Anyone stopped drinking for 6 months/a year

[D.A.F.C]

Not had a single drop since first month of lockdown. Not been drunk this year.

Dont miss it.

[Raidernation]

Will be 10 months sober on the 13th

[Shandon Par]

26+ months dry. All this hand sanitiser kicking about can smell a bit too  good at times and I catch myself inhaling deeply with some of the most potent products.  

[Blootoon87]

100 days without a fag for me. I'd still love one.

[ICTChris]

3 minutes ago, Blootoon87 said:

100 days without a fag for me. I'd still love one.

My dad had a mate who quit smoking and then had a heart attack a few weeks later.  He had it in the street and survived after being taken to hospital.  He told my dad that when he had it, one of the first thoughts that went through his mind was something along the lines of "OK, I'm going to die, if I can get to the corner shop down there I can buy some fags and smoke them because I'm going to die anyway so I may as well have a last fag".

[Melanius Mullarkey]

6 minutes ago, Blootoon87 said:

100 days without a fag for me. I'd still love one.

Never leaves you tbf.

I used to enjoy the tabs about 25 year ago.  Could still murder one now and again, especially with a pint. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

25 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Never leaves you tbf.

I used to enjoy the tabs about 25 year ago.  Could still murder one now and again, especially with a pint. 

 

[velo army]

Thanks for this thread a'body. I've been finding it inspirational and validating to read some of the stories. 

I'm aiming for 3 months at the moment and have just completed a 4 week stretch booze free. I've long treated booze as an anaesthetic to stop me feeling things I don't want to be feeling at the moment. I love wine and beer, but I recognised increasingly that I was drinking to escape or to just feel better (and feeling drunk is ace too!!) and that the feelings I was escaping would come back tenfold in the morning (which I would then find another way of avoiding, via coffee and food "treats").  Being in my late 30's hangovers would feel horrible, and I recognised that I was giving myself an illness, voluntarily, once a week for a couple of days (I don't generally drink just the one glass of wine; it's the whole bottle).

It's important to me especially now to not have it as a handy go to as I'm in the middle of a feminine fast (not being in contact with women) which is necessary (don't want to turn this post into an essay about my own personal journey, feel free to PM me though) and tough, and I need to let what comes up come up without having something to numb the feelings/escape.

But f**k me this 4 weeks has felt like 4 months. I'm a hospitality worker who was used to hitting the pub after work three or four times a week. I feel emboldened hearing about all of youse able to give it up for many months.

[Clockwork]

Had six months off earlier this year as a health kick attempt, then started to get back into a routine of going to the pub for a few when there was a game on or having a couple in the garden if the weather was decent. That’s stopped again obviously so back on the wagon. The long winter nights don’t mix well with drinking every night for me. 2 or 3 always ends up as 5 or 6. Definitely feel in better shape without a regular drink, but it always feels as though something is missing. I guess that’s quite telling in itself, a long term habit, that’s become difficult to break.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

1 hour ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

 

I would if i could get near the cooker.

[davidy233]

Gave up smoking a year and a half ago and haven't had any alcohol since start of June. I'd never smoked or drank in the house really so the pub used to be where I headed when I fancied a fag in the evenings or at weekends and I carried on visiting the pub three or four nights a week after giving up the fags, loved a wander up the road for pint after getting home from work.

Lockdown of course stopped that and while I had a few drinks in the house early on I soon realised that it wasn't the drink I missed it was chatting to the regulars in my local, and it was a habit rather than a need for a drink.

By the time the pubs reopened I'd lost the desire to go for a pint, I played a lot of golf in the summer and would often walk past people sitting having a few beers outside the clubhouses - don't think I was ever tempted to have a beer myself.

While I wouldn't say I've stopped drinking I'm certainly in a place where I can't see me ever being a regular in a pub again and that was where I did all my drinking.

[Shandon Par]

2 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Never leaves you tbf.

I used to enjoy the tabs about 25 year ago.  Could still murder one now and again, especially with a pint. 

I’m not on commission but Allan Carr’s Easyway to stop smoking is some witchcraft shit that seems to erase ciggy craving from your brain.

[Shandon Par]

1 hour ago, Clockwork said:

Had six months off earlier this year as a health kick attempt, then started to get back into a routine of going to the pub for a few when there was a game on or having a couple in the garden if the weather was decent. That’s stopped again obviously so back on the wagon. The long winter nights don’t mix well with drinking every night for me. 2 or 3 always ends up as 5 or 6. Definitely feel in better shape without a regular drink, but it always feels as though something is missing. I guess that’s quite telling in itself, a long term habit, that’s become difficult to break.

It’s a tough cycle to get out of but it can be done. 

[Clockwork]

It’s a tough cycle to get out of but it can be done. 

Often feel that if I could rely on light moderation just now and again, say a couple of pints after a round of golf, that would be fine. I soon get back into the habit of heading for a drink after work or planning weekend Sport around the pub though. Recent restrictions and working from home have largely put paid to that however. Perhaps now is a good time as any to break the cycle for good. I know it’s the right and healthy thing to do, it just strangely feels as though I’m losing something?The thought of not going for a beer before/after the game or not drinking when meeting up with friends just feels pretty flat. It’s crazy really, that the enjoyment of an ‘event’ (even in the future) could somehow be measured by the amount of alcohol consumed.
It’s where I find myself unfortunately. I’m not talking about being steaming on a regular basis, but drinking far more frequently than is good for anyone.

[Robin.Hood]

9 months or so for me. Straightforward tbh

[Shandon Par]

23 minutes ago, Clockwork said:

 

Often feel that if I could rely on light moderation just now and again, say a couple of pints after a round of golf, that would be fine. I soon get back into the habit of heading for a drink after work or planning weekend Sport around the pub though. Recent restrictions and working from home have largely put paid to that however. Perhaps now is a good time as any to break the cycle for good. I know it’s the right and healthy thing to do, it just strangely feels as though I’m losing something?The thought of not going for a beer before/after the game or not drinking when meeting up with friends just feels pretty flat. It’s crazy really, that the enjoyment of an ‘event’ (even in the future) could somehow be measured by the amount of alcohol consumed.
It’s where I find myself unfortunately. I’m not talking about being steaming on a regular basis, but drinking far more frequently than is good for anyone.

 

That's a crucial point. Some sort of therapy or programme can really help to unpick this. First couple of times I tried to stop smoking it was like a death in the family, and not just one you never liked that much anyway. The fear of never getting to smoke or drink again is just horrific. We put booze, ciggies etc on such a pedestal. Instead of thinking about stopping, the methods that really helped me quit were ones that first knock away all these justifications for smoking and drinking.

[Rob1885]

a week, a month, a year. you're all doing great troops.

[Shandon Par]

13 minutes ago, throbber said:

His book about drinking is very good at highlighting things you already know about boozing. Things like how alcohol is everywhere, you will have been exposed to it from a young age, how it is socially acceptable to get drunk and how it’s promoted as a cool thing to do and how these messages can get stuck into your head from a young age. 
 

Also it puts a stop to the sort of mindset that giving it up has to be a long, hard journey and dispels the label of “alcoholic” which is useful for anyone who tarnished themselves with that label. I was always interested in what made someone an alcoholic as opposed to just a major piss pot and assumed there was some sort of tipping point that occurred which made someone realise they were actually an alcoholic but of course the human mind is more complicated than that so it is a harmful label to be given as it creates the idea that you have an illness you are stuck with. At the end of the day it really shouldn’t be that difficult to stop ramming poison down your throat to great excess on a regular basis and the reason you are doing it constantly is down to your own mindset which can easily be altered with the right information.

Wow. Has someone hacked your account?

[Richey Edwards]

Today is my four year anniversary of stopping drinking. I don't miss it.

[Torpar]

I'd forgotten about this thread, I stopped drinking the day I found out my wife and I were expecting our daughter, this was in January last year. By then I was down to drinking maybe one beer a weekend anyway. I found it much easier than I thought it would be, I enjoyed saving money, losing weight and not having hangovers anymore. I do not miss it at all