Dry January?

the_syco · 10-01-2016 10:31PM

john the one wrote: »

What's the point? To prove you can stay off drink for a whole month?

For the most part, it's to allow ones liver to recover. A lot of people do it on November, which is fairly pointless as a month later you'll undo all the good. Best of letting it recover after the "festive boozing season", tbh.

mansize · 10-01-2016 10:35PM

Dry White Wine, Dry Gin, this isn't so tough

PARlance · 10-01-2016 10:37PM

mansize wrote: »

Dry White Wine, Dry Gin, this isn't so tough

Ya but a month of absinthe can be hard going.

10-01-2016 10:39PM

I haven't heard a massive about it. Kinda goes over my head, I didn't drink to excess any other time so it's business as usual here

Reiketsu · 10-01-2016 11:22PM

My birthday is in January so it's just never going to happen.

Don't Chute! · 10-01-2016 11:32PM

I'm sorry but if someone thinks staying off the drink for one month is a big deal or is difficult to do, they've got a drink problem. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of people in this country who do think like that. In my twenties and early thirties I went drinking probably twice a week. Now I drink maybe 3 times a year. Looking back on that time I realise it was a waste of time. A lot of people however think that there is nothing else to do but drink.

KilOit · 10-01-2016 11:44PM

Don't drink too much anyhow but i am giving up drink for January, i don't use facebook and i don't harp on about it to friends and colleagues, no one knows unless they ask or offer me a drink.
I feel better when i don't drink and i like to eat healthy and go to the gym quite a bit so i'm happy to do it for myself and not for some internet medal or something.

osarusan · 10-01-2016 11:45PM

I'm drinking beer right now.

Eugene Norman · 10-01-2016 11:47PM

thattequilagirl wrote: »

Unless you used the time/money you would normally spend on drink to do other fun stuff with your friends...

You seem to be the boring ex alcoholic. I'm not. 4 pints every week or two weeks ( often after a hike etc) doesn't stop me doing other things with friends. A pint afterwards is nice.

mansize · 10-01-2016 11:47PM

I drink very infrequently but was in London for the weekend and my well placed friend brought me to the most amazing members cocktail bars. The first was a smooth gin one that actually felt like drinking silk the second a whisky one - the vapours alone would have you on your ear! But I probably won't drink again until Jan 30 so that's 2 days in Jan, which is about my average

Eugene Norman · 10-01-2016 11:48PM

black and amber wrote: »

I'm sorry but if someone thinks staying off the drink for one month is a big deal or is difficult to do, they've got a drink problem. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of people in this country who do think like that. In my twenties and early thirties I went drinking probably twice a week. Now I drink maybe 3 times a year. Looking back on that time I realise it was a waste of time. A lot of people however think that there is nothing else to do but drink.

Nobody is saying that. God the ex heavy drinkers would bore you to tears. Most of the people I know who are off for Jan are much heavier drinkers than myself but then I think in all things moderation, including moderation.

AppleBottle · 10-01-2016 11:52PM

I'm not doing a dry January. I have a friend's birthday and an engagement party both at towards the end of the month where I will only probably have one or two at each.

Smidge · 10-01-2016 11:53PM

osarusan wrote: »

I'm drinking beer right now.

I read that in a Homer Simpson voice

http://www.winostuff.com/BeerStuff/Images/homer2.gif

Huntergonzo · 10-01-2016 11:58PM

I actually love dry January, it's one of my favourite months of the year to go drinking. Most of the bullshíters are off the drink and out jogging or some other silly shíte for the month so you can enjoy your drink in peace!

Ps, in all honesty I don't understand going off the drink for a month, you're only fooling yourself.

Medusa22 · 11-01-2016 12:37AM

I'm not doing dry January, but like other people have said, I don't drink very often, maybe once a month and I didn't drink very much over Christmas. When I'm trying to lose weight I try to avoid more than a couple of drinks anyway as it is just extra calories.

Crumpets · 11-01-2016 12:40AM

Don't see the point myself. If you've got a healthy relationship with alcohol the other 11 months of the year, there shouldn't be any need to go dry for one particular month.

tomwaterford · 11-01-2016 12:42AM

Medusa22 wrote: »

I'm not doing dry January, but like other people have said, I don't drink very often, maybe once a month and I didn't drink very much over Christmas. When I'm trying to lose weight I try to avoid more than a couple of drinks anyway as it is just extra calories.

Is it extra calories .....if ya end up puking it all back up again??

**drink sensibly**

Day Lewin · 11-01-2016 12:46AM

"Dramuary" is right: how do you expect us to celebrate Burns Nicht without the dram of Scotch?

How to toast the haggis? and the lasses?

Shocking, disgraceful idea.

K-9 · 11-01-2016 01:11AM

What's wrong with doing it for lent? You don't have to be religious or anything.

tomwaterford · 11-01-2016 01:16AM

K-9 wrote: »

What's wrong with doing it for lent? You don't have to be religious or anything.

Something something good Friday something something grr

Firefox11 · 11-01-2016 01:30AM

bluewolf wrote: »

I haven't heard a massive about it. Kinda goes over my head, I didn't drink to excess any other time so it's business as usual here

I must be missing out too as I didn't drink like a fish over the last month either.

thattequilagirl · 11-01-2016 12:56PM

Eugene Norman wrote: »

You seem to be the boring ex alcoholic. I'm not. 4 pints every week or two weeks ( often after a hike etc) doesn't stop me doing other things with friends. A pint afterwards is nice.

That's exactly the perception that bothers me. That somehow because I don't drink, my life is boring/no fun. To be honest though, it says more about you than it does about me that you think like that.

King George VI · 11-01-2016 01:42PM

Why would I quit drinking for one month when I have no need to and when I love beer so much?

That's like joining a gym and eating salads for a month, then going back to eating like a pig for 11 months. What's the point?

If you're gonna quit, quit. If not, don't. If you want to cut down in booze consumption, don't drink so much on a night out. Leave at midnight instead of 3am. Or arrive late and leave late if you want. I don't believe in this "I want to see if I can stay off it for a month". If you have to ask yourself that question, you're an alcoholic. Or at the very least a very fucking bad drinking habit.

cowboyBuilder · 11-01-2016 04:47PM

So according to that John Hopkins quiz, I could be an alcoholic

Alcoholism Screening Quiz

You answered 5 items out of 20 Yes.

Your score is 25%. According to the Office of Health Care Programs, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, developers of this screening quiz, if you answered 3 of these questions with a Yes it is a definite sign that your drinking patterns are harmful and possibly considered alcohol dependent or alcoholic. You may want to seek an evaluation by a healthcare professional.

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/problem/a/blquiz1.htm

I drink on average 1-2 beers a week, never go out binge drinking anymore, has been years since I've been hammered, what a load of American bollix!!!

Menas · 11-01-2016 04:54PM

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

So according to that John Hopkins quiz, I could be an alcoholic

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/problem/a/blquiz1.htm

I drink on average 1-2 beers a week, never go out binge drinking anymore, has been years since I've been hammered, what a load of American bollix!!!

That quiz is dumb! It asks questions like "Have you ever felt remorse after drinking?"

Any 16 year old who has necked a flagon of cider and kissed the dirty one from number 14 will have felt remorse...why would that be relevant 30 years later??!!!

thattequilagirl · 11-01-2016 05:06PM

Menas wrote: »

That quiz is dumb! It asks questions like "Have you ever felt remorse after drinking?"

Any 16 year old who has necked a flagon of cider and kissed the dirty one from number 14 will have felt remorse...why would that be relevant 30 years later??!!!

It says to use the last 12 months as a frame of reference, so your teenage regrets don't count!

Menas · 11-01-2016 05:11PM

thattequilagirl wrote: »

It says to use the last 12 months as a frame of reference, so your teenage regrets don't count!

Ah....thats good! Hic.

Huntergonzo · 11-01-2016 05:15PM

I only answered 2 of those questions yes, so I'm clear :-)

It is a bit of a silly quiz in fairness, it asks things like: Do you drink alone? And then only gives Yes or No as an answer, the answer is sometimes but generally not, where's that option.

Also it asks: Have you ever felt remorse after drinking? Well yes of course I have, but I've felt remorse a lot more after some of the things I've done and said while sober.......so should I give up being sober!!!

thattequilagirl · 11-01-2016 05:19PM

Huntergonzo wrote: »

I only answered 2 of those questions yes, so I'm clear :-)

It is a bit of a silly quiz in fairness, it asks things like: Do you drink alone? And then only gives Yes or No as an answer, the answer is sometimes but generally not, where's that option.

Also it asks: Have you ever felt remorse after drinking? Well yes of course I have, but I've felt remorse a lot more after some of the things I've done and said while sober.......so should I give up being sober!!!

But surely you see that asking the question about remorse is important in identifying people who do have a problem with drink. For me, the remorse I felt after drinking was a huge factor in deciding to stop. To a normal person it might seem silly, but if you answer that question as well as a few others with a yes, there is a good chance you have a problem.

Huntergonzo · 11-01-2016 05:28PM

thattequilagirl wrote: »

But surely you see that asking the question about remorse is important in identifying people who do have a problem with drink. For me, the remorse I felt after drinking was a huge factor in deciding to stop. To a normal person it might seem silly, but if you answer that question as well as a few others with a yes, there is a good chance you have a problem.

Consistent and/or crippling remorse after drinking would indicate a problem to me but a couple of isolated incidences where nothing of any real note even happened wouldn't indicate a problem to me.

It depends largely on the individual anyway, it's far too general to presume that anybody who's ever experienced regret after drinking has a problem.

Personally I'm a happy drunk, so I can't really recall too many cases of regret.

Dry January?

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