle of wine) and a Saturday evening would involve even more booze.
When I was serving the guests I got myself a Bavaria 0%. Among the non-alcoholic beers I've tried over the last few days, this is one of my preferred brands. As with all non-alcoholic alternatives it doesn't taste quite right, but it worked well as a substitute as far as I'm concerned. Other advantages of Bavaria are that it's inexpensive and widely available. Alongside Becks Blue, it must be one of the most readily-available brands in the UK.
In further efforts at being health-conscious this month, I'm competing with a couple of my friends to a "Weekend Warrior" Fitbit challenge - whoever records the most steps on their pedometer this weekend wins. All set to recover from the excesses of December.
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Post by Aynen on Jan 2, 2016 11:11:01 GMT
You have friends in Japan? That's awesome! I've been wanting to go to Japan for ages, hope I will one day...
But back on topic, try your best not to beat yourself up over not succeeding at a goal you've set for yourself, like the proposed early start. If it's a huge thing to not meet a goal, it becomes harder to try again, but if you tell yourself 'it's ok, I can just try again and will get it right in the future' then trying again becomes easier. Ironically, being ok with making mistakes is half the battle.
Ganbatte, kudasai!
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Post by Crumpy Six on Jan 2, 2016 12:24:06 GMT
I met these guys a few years ago, when I spent a year in Japan teaching English. It was an amazing experience which I have spent the last couple of days pining for in the depths of nostalgia, but it's a difficult place to call home as a foreigner!
I have re-read my previous posts from Dry August and was a little shocked to see the quantification of how much I was actually drinking. I also realised that I never concluded on how the rest of Dry August worked out, after I stopped posting. Here's how it ended: mission aborted, pretty much from the day of my last post.
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Post by Crumpy Six on Jan 3, 2016 8:29:08 GMT
Saturday 2nd JanuarySaturday is a drinking day, but we kept ourselves busy. Went for a walk in the morning (gotter keep my step-count up!) and saw Star Wars in the afternoon. We went to our friend's house for games in the evening. He always drinks a lot and opened a bottle of wine, but made no judgement when I brought out a bag of non-alcoholic beers. He said his wife had 'suggested' he try Dry January himself but it wasn't going to happen. One of the first beers I tried tonight was Cobra 0%. I had high hopes for this brand because I like a pint of Cobra, but I was sorely disappointed. This stuff is foul. It is truly disgusting. Cobra must think the consumers of non-alcoholic beer can be served up any kind of piss. Sort of like how 22Cans imagines customers can sold any old mobile garbage under the label 'god game' and they'll lick that shit right up. I don't know what to do with my leftover Cobra 0% but I'm thinking I may stick a bottle in 22Cans' New Year Hamper. I'm glad this wasn't the first non-alcoholic beer I tried.
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Jan 3, 2016 10:59:16 GMT
Lol. Stick it in the hamper!
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Post by hardly on Jan 3, 2016 19:55:56 GMT
I really like this quote:
“Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.” – Naval Ravikant
Good luck with round two Crumpy. I'm no expert or no paragon of virtue but the key is surely to convince yourself that you don't want to drink the beer/wine. While you hold it out as a treat withheld you will forever be tempted.
In my quest to eat less sugar (also somewhat of a failure this Christmas) I started obsessively counting sugar grams which helps develop a complex about eating too much sugar.
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Post by Crumpy Six on Jan 3, 2016 23:33:16 GMT
Good luck in the continued fight against sugar, hardly! I don't know that I'll ever shake off my sweet tooth, but gradually cutting down of a long period of time seems to have reduced my cravings.
Sunday 3rd January
My husband tried the non-alcoholic Cobra today and almost spat it out. So there's another ringing endorsement for Cobra 0%.
I went to the supermarket today to pick up another 4-pack of Bavaria, and noticed that the non-alcoholic beers share the same shelf as the Special Brew and supermarket value lager - both notoriously associated with ruined alcoholics. I wonder if this is the supermarkets making a token effort to encourage drinkers to make a healthier choice? Or perhaps, more insidiously, they are putting temptation in front of drinkers who are already trying.
We also tried a bottle of non-alcoholic white wine today, but couldn't stomach it. It just tasted too strange so we ended up pouring it away. It would have been nice to have something to replace the ritual of getting out the bottle of wine in the evening (like reaching for a bottle of beer) but as Hardly said, maybe it's better to get out of those habits in the first place.
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Post by echocdelta on Jan 4, 2016 12:03:13 GMT
Hey Crumpy, hope that Day 4 is smooth sailing! Willpower is an exercise and sounds like you're smashing it out already into the new year!
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I have some in the fridge right now, though I haven't tried it yet. Becks Blue was the only brand of non-alcoholic beer I was familiar with until I did some research. I was both surprised and impressed by the range of non-alcoholic beers stocked by my closest supermarket. Here are the ones I've got in to try:
