Advice for quitting drinking for a month

[JohnnyAppleseed]

Be proactive and share with friends/family that you're taking a month off. In the past when I've taken breaks, hanging out with friends, going to a barbeque, and stuff like that have been the spots where I've been most likely to have a drink due to peer pressure/fomo.

But I discovered by sharing about the break, they'd support, they'd have non-alcoholic drinks available, and often times one or couple of them would join in. The peer pressure stuff also fell off as we aged haha.

 

[0u812]

Good thread, a lot of good advice on here already.

I quit drinking 100% five years ago, and here are the things that helped me:

1. Keeping busy as possible. Mentally this is a big thing.
2. Drink some NA beers in social situations. That helped a bit....since I did that at the beginning, I have found I dont really care for the taste very often. Once in a while I will have one....
3. Add up the $$ you spent on booze, and either set it aside for vacation or something fun. Just socking it away is satisfying, but taking the money to do something that may also support your mental health is probably better. I bought more hobby type things...dirtbike parts, car restoration parts...went on some trips.

Good luck....its not easy, but very doable. Your overall health will improve, and bet you will sleep better soon.

 

[Cfinnerty16]

The book I read talked about how the dichotomy of the idea of sobriety/relapse really becomes offputting. She framed it as if you quit and then go back to drinking - you are practicing. You're trying out what works for you. That idea of "practicing" sobriety really hit with me and it makes sense. Other areas of our life - exercise, sleep habits - going full on 100% off the bat doesn't generally last. Sustainable habits are generally built more slowly and with practice. If you miss a workout you don't go back to never working out. You try again the next day/week. So if you want to reduce alcohol intake, practice and don't think of it as all of nothing forever.

This is a wonderful way to frame it, thank you

 

[Gunnerclone]

I’m Mormon so can’t help. But definitely following to see if the advice can also apply to Diet Coke.

I’m the same. I think we need to go find a forum that has people that quit crack-cocaine to figure the diet coke problem out.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I’m Mormon so can’t help. But definitely following to see if the advice can also apply to Diet Coke.

I used to be a pretty severe Diet Coke addict, 160-220oz a day was fairly standard. Actually used kombucha and la croix as a way out. Just take is slow, replace the caffeine (if you are having withdrawals) with something like kombucha, matcha, or tea. Start with the mindless consumption then once that’s handled move to the more ritualistic consumption like during meals, after work, etc. Takes some time but it’s doable.

 

[deadeyededric]

I’ve actually met quite a few alcoholics who weren’t physically addicted. They didn’t crave booze, but when they chose to drink they just couldn’t stop until the wheels came off.

The worst alcoholic I’ve ever known (we’re talking spending every waking moment hammered for over a year with multiple OWIs) detoxed in a jail cell without any dangerous withdrawals. You have to drink a ton to get that level of physical addiction that nicotine has.

By the time I was 28 I was alcohol dependent. Drank handles of vodka. Wake up with the shakes. Shaking even when you're drinking because you don't have enough in your system. I've went through detox 3 times. It was an absolute nightmare. I could have easily been on an episode of "Intervention".

 

[Al_4_State]

I recently have started drinking hop waters and have been really impressed. I was previously over-indulging in light beers a little too frequently. I found hop waters to provide just enough flavor that gives the impression of drinking a beer and the carbonation was also filling me up faster and I haven't been drinking as many. It also helps that hop water is 0 alcohol, 0 carbs and is gluten free.

Ankeny Costco used to have Lagunitas hop water in bulk but I don't think they have resupplied. That's a good one. I also found a Citra-flavored hop water in Ames and West Des Moines Hy-Vee Wine & Spirit section that tastes exactly like a citra beer. I also just had confluences hop water this past weekend and that was pretty good as well - I've heard that you can drink this for free if you visit Confluence tap room, but I can't verify if this is the case.

I like hop water too.

I drink a ton of seltzer water in general. Even when I’m not on a true sabbatical, I make a point of not drinking at all multiple nights of the week. Seltzers and hop water are nice to give you a little something without the booze.

 

[Al_4_State]

By the time I was 28 I was alcohol dependent. Drank handles of vodka. Wake up with the shakes. Shaking even when you're drinking because you don't have enough in your system. I've went through detox 3 times. It was an absolute nightmare. I could have easily been on an episode of "Intervention".

Jesus. Glad you got through it!

 

[deadeyededric]

Jesus. Glad you got through it!

If I wouldn't have had my dogs I probably would have killed myself. That seemed like the only way out at the time. I finally got pancreatitis, detoxed on the morphine I got for that, and never drank again. That was October of 2009.

 

[madguy30]

Yeah, I don't think I'm interested in quitting all together. I just want to get to get to a reset point and not rely on it for a sleeping aid.

Also, want to get rid of the moobs that have slowly developed over the years. To everyone talking about exercise, I run 4-5 miles, 5 days a week. So the exercise piece is taken care of for me.

I think the only time I was physically addicted was after VEISHEA one year, had a panic attack the Sunday after. Not fun, I cut back on alcohol a ton after that

The info is in the 'exercise/losing weight' thread but strength training will tone things up better than just running.

Maybe that's something to add.

 

[ForbinsAscynt]

Good luck. I have cut back my consumption and sadly for me it is not hanging out with the usual crew as much. I am more of a Friday night binger but would also indulge maybe once during the week and let’s say 50% of Saturdays.

Motivation for me is waking up clearheaded on a Saturday or Sunday and not completely wasting a day due to drinking. As far as daily routine, I’m not sure what I’d suggest but maybe working out regularly, substituting a bad habit with a good one.

 

[deadeyededric]

Good luck. I have cut back my consumption and sadly for me it is not hanging out with the usual crew as much. I am more of a Friday night binger but would also indulge maybe once during the week and let’s say 50% of Saturdays.

Motivation for me is waking up clearheaded on a Saturday or Sunday and not completely wasting a day due to drinking. As far as daily routine, I’m not sure what I’d suggest but maybe working out regularly, substituting a bad habit with a good one.

Sometimes when you cut down/quit you realize drinking was the only thing you had in common with some of the people you were hanging with. It's kind of weird.

 

[ForbinsAscynt]

Sometimes when you cut down/quit you realize drinking was the only thing you had in common with some of the people you were hanging with. It's kind of weird.

I can see what you mean but i tend to have more in common with friends besides drinking. It is also sort of a feather in the cap if I can hang for a few hours, control my intake, and leave never really catching more than a light buzz.

 

[Cybone]

I quit drinking at full stop about a year and a half ago. Health reasons, wanted to lose weight, etc. it was never a large part of my life to begin with, son it was easy to quit for me. I do get a craving for wine from time to time, but overall it isn’t bad.

The worst part of telling someone you don’t drink is the mental jump they make in assuming that I have or have ever had a drinking problem. I tell someone that I quit drinking and they apologize and get uneasy. Not judging you for drinking, I am just not drinking because it is counterproductive to my immediate health goals.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Cfinnerty16]

Thank you everyone for all the kind words and recommendations! Hopefully this thread can also help someone else who is thinking about abstaining from alcohol.

 

[Rabbuk]

Not sure if falling asleep is a problem for you or not but that might also be exploring if you think it's a driver in drinking even a relatively small amount every day.

 

[JayV]

I did dry January, went back to "normal" during the spring and then went back to like one drink per week since May. For me, reading a book that talked about how alcohol impacts your body (and it was women-specific) really turned it off for me almost immediately. Like reading that it impacts your sleep for 3-4 days, worsens anxiety, kills brain cells - it just killed the desire to drink.

It probably helps that during that same time frame I found that I was severely iron-deficient which was contributing to symptoms that then increased why I wanted to drink (anxious, irritable, tired). So fixing that helped reduction in drinking.

I almost exclusively did mixed drinks so first swapping out my own homemade mocktails and caffeine free pop was an easy switch. And again, addressing the underlying deficiency and reinforcing that alcohol was worsening not improving the symptoms I had really helped.

This.
Alcohol does nothing positive for your body. It's not helping you get better sleep. Most of the studies from the past that said limited consumption might be good for you were funded by the alcohol industry. If you enjoy the taste, experience, etc. and aren't hurting yourself or others, I'm not saying don't use it, but don't believe it's helping your body in any way.

 

[JayV]

The book I read talked about how the dichotomy of the idea of sobriety/relapse really becomes offputting. She framed it as if you quit and then go back to drinking - you are practicing. You're trying out what works for you. That idea of "practicing" sobriety really hit with me and it makes sense. Other areas of our life - exercise, sleep habits - going full on 100% off the bat doesn't generally last. Sustainable habits are generally built more slowly and with practice. If you miss a workout you don't go back to never working out. You try again the next day/week. So if you want to reduce alcohol intake, practice and don't think of it as all or nothing forever.

Also this.
Stopping alcohol use, or anything else you want to do. Try it. If you succeed, fantastic! Now try again. If you fail, that's ok. Now try again.

 

[ajspatio19]

While I don't have direct experience with this, I know a few people who have kicked a habit by replacing sunflower seeds with whatever it is you are eliminating. If you have the urge for a drink, you throw in some sunflower seeds.

If you do this, be sure to keep your water intake up. There's a lot of salt in flavored sunflower seeds.

 

[madguy30]

Sometimes when you cut down/quit you realize drinking was the only thing you had in common with some of the people you were hanging with. It's kind of weird.

Completely different level but yeah I have friends that still go out several nights a week etc. and the conversation runs short when you just simply aren't involved with or care about that world.