Dry January: sobriety is 2020

[Ferris]

Posting in the "boozing as a child" thread has reminded me - it's nearly time for my only virtuous time of year: dry January!

Hard mode: I have 2 nights in New York and 3 in San Francisco with clients planned next month, so I'm not sure if it is socially acceptable to stick to tap water when everyone else will be on the company plonk. Last few years, I just hunkered down in my apartment for the month (made easier by the fact that January in Ontario is earth's answer to Hoth).

Anyone else doing this? I've been full of flu last few days so nearly have a week's head start. I remember it making me feel amazing though so looking forward to that. Only 2 days to go...

_{Apologies if this makes me seem like a virtue signalling twat. I assure you, I'm a feckless wasteman the rest of the year. Promise.}

[Sebastian Cobb]

January is a miserable old month, so probably not. I have been toying with the idea of not drinking apart from socially though (IE not drinking wine alone at weekends).

Then again, I had my last drink under 24 hours ago after being half-cut for about a week and this evening was like all the worst bits from requiem for a dream.

[Dex Sawash]

Fuckers'll force a flute of champagne in my hand at 11:55 on 31st. Will probably find a spot to "lose" it before too many minutes of January pass.

[Dewt]

Why are so many people so willing to show that they're too thick to understand addiction?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Why are so many people so willing to show that they're too thick to understand addiction?

Because they will get a 70% discount off a gelding at a nearby participating venue.

[Icehaven]

Dry January makes it a great month to drink. Nice quiet pubs, lots of discounts and offers on booze from desperate retailers, I love it, particularly after the overpriced overcrowded amateur hour nightmare of Christmas.

[poo]

Shittest thing ever.

[Paul Calf]

Why are so many people so willing to show that they're too thick to understand addiction?

Why are people so willing to show that they're too thick to understand the difference between addiction and using the most readily-available drug to self-medicate in response to the grinding tedium of Winter in the higher latitudes?

Alcohol is a shite drug, kids: explore your options.

[sandpainter 1471z]

Think I might do dry January, no-fap and knock bacon and Wensleydale on the head all at the same time. But, I might start going out at night and strangling people, just to keep my spirits up enough to stop myself yoyoing in February.

[Danger Man]

I remember it making me feel amazing

So why did you stop?

[alan nagsworth]

Seriously, what's difficult about this? No one is making you, just drink something else.

Yes. Ferris, your comment "I don't think it's socially acceptable to not drink alcohol", whilst being a legitimate concern shared by many including me, is a load of waffle. As many of you probably know, I've not had a good time with alcohol this year and so I've decided to knock it on the head entirely. A couple of evenings in my home town have been particularly strenuous because I have been out with friends and remained sober. Christmas Eve was tough. I had a couple of old friends I've not seen for years call me a pussy or just act completely bewildered at my choice, but I didn't cave. I know I'm doing the right thing.

The social stigma surrounding alcohol is fucking dire. The encouragement to have a drink, the advertising, the sheer clobber of endless bullshit "Prosecco O'clock" platitudes. "Have a drink mate you've earned it!" Yes I will celebrate overcoming a difficult task or strenuous emotional hurdle by consuming a depressant. "Just have one, it can't hurt!" Yes it can, and almost certainly will. Ultimately all it shows is a complete lack of empathy on everyone else's part due to their own glaring insecurities. It's no different to playground bullying and the fact that it's plastered on billboards and every other cunt is doing it means that for some reason this horrible attitude is not only accepted but encouraged.

Would it be the same with another similarly damaging substance? Go on mate, have a ciggy! Everyone else is smoking one. Ah just have one line, it can't hurt, don't be so miserable! Mate just have a couple of drops of acid, don't be such a pussy! We're all tripping out our fuckin nut, what's wrong with you?

Alcohol is fucking poison. Do what you want to do, not what other people want you to do.

[idunnosomename]

For every drink you dont have i will drink two!!!!!!

[Non Stop Dancer]

Shit for cunts.

[shiftwork2]

Quite interesting to do.  It turns out you feel way better when you stop drinking poison.  Quite how this was a revelation to me at my age I do not know.  At the end you're presented with the choice of the chilly boredom of sobriety, the dissolute life you've clearly attempted to re-evaluate or moderation.  Moderation wins for me but that's the hardest nut to crack.  There needs to be a moderate drinking thing along the same lines.

So I'd say if you're curious about doing Dry January then give it a go, but it's likely just one step on the way to somewhere else.

[jobotic]

Got a couple of gigs in January that I will drink at but will try and knock it on the head apart from that. But...this government, the first month of this fucking shit. Without a a drink?...agh.

[hamfist]

Doing a vegetarian January in solidarity with my daughter who wants to cut out meat, but my son was resisting the idea and petitioned me for a "Meaty May" to compensate.

I won't do a dry January though, I just like booze too much - but I will reduce it to weekends only and no weekday "I deserve it" glass of the boozes when I get home from work.

[Icehaven]

I can honestly say it doesn't bother me in the slightest if someone isn't drinking when I am, I really don't care. But then I don't need to justify my drinking to myself by making sure everyone else is doing it too, and I'm also currently lucky enough to be able to drink without it ruining my life or making me feel like shit. This certainly hasn't always been the case, and there's been times in my life when I've felt it was taking over a bit and occasionally resulted in me doing things I regretted, but in the last few years I've found cutting down a bit, not mixing my drinks, and knowing when to call it a night has largely done the trick, although yes I still overdo it every now and then.

I can see how, if you feel only total abstinence will do for you, that alcohol must seem so omnipresent and pervasive that it feels as if the world wants you to drink however much you don't want to, but the thing is the vast, vast majority of people who drink will never have a problem with it so the culture is unlikely to bend to the few that do. I don't mean that to be harsh or anything, and while I'm on an even keel at the moment, as I said I've had my own trials with booze myself, but even at my worst times I can see it doesn't really make sense to rail against something that most people can enjoy without any hassle just because I couldn't.

[Twit 2]

Yes. Ferris, your comment "I don't think it's socially acceptable to not drink alcohol", whilst being a legitimate concern shared by many including me, is a load of waffle. As many of you probably know, I've not had a good time with alcohol this year and so I've decided to knock it on the head entirely. A couple of evenings in my home town have been particularly strenuous because I have been out with friends and remained sober. Christmas Eve was tough. I had a couple of old friends I've not seen for years call me a pussy or just act completely bewildered at my choice, but I didn't cave. I know I'm doing the right thing.

The social stigma surrounding alcohol is fucking dire. The encouragement to have a drink, the advertising, the sheer clobber of endless bullshit "Prosecco O'clock" platitudes. "Have a drink mate you've earned it!" Yes I will celebrate overcoming a difficult task or strenuous emotional hurdle by consuming a depressant. "Just have one, it can't hurt!" Yes it can, and almost certainly will. Ultimately all it shows is a complete lack of empathy on everyone else's part due to their own glaring insecurities. It's no different to playground bullying and the fact that it's plastered on billboards and every other cunt is doing it means that for some reason this horrible attitude is not only accepted but encouraged.

Would it be the same with another similarly damaging substance? Go on mate, have a ciggy! Everyone else is smoking one. Ah just have one line, it can't hurt, don't be so miserable! Mate just have a couple of drops of acid, don't be such a pussy! We're all tripping out our fuckin nut, what's wrong with you?

Alcohol is fucking poison. Do what you want to do, not what other people want you to do.

Great post.

(I s'hink you want a drink after writing that, yeah?)

[pancreas]

You can still have a chekky whisky before noon, so long as it's twixtmas, right?

Nice whisky and a couple of hits of crystal meth. Then a omelette.

<jenniferaniston.gif>

[grassbath]

I need to do this, or something approximating it. I have a real problem with solitary drinking. The days I stayed sober in 2019 I could count on two hands. I did the screening test that another poster kindly provided in another thread and the prognosis was not good.

I did manage to have about five days sober in the lead-up to Christmas and it was amazing how much better I felt, but there was absolutely no way I was going to tackle the work Christmas do sober and that has set me back off again.

Worst of all is being compelled to start self-pitying morose shit threads on here.

Good luck everyone!

[Ferris]

In my defence, it's professional courtesy that was concerning me rather than anything else. Typically you go to dinner with business people and they order a few bottles of expensive wine and it is politeness to accept, and that is very much on my horizon in January. Socially, I'm completely fine with not drinking (and saying as much).

Anyway, it's a nice reset over the holiday season.

[Blue Jam]

Doing jury service in January so will probably be forced to knock the drinking on the head a bit anyway. Keep myself sober as a judge.

Fuck Dry January though- like icehaven I like a nice quiet pub and I intend to enjoy a few this month. This is also why I prefer midweek drinking to going out to a busy pub on a Friday or Saturday- if anything I'm actually more fond of abstaining at weekends, when I'm feeling more relaxed and less in need of a drink anyway.

I've also been forced to drink less by becoming a fucking lightweight with age. I can no longer handle spirits and I struggle with red wine, so I'm just going to enjoy the booze while I can, and before I end up being unable to handle anything stronger than Babycham.

[Dewt]

Why are so many people so willing to show that they're too thick to understand addiction?

This was probably a bit unfair now that I actually read the thread and it turned out not to be the "I'm trying to get sober" tale that I thought it was

Sorry

I am sorry

I did wrong

But somehow, I am still the best. Odd

[imitationleather]

This was probably a bit unfair now that I actually read the thread and it turned out not to be the "I'm trying to get sober" tale that I thought it was

Sorry

I am sorry

I did wrong

But somehow, I am still the best. Odd

You're addicted, alright. Addicted to being a douche!

[Dewt]

I've sent Soft cat a PM saying "Sorry. Sorry you made me misinterpret you, cunt." to clear it up.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

Thought seriously about it, but then realised that I'm going to Amsterdam for 3 days so will probably get fucked up. I suppose if I stick to mushrooms and hash brownies it still counts as dry January?

[Consignia]

I dyslexically read this topic as Dry Socket January. Which having done one in the past, is not a pleasant experience.

[good times]

buzzing with excitement about having a dry Jan

since Christmas Eve I've averaged at least a bottle of wine a day and while that's not particularly wild it's fucking me up.

[ASFTSN]

So why did you stop?

ETHANOL ADDICTION

[amputeeporn]

Yeah, doing this and can't wait. I love drink and generally do it well - my constitution/personality seem to allow me to go to excess with few negative repercussions, and it goes hand in hand with a lot of my work, too, so there's often a ready excuse.

With that said, you get more and more overdrawn on the energy front, boosting yourself with pay day loans of odd drinks that give you another 24 hours before landing you further in the hole. Anyway, I'm beat. There have been a lot of long, late nights, lots of over-indulgence. I know full-well I'll be battered on New Years, but after that I'm going clear.

My secret, unspoken wish is to try for a hundred days or something. I usually do a month or two (separately) across the year but would love some real uninterrupted health and sanity.

We'll see.

And I can see why some don't think it's a big deal, my gf, thank christ, only drinks very occasionally. Being a European she thinks the way brits reach for a bottle and can't stop until they pass out is weird, and I have to agree. But for me, and others, it is a big deal. Not everyone needs to do it, but occasionally you find yourself getting close to the edge, and when you do it's sane and right to take some time and walk back to the centre.