So, I Quit Drinking

[Greenday]

Quitting drinking really has its benefits. Last year I couldn't drink at all since it wasn't allowed and strictly controlled. I lost a fair amount of weight (I also walked everywhere, but I think cutting out all the beer helped). My heartburn went away.

Good luck!

[Jester]

Another benefit of not drinking is that you will save money on the liquor and beer you are not purchasing, since none of those are really all that cheap, nor necessary.

[RootedPhoenix]

*offers hugs to Dilorenzo*

Thank you for telling us. I wish you good luck. I will pray for you if you would like me to.

Be kind to yourself if you backslide some. Don't give up a thoughtfully-planned goal like this just because of being human and fallible.

I'm glad you didn't have to hit bottom. I've had to quit other things, and I had similar good fortune.

You're one of the good guys. We'll support your goal. You aren't alone, good sir. *offers more hugs*

[Dilorenzo]

Well, didn't post on Saturday, but only because I was mostly really tired. I still only got 6 hours sleep, which is annoying. It seems my body has decided this is just how things go now.

Yes, I was sober all weekend. Not all of said sobriety was plesant, but, stuck with it nonetheless.

Having a full Saturday was fucking wierd. I still didn't actually do anything, but I was able to not do anything because I wanted to, not because I couldn't. I even stayed up late Saturday night, which was new.

I still would quite like a drink, but I see a definite bonus in having seven days in a week rather than 6.

In situations like this, the best thing you can do is to always have a drink in your hand.

Tea. I actually brought my own kettle, a little sampler of herbal Lipton teas, and drank that all night. Thankfully, being at the friends house means there isn't much unsolicited advice or questions - they're good friends, so they mostly accepted. There was a couple of "but you could just have a couple and leave it at that, right?"

A "no, I can't do that" put an end to that, thankfully. If I could just have a couple of drinks and leave it at that, if I could trust myself to do that, I wouldn't currently be quitting. They understood that.

One friend was kinda happy, because she can't currently drink due to pregnancy, so she has someone to suffer through sobriety with her. I told her that's fine, but hers will eventually end, I'm still going to be drinking tea.

I also did consider the non-alcoholic beer, but... well, the taste isn't there. I prefer darker, fuller bodied stouts, rather than miller lite without the abv. Hence why I went with the tea.

The big underlying issue is Why are you drinking. Only you can figure that one out, with counseling I hope.

World crumbling around me, losing my job, yadda yadda. Yup, I know exactly why my drink intake was rising, but it was only a crutch so that for one day a week (two if you count the hangover), I didn't have to deal with that directly.

Healthy, yeah?

Again, thanks for all of the support folks. I'm getting a lot of it from all over, which is nice. Haven't had a single moment of "you're a pussy," but I'm expecting that one to come sooner or later. We'll see.

[lordlundar]

Haven't had a single moment of "you're a pussy," but I'm expecting that one to come sooner or later. We'll see.

Anyone telling you that needs to get their head out of their ass and you can promptly tell them I said that.

You've realized you have a problem and you're trying to resolve it. That takes real courage and anyone saying otherwise I'd bet couldn't do it themselves.

It won't be easy but it will get better. Keep at it and you'll realize that you're life is better when you don't have the crutch.

And I know you don't want to go into AA but have you considered al-anon? Different groups as far as I know and it's better to have more support than less.

[Kara]

Tea.

Yes, I will be assisting him in replacing a dependency on alcohol with a dependency on tea. As soon as we began discussing loose-leaf teas, I immediately pointed him to Adagio

[RootedPhoenix]

*passes by with hugs, cookies, and peppermint tea*

Loose leaf tea is fun stuff! (Even if, like me, you don't drink black/green/white tea, there's roughly 50 bajillion other things to enjoy )

Going with the idea of loose leaf teas, you can go and get dried herbs/fruits and experiment with them to make flavors all your own. That's my favorite part. I really love dried hibiscus flower tea. It sounds crazy weird, but I find it to be lovely.

[Dilorenzo]

I think I may have overestimated what goes on with teas. There's so much it may end up driving me back to drinking.

A cup of tea used to be just that back home - a cup of tea. It came in a bag. You put milk and sugar in it, usually a lot of both. Drank it out of a cup with a saucer.

Now there's all this other crazy stuff that's all... crazy, I guess? Loose leaf, mixes, styles, fruits, everything. There may be more variety in tea than in beer. And I don't even know what I like.

*curls up in the corner and complains more about too many teas*

[RootedPhoenix]

Go and buy bagged tea. It'll be fine. Loose leaf is nice, but it's no fun if it gives you grief.

Do you like spicy flavors in your food? Or cooling flavors? Fruity flavors? Sour ones? That might tell you more about what you'd like.

I like fruity flavors usually, so I have lots of herbal teas that are fruit-based. But there's a rooibos chai in here too, as well as chamomile..and random other shinies. (I like herbal teas. A lot.)

I'm sure you can find a box of the tea you used to have. Or that you can ask someone at Adagio about it. (I'm sure they know more about how to find a good flavor to pick than I do.)

I wonder if Lupo knows more about all of this. She's better at tea than I am.

eta: I'm sure Kara can tell you good stuff too. Was the stuff you used to drink black tea? That's one that's dead easy to find.

[Der Cute]

World crumbling around me, losing my job, yadda yadda. Yup, I know exactly why my drink intake was rising, but it was only a crutch so that for one day a week (two if you count the hangover), I didn't have to deal with that directly.

Healthy, yeah?

Again, thanks for all of the support folks. I'm getting a lot of it from all over, which is nice. Haven't had a single moment of "you're a pussy," but I'm expecting that one to come sooner or later. We'll see.

You being self-aware twice over. You've said to yourself - "Dude, you're losing 48 hours in a week, you drink too much". And now you just said, "It was a crutch, world crumbling, job". You can see it in yourself.
And, oh, my god honey, my alcoholic friend Chuck can't see that. He can't see why. You can.
You have a leg up on this issue here. Go get some counseling, whether al-anon, AA, one on one counseling, I don't care. You know what the core ingredients are, right? You need to pull that apart to deal with WHY THEY are bothering you.

But, damn. You called it on your self. Good job. *hugs from me* and stay simple with tea. I don't know diddly about cheese - except it's curdled cow milk. You don't know diddly bout tea, except that it's plucked and boiled and makes a beverage. Go from there.

[lordlundar]

I think I may have overestimated what goes on with teas. There's so much it may end up driving me back to drinking.

A cup of tea used to be just that back home - a cup of tea. It came in a bag. You put milk and sugar in it, usually a lot of both. Drank it out of a cup with a saucer.

Now there's all this other crazy stuff that's all... crazy, I guess? Loose leaf, mixes, styles, fruits, everything. There may be more variety in tea than in beer. And I don't even know what I like.

*curls up in the corner and complains more about too many teas*

No one says you have to be a tea equivalent to how Jester is with beer. Just find something you like and go with it. I would suggest avoiding anything caffeinated though as it does no good to a stressed out body.

[RootedPhoenix]

Mint tea is simple enough. Just dried mint leaves in a bag.

Of course, if you hate mint, that won't work. But start with maybe Celestial Seasonings or Bigelow or whatever is hanging out on the grocery shelves of your local store. They usually put it by the coffee, if that helps.

[Der Cute]

Sniff the tea box. I just do that and pick what smells good. Green tea is good for you, but I also like some of the other stuff. I goes with my nose.

[RootedPhoenix]

I like Der Cute's idea. Trust your nose.

[Kara]

too many teas*

I know all of those words, but they make no sense when you put them in that order

No one says you have to be a tea equivalent to how Jester is with beer.

We have one of those. Her name is Lupo.