The Non-drinking Resolution

[legios]

I have always believe that the best way to make a vow or an oath is to do so in public, in front of witnesses. It is also the best way to make it something that you can't honorably walk away from. And you can't really get much more public than the market square of Hub Village really, so if I might crave a moment of your time Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am now off alcohol completely for the forseeable future - and for the next three months at the very minimum. After a couple of nasty scares this year, and bearing in mind some family history, I have decided that I don't trust myself with the stuff at the moment, so I am going dry for a while.

If anyone can spare any good wishes etc, and could see their way to reminding me if I look like I am slipping then that would be most appreciated.

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

Good for you.

I haven't drunk since University due to Alcohol interfering with the drugs. At most I can manage a glass with food but that's about it - and not useful as it's with food I need to take my drugs.

[legios]

Mar 6, 2010 19:22:44 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Good for you.

I haven't drunk since University due to Alcohol interfering with the drugs. At most I can manage a glass with food but that's about it - and not useful as it's with food I need to take my drugs.

I didn't actually drink seriously until twenty-one, a pretty late-starter by comparison with the majority of my High School it sometimes seemed.

It will do me no harm to knock it on the head and switch to the J20's and whatnot. Especially as I am thinking of making it a part of a bit of a lifestyle overhaul in general. (I could do with smartening up the way I eat again as well in honesty).

Besides, it is a good test of my will - regain a bit of the control of my life that seems to have eluded me over the last six months.

Karl

[Shockprowl]

The very best of luck to you, Karlos, in your mission. I don't think a splash every now and then hurts anyone, but certainly in todays society 'we' in general drink too much. I know I push the recomended weekly units. Good on you for doing this. You can count on your Hub Chumbs to aid you anyway we can!

[The Doctor]

I have a break from booze from time to time, it's a healthy thing to do.

-Ralph

[blueshift]

I shouldn't drink due to long-term medication I'm on, but do every few months or so. Mainly it means I am the worse for wear because of it, but I've not died yet!

[Deleted]

For me the only cure for me cutting down on the booze is money. I generally only drink between four and six pints a night - but only if I have the money to do so. If I don't have the money I don't drink - its as simple as that. At the moment I'm having a few days off from the alcohol (starting from today) due to lack of money to buy the stuff but next week I'm hoping to go out and see the local band I'm always harping on about play again so I'll have a bit to drink then.

I've actually found that a lack of money is an excellent cure for many vices. Last year I mentioned that I had given up smoking and this was due to not having the money to afford the demon drug. As it stands now, I've so far gone about five months without a fag and I think thats a good record.

[jameso]

All the best, Karl.

[Kingoji]

I guess I'm kinda lucky. I don't seem to have much of an addictive personality, at least when it comes to substances. I do drink, but it's not terribly important to me. I haven't drank for weeks, and I'm pretty sure that before that the last drink I had was a single glass at new year.
I tried out smoking, both normal cigarettes and a bit of weed about ten years ago over a period of months, and just dropped them when it dawned on me that I wasn't getting anything out of it.
The only thing I seem to be addicted to is Manga and comics. *shrug*

Not trying to belittle anyone who finds it quite a struggle to stop, just acknowledging my own luck in this case.

I wish you well in your endevours!

[legios]

Thanks for all the support folks. It is very much appreciated.

Karl

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Good luck, Karl - a very admirable resolution if it was impacting negatively on your life. My feeling though is that achieving a healthy level of consumption in the long term (which for some people is becoming a lifelong teetotal and for others is a non-zero moderate level) would be a better resolution than one to drink nothing for three months (followed by a booze-up to celebrate in the fourth month) - so I'd be more pleased to hear that you've not been drinking unhealthily any more over the next three years than not drinking at all over the next three months.

However, three months is a start!

Martin

[legios]

Oh indeed Martin. I quite agree. My strategy is to knock it on the head completely for a while, and then reintroduce Alcohol slowly so as to ensure that when I do drink again it remains in a controlled fashion.

I just feel that if I cut it out completely for a little while it will allow me to prove something to myself that I need to be sure of.

Ta muchly for the support.

Karl

[Gav]

Good luck Karl. It's something that I've been thinking about recently too.

I owe my considerably overhanging gut to the wonders of lager and beer, so I know that I really should give it the ol' heave-ho. You know we're all behind you!

[blueshift]

I don't have that excuse, god knows what I'd be like if I drank and didn't get daily exercise!

[dyrl]

I had an easy time of kicking the acohol habit:

1) got a car. It's quite difficult to drink when one has a car - not just the fear of accident, of doing harm to others or ones' self, but also the basic question - is one glass really worth the risk? Because I'd drive pretty much daily, I wouldn't drink at all. I'd only drink on a day when I knew I wouldn't get into my car the next morning, let alone that same day. And sometimes there'd be a weekend like that, so I'd have a glass of wine (don't fancy beer).

2) Got rid of my drinking buddies. Sad to say, but I realized I had nothing in common with these people beyond getting plastered. One likes to think that the conversations held during these merry times are the pinacle of life - but they aren't. It's just a bunch of plastered booze heads. With no ill will or disrespect or melodramatic goodbyes - I parted company with them... albeit....I did this years ago.

3) My ex-girlfriend/still good friend helped me out in this regard as well. She isn't a party girl and we would drink in moderation - sure, sometimes we'd splurge and share a whole bottle of wine during dinner - once a week. But usually it was a glass of wine with our meal.

All in all - my biggest battle has been with smoking - I've been trying to be moderate about it and often succeeded in not smoking the whole week and only smoking - say- during weekends...

The biggest problem though, is when you succeed at smoking - say - only 5 cigarretes a week - then you really don't feel the effect...

And after a month or so of such successes, it's easy to lapse back in and go to a party and smoke an entire pack and feel absolutely fine - and think - well - blimey - it doesn't do me any harm at all...

And pretty soon you're back to a pack a day and then you end up sick

I don't get caught on that routine as much as I used to - but for me smoking is the big "I need to be careful with this" habit.

Drinking has never been a problem.

Finally - I suggest you start going to the gym. I did that and it REALLY helps with everything - eating, smoking, drinking - the whole nine yards.

Working out does wonders not just to keep you fit - but to temper your urges - because you start thinking "if I drink/smoke/eat this, I'll feel like crap tomorrow at the gym and won't be able to do my work out routine."

Pete

[Deleted]

I don't drink too heavily - I only have about four or five pints one night in about every three and even then I always stop short of getting drunk. I was drunk once, didn't like it and promised myself that I would never get drunk again - and so far its worked. Smoking on the other hand was surprisingly easy for me to give up. I had been smoking every year from when I was 16 until I was about two months short of being 32 and at my peak I was smoking about 25 cigarettes a day. I then lost my job and realised that I couldn't afford to smoke any longer and so willpower kicked in and I quit. I have now been about seven months of the ciggies and I think I'm doing quite well.

[Shockprowl]

I do find exercise works wonders. I don't exercise half as much as I used to, but what I do do always makes me feel good, baby. Something about happy chemicals being released in the body. Trouble is I always fancy an ice cold beer after a blast on the bike or something! Aargh!

[Deleted]

Several ice cold beers are the only happy chemicals that I'll release into my body!

[The Doctor]

May 8, 2010 9:59:45 GMT @zudobug said:

I don't drink too heavily - I only have about four or five pints one night in about every three and even then I always stop short of getting drunk.

For me, that would be quite a lot and would get me drunk. Which is interesting. I mean no judgement, just wanted to raise a general discussion point We all have our own thoughts as to what constitutes a 'lot' of drink. What are people's thoughts on what they consider to be a lot of drinking?

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

May 20, 2010 17:58:04 GMT The Doctor said:

What are people's thoughts on what they consider to be a lot of drinking?

Anything that makes me feel less than 100% the next day.

Three pints will do that.

Martin

[legios]

Well, now that alceemahol is back on the agenda for me (and thanks to all for your support during my period of abstinence) I would say that these days my comfortable ceiling for drinking tops off at three pints. At three pints I don't really feel the worse for wear the next day, with pint four I probably would do.

That said, in general I am not drinking much at all. I don't drink during the working part of the week, but I have one quiet pint on a Friday night and possibly one whilst watching a film or whatnot on a Saturday night.

Karl

[Deleted]

I can normally drink about six or seven pints before I start to feel funny. Three or four pints is an acceptable amount for me if I still want to feel the same as I did before I started drinking although if I drink throughout the day but leave gaps of maybe 45 minutes between the end of one pint and the start of another I can drink much more before getting a little tipsy.

[blueshift]

I start getting tipsy after 3 pints, mashed after 6.

[The Doctor]

My state of innebriation appears to have very little to do with how much I've had to drink and everything to do with mood. I've been smashed after two pints, but relatively clear-headed after six. I very very rarely ever drink to get drunk and whenver I've been most hee-hawed it's just happened rather than the intent.

-Ralph