New holiday traditions

[Jampacked]

On holiday I did make a few slip ups but managed to get back on track. Sometimes divine intervention e.g I had a glass of wine and thought ' what the heck ! I am going for it' then got lost looking for a cash point. I was lost long enough for the craving to pass. Also huge sneezing fit when I attempted to drink cider ?! However, I creating new drinking traditions mint tea in the day and AF beer and mineral water at night. The airports sell AF spirits 0% and a good range of tonics which look and taste great. I have swum more, visited more cultural things and focused on food more. Less alcohol more money for great food.

[LilyAnnepuppy Ambassador]

Keep up the good work.

[fauxartist]

When you get to the point of alcohol always winning the battle in the end...it's a good time to decide if drinking at all is worth it to your wallet, your health, your sanity....

It was amazing to me how much money I spent on booze....but don't miss the hangovers even more...no regrets.... it is what it is....and I have everything I need today....and am sober.

[Elemis in reply to fauxartist]

4 weeks alcohol free and feeling good,it good to hear how everyone’s getting on.

[Jampacked in reply to Elemis]

Well done with 4 weeks. I seem to get stuck at 7 days. I am determined to get there. Not drinking a lot a couple of glasses but want to knock it on the head completely. You are leading the way keep going.

[Elemis in reply to Jampacked]

Thanks for the encouragement..drinking lots of herbal tea and making sure I have a selection of other NA drinks in the fridge.

[Elemis in reply to Elemis]

Went to a party recently,as hard as it was I drank only fruit juice, but at the end of the evening it made me think how many glasses of wine I would have drank!

[Jampacked in reply to Elemis]

Amazing work. Parties are difficult. Always have a full drink in hand ( NA of course) it keeps you safer from offers of drinks

[Elemis in reply to Jampacked]

Good tip

[SoberDrunk1]

People drink alcohol for the effect produced by it. Not for the taste of it. It will be very tricky situation to keep going back to somehting labeled with "alcohol" in it.

[fauxartist in reply to SoberDrunk1]

I guess booze could be an acquired taste like coffee which is bitter, or fishy tasting tuff, or stinky cheese, etc. But you can wrap crap in red cellophane and sell it with the right sales pitch too....and I think that's the majority of the sales pitch about alcohol....I used to think I liked the taste and flavors....but the truth was really, in the end, as I said before, I liked the buzz more.

[Jampacked in reply to SoberDrunk1]

Yes a good point, hoping AF alternatives are a stop gap. I don't use them at home often, but holidays are super tricky.

[fauxartist in reply to Jampacked]

I usually drink sparkling apple juice or some other one we have locally, like elderflower, or raspberry....but that's as fancy as I get...and we don't have a drinking environment, nobody drinks here at the house usually, once in a while they have a beer on a birthday, but out of respect...no booze stays here....most of us don't drink ever.

[Jampacked in reply to fauxartist]

My drinking days were decades ago so my peeps don't get why I am giving up. I just realised in my self I wasn't having AF days and things were building up and I wasn't going there. It's living in the world that's hard to navigate.

[catsrock]

You're doing great. I went 80 days, had a glass of wine and didn't really enjoy it that much, so now I'm 9 days in for round 2 of no drinking. You got this!

[Jampacked in reply to catsrock]

Thank you. I am in awe of your 80 days and so glad you are on board for round 2.