Giving Up Alcohol: Total Abstinence

Its Behind You!

I've decided that I'm going to stay off the aul drink for the rest of the year. I hope I make it.

Will you join with me in total abstinence?

Death and Taxes

Its Behind You! wrote: »

I've decided that I'm going to stay off the aul drink for the rest of the year. I hope I make it.

Will you join with me in total abstinence?

What, a whole two hours? feck that!:D

Praetorian Saighdiuir

Yes, just let me open the good book............glug, glug, glug!

Its Behind You!

WileyCoyote wrote: »

What, a whole two hours? feck that!:D

You can do it if you try, but you must want to do it for yourself..

galwayrush

Its Behind You! wrote: »

I've decided that I'm going to stay off the aul drink for the rest of the year. I hope I make it.

Will you join with me in total abstinence?

I have a full bottle of wine to drink yet, ( Amarone), then i will gladly join you to stay off the evil stuff until next year.

Fox_In_Socks

Its Behind You! wrote: »

I've decided that I'm going to stay off the aul drink for the rest of the year. I hope I make it.

Will you join with me in total abstinence?

I've just drank my last beer and too lazy to walk into the city to get more. So yes, I shall be abstinately drunk for the next two hours until it passes out of my system.

Its Behind You!

galwayrush wrote: »

I have a full bottle of wine to drink yet, ( Amarone), then i will gladly join you to stay off the evil stuff until next year.

Ah, you see the lost sheep hath been found...

kjl

11 years sober now

Its Behind You!

kjl wrote: »

11 years sober now

WTF! Good call!

Israel_Dagg

Total Absence?

Its Behind You!

Israel_Dagg wrote: »

Total Absence?

Total Absinthe = Total Abscess :eek:

sunflower27

All the best with it

I made giving up alcohol my new year's resolution last year and will be celebrating my first year sober in a matter of hours.

I feel great for it - managed to kick the smokes 6 months ago as well, which I have wanted to do for years.


Edit - I am also back at university studying counselling, which is what I have always wanted to do! Money well spent. It's been a great first sober year

Its Behind You!

Just less then 1 hour and 50 minutes until I can have my next wee drink.:rolleyes:

Pottler

Its Behind You! wrote: »

I've decided that I'm going to stay off the aul drink for the rest of the year. I hope I make it.

Will you join with me in total abstinence?

No. I'll be over here, having a beer. I tried the whole "no drinking" thing, and discovered that it was deathly dull, everyone else was drinking and sounded stupid(which they usually didn't), I was waay too chirpy and annoying in the morning and I missed it. That's one day I won't forget in a hurry. I might give up the fags for good though, that's somthing I do every year at new years.

Ghandee

I'm going to abstain for a while in 2013.

I've the following in the fridge/press that would seriously bug me lying around so am gonna attempt to 'dispose' of it tonight.

1 x 500ml bottle of tyskie (4 already drank)
6 x 350ml bottles of Coopers sparking ale.
Half a bottle of red stag Jim Beam

There are also numerous other bottles of red/white wine, 2 x bottles of champagne and numerous spirits in the press, but the bottles in bold are on my 'to do list' tonight.

Bottoms up all. And a happy new year to one and all.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i didn't drink until i was 18 and then i stopped drinking for a couple of years when i was in my early 20's

unless you're addicted it's not that big a deal and it's not really anything special. best thing to do is just drink in moderation, if you spend all your time focusing on not drinking you're still making alcohol a huge part of your life.. just not getting any of the benefit you'd get from being plastered.

delw

Its Behind You! wrote: »

I've decided that I'm going to stay off the aul drink for the rest of the year. I hope I make it.

Will you join with me in total abstinence?

I wont be joining you but wish you all the best

Its Behind You!

Ghandee wrote: »

I'm going to abstain for a while in 2013.

I've the following in the fridge/press that would seriously bug me lying around so am gonna attempt to 'dispose' of it tonight.

1 x 500ml bottle of tyskie (4 already drank)
6 x 350ml bottles of Coopers sparking ale.
Half a bottle of red stag Jim Beam

There are also numerous other bottles of red/white wine, 2 x bottles of champagne and numerous spirits in the press, but the bottles in bold are on my 'to do list' tonight.

Bottoms up all. And a happy new year to one and all.

holy sh1t! So you are expecting plenty guests?

Ghandee

Its Behind You! wrote: »

holy sh1t! So you are expecting plenty guests?

No just myself....

I prob won't get through all of it, (prob make a stab at the Jim beam after the beer) but will make a dam good attempt.

Miss Lockhart

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

if you spend all your time focusing on not drinking you're still making alcohol a huge part of your life.. just not getting any of the benefit you'd get from being plastered.

Unless you have a problem, then why would you be focused on not drinking? Just don't drink - no focus required.

I haven't drank since 2006. Just not bothered with it. Doesn't cause me any hassle.

gurramok

If too much drinking is causing a problem(despite the health issues), you need to cut back. Only you can do that, needs will power and understanding what you are doing is harming you socially and internally. If you decide to stop drinking in 2013 without a single drop, that takes one hell of a huge courage, the vast majority will fail to abide by that, you have to realise and don't feel that you are a failure if you end up having a couple of pints every 7 days. My own opinion is just cut back, what helps is just finding another activity that will take your mind away from the bottle. Try it.:)

Wattle

Well one was too many and a thousand was never enough so this is my ninth Xmas sober. Having said that I'm not going to begrudge those who want to get sloshed. I did it for long enough myself.

Saganist

Wattle wrote: »

Well one was too many and a thousand was never enough so this is my ninth Xmas sober. Having said that I'm not going to begrudge those who want to get sloshed. I did it for long enough myself.

Really hope I can emulate that..

gurramok

Saganist wrote: »

Really hope I can emulate that..

To add, one has to find the emotion that keeps one drinking as an escape mechanism. Conquer that, deal with it, move on and one would find their desire to drink not a daily occurrence.

donegal_road

count me in.

I was at the bottle bank the last day and the guy next to me remarked that I must have had a party in the house,....which I hadn't, but was to ashamed to say it!

Its Behind You!

donegal_road wrote: »

count me in.

I was at the bottle bank the last day and the guy next to me remarked that I must have had a party in the house,....which I hadn't, but was to ashamed to say it!

Its much worse when you give a local church regular a lift with a boot and back seats full of stinking not totally empty bottles.

I thought she was gonna ask to get out of the car with the smell of me "from the night before"...i only copped on a while after...

Wattle

Yeah the bottle bank. I remember that one. These days its only empty coffee jars and bottles of fizzy drinks.

Odysseus

Ah, It was a case of "half measures of ale where nothing":) I went off it once to see how difficult it was for the lads I work with. It was 11 years later before I had another one.

Only drink a few times a year now.

Wattle wrote: »

Well one was too many and a thousand was never enough so this is my ninth Xmas sober. Having said that I'm not going to begrudge those who want to get sloshed. I did it for long enough myself.

gurramok

11 years Odysseus, how did you manage that?! Do you always order non-alcoholic beverages on a night out?

Wattle

Odysseus wrote: »

Ah, It was a case of "half measures of ale where nothing":) I went off it once to see how difficult it was for the lads I work with. It was 11 years later before I had another one.

Only drink a few times a year now.

It's good that you've got it under control. Wouldn't risk it myself. That demon is still in there waiting to be uncorked.

kfallon

Don't give it up, just cut back. Often you try to give it up, works for about 6 weeks then you go back on it and go crazy for about 3 weeks and you are back to square one

Smidge

Wattle wrote: »

It's good that you've got it under control. Wouldn't risk it myself. That demon is still in there waiting to be uncorked.

What made you give it up at the particular moment that you did?

I have always wondered about when people give up alcohol, what was the exact "straw" for them?

Is there a catalyst or just got fed up drinking?

DK man

Count me in for the month of January and ill then think about extending it - I have been drinking a few cans about 3 nights a week - usually thurs / fri / sat and sometimes a mon or Tuesday but rarely. And again the visit to the bottle bank is always revealing and potentially embarrassing as I live in a small village..

Not sure why but it i think it's to relax before sleep as I don't drink before 9pm. I usually wake up feeling groggy and saying to myself I must stop this. I also think that my moods are lowered by alcohol and a days work after a few beers is harder.....

And then there's the weight thing - I've put on about a stone over the past few months and my few cans plus lets see what's in the fridge which usually happens once that hiss sound is made from pulling the ring...

I really admire people who don't drink and see my drinking as a weakness - so here's to a sober January anyways....

Odysseus

Wattle wrote: »

It's good that you've got it under control. Wouldn't risk it myself. That demon is still in there waiting to be uncorked.

Ah no, there was no demon present for me, if that is what you mean? I work in the area, and a lot of my friends would be members.


Your case is different, I wasn't recoomending that.

I said I would give it a go for six months, after six months I wasn't bothered, but said it I ever wanted a drink I could have one. It was just at a toast at am important function that I had my first drink again.

Now its take it or leave it, most times I would perfer a coffee, but if I want a drink I have one.

It is interesting the stuff that people come out with when they discover you haven't drank for x amount of years, you get various projections!!

Odysseus

gurramok wrote: »

11 years Odysseus, how did you manage that?! Do you always order non-alcoholic beverages on a night out?

Yeah, basically, after a while it is something you don't think about; it is only when others bring it up that you think about it.

Even know if I was to meet a mate to discuss something; I would think more about a coffee than a pint.

Death and Taxes

Its Behind You! wrote: »

I've decided that I'm going to stay off the aul drink for the rest of the year. I hope I make it.

Will you join with me in total abstinence?

Op its after midnight, have ya hit the sauce yet?:D

gurramok

DK man wrote: »

Count me in for the month of January and ill then think about extending it - I have been drinking a few cans about 3 nights a week - usually thurs / fri / sat and sometimes a mon or Tuesday but rarely. And again the visit to the bottle bank is always revealing and potentially embarrassing as I live in a small village..

Not sure why but it i think it's to relax before sleep as I don't drink before 9pm. I usually wake up feeling groggy and saying to myself I must stop this. I also think that my moods are lowered by alcohol and a days work after a few beers is harder.....

And then there's the weight thing - I've put on about a stone over the past few months and my few cans plus lets see what's in the fridge which usually happens once that hiss sound is made from pulling the ring...

I really admire people who don't drink and see my drinking as a weakness - so here's to a sober January anyways....

Out of all this, you have to find the reason why you do it, you only know why. Why do you drink alcohol to an excess instead of some other drink? Anyway you need to find a resolution, the grogginess will catch up on you to a point you'll be saying whats the point of being this groggy in the first place?

Alcohol hangovers do affect your moods the day after, no mistake about that. Staying off drink is a long term thing, it will not take a month, it takes your own personal change in lifestyle to actually make cutting back on drink a reality.

Its Behind You!

WileyCoyote wrote: »

Op its after midnight, have ya hit the sauce yet?:D

I made it! Budweiser x 2 and bed.

Cora Mahoney

kjl wrote: »

11 years sober now

Be eleven years for me this coming February

StormWarrior

I haven't drunk alcohol in years and I still have fun without it. A different kind of fun, actually better.

Cora Mahoney

Smidge wrote: »

What made you give it up at the particular moment that you did?

I have always wondered about when people give up alcohol, what was the exact "straw" for them?

Is there a catalyst or just got fed up drinking?

For me, it was a series of events over a period of many years.
Some incidents were tragic, some funny, some plain ole weird---but all combined finally helped me to accept that me n alcohol just aren't meant to be together anymore.
But, like it's kinda like how I feel about an old boyfriend I will always have fond feelings for: if anyone badmouths alcohol, I shall defend it gladly, lol. Just because I had to say goodbye doesn't mean everyone has to!

StormWarrior

Up until the age of 22, "fun" for me was getting wasted on booze, shrooms and E, and then either going to a nightclub or rampaging around the streets causing trouble. But three things made me decide to quit all of that and go totally sober. Firstly, it just wasn't so much fun any more. It was becoming tiresome and boring, and I found myself feeling relieved the next day when it was all over. Secondly, in a nightclub one night with all of my young friends, I saw a bloke, aged about 50, totally off his face and trying to dance with all of the young people and it just seemed so sad and pathetic and I thought, I don't want to end up like that at his age!" Thirdly, one night while extremely drunk on super-strength Finnish vodka, I slept with someone who I would never otherwise have touched in a million years. It was just time to stop, and I don't miss it. I did have fun being young drunk and high, but that time of my life just came to an end. The idea of getting wasted just doesn't appeal to me any more.

gurramok

Any alcoholics out there who are still reading, I challenge you at this time of night(1am) to throw that excess drink down the sink when you've known inside you've had too many. I just did as I have no love affair with drink. I only drank a few beers as its New Years, the addiction phase is long gone(research my last posts on the subject), try it and watch it flow down the sinkhole, it won't miss you.

Wattle

Smidge wrote: »

What made you give it up at the particular moment that you did?

I have always wondered about when people give up alcohol, what was the exact "straw" for them?

Is there a catalyst or just got fed up drinking?

My catalyst was having three 'rock bottom' moments in quick succession. I was done for drink driving twice in a short space of time and I was thrown off a group holiday in the West of Ireland for stealing a bottle of whiskey from a B&B.

I had always been prone to depression and of course heavy drinking was just making it worse. I think having those rock bottom moments made me look into the future and all I could see was darkness if I kept on drinking.

Once I made the decision it was actually pretty easy.

areyawell

Don't give up on the beer, its hard, but beer is the best thing to do with your life. The sound of a plop of whiskey pouring into a class. The creamy head on a pint of Guinness, the endless wonder of what you did the night before the next morning. Without Beer may as well stop living

Smidge

Wattle wrote: »

My catalyst was having three 'rock bottom' moments in quick succession. I was done for drink driving twice in a short space of time and I was thrown off a group holiday in the West of Ireland for stealing a bottle of whiskey from a B&B.

I had always been prone to depression and of course heavy drinking was just making it worse. I think having those rock bottom moments made me look into the future and all I could see was darkness if I kept on drinking.

Once I made the decision it was actually pretty easy.

I have heard people saying about "rock bottom" before but I never really thought people actually hit it ala "Hollywood style".
I suppose there are people out there who drink night after night and will never hit rock bottom.

Cora Mahoney

I gotta share this bit I heard a few years back, had me laughin then and it still makes me giggle now:

Congratulating an alcoholic for not drinking is like congratulating a cowboy with hemorrhoids for not riding a horse!

reverenddave

areyawell wrote: »

Don't give up on the beer, its hard, but beer is the best thing to do with your life. The sound of a plop of whiskey pouring into a class. The creamy head on a pint of Guinness, the endless wonder of what you did the night before the next morning. Without Beer may as well stop living

pathetic to think that people revolve their lives around something so frivolous for basically nothing but an emptier wallet and a sore head in the morning.

Death and Taxes

Good evening everyone, my name is Wiley n am an alcaca, an acahcaha,n al ca ca holll an alcaholololl, ah jezus I sometimes drink too much!:D

Its Behind You!

Probably time for a different thread. A more meaningful one. I started this one as a bit of a hoot for New Years, but I guess with written words the intention is easily missed and I'm no comedian.

Anyways I'm pussy footing around the seriousness of the subject and the fact that I have lost 4 friends this year, probably unnecessarily and due to many factors, including alcohol misuse which was most likely in a bid to self medicate due to many complex issues which were misdiagnosed, overlooked or ignored.

I can say no more but I wanted to let those know who contributed to this how genuinely I valued their contribution.

I am not stopping here. I am challenging the system and the 'professionals' who were involved in the care of my friends and who have questions to answer in a formal capacity with regards to their professional responsibilities and actions taken.

And now having said that, I will have to close my account. I won't close it for 24 hours in case anyone wants to contact me and stay in contact.

I wish you all a happy and healthy new year.

areyawell

reverenddave wrote: »

pathetic to think that people revolve their lives around something so frivolous for basically nothing but an emptier wallet and a sore head in the morning.

Whats so pathetic about it? Hangover lasts 2 or 3 years.