As of February 1st I decided to try and give up drinking for a month.I'm doing this - unofficially, at present - as part of a fundraising event called FebFast. The reason it's unoffical is that I'm flat broke (work didn't pay me last week as scheduled due to an issue with invoices and a new purchase order number) so I can't pay the necessary registration fee. Hopefully I get paid tomorrow though, at which point I'll be an officially paid up FebFaster. Huzzah.
Last year I failed spectacularly at FebFast, falling off the wagon after only three days and not getting back on. This year - perhaps because I made a second, more concerted effort to abstain from alcohol later in the year - I'm doing much better.
At the time of writing I'm six days' sober, part way through the seventh day, and finding the whole affair considerably easier than when I tried temporary sobriety last year. Instead of being anxious about not drinking and regularly craving booze, the past week has been significantly calmer and easier. Only in the first two days did I have minor cravings for alcohol, and they were easily quashed.
My reasons for doing FebFast are varied, but include wanting to lose weight and wanting to gain control over my drinking habit, which regularly saw me downing an entire bottle of wine or a six-pack of cider a night.
Since I first got drunk at 14, I've been a regular drinker; a heavy drinker at certain stages of my life, such as the last six to eight months, and for the year or so after my dad died when I was in my early 20s. To my knowledge, the longest I've ever gone without a drink in the last 29 years has been six days - that was last year, when I was seeing a counsellor to help me quit. This year I'm doing it on my own (though with a lot of peer support via social media).
I'm determined to break last year's personal record of six days sober; and then to push on through the month, and perhaps beyond. I'm doing it baby steps though: the first goal is to get through seven days completely alcohol free, a goal I'll achieve at the end of today; then ten days, and so on.
Whether I give up drinking for good remains to be seen (it's certainly something I've considered in recent months) but once thing's for certain: I've already proved to myself that I'm in control of my drinking, rather than the alcohol controlling me.
3 comments:
Nice one. Good luck with it. Personally for me, Feb is a very sociable month. I'm considering go for parched march.
Good for you Richard. I still remember you as a thin guy so perhaps it's back to the old days for you!
Richard
I gave up booze entirely july 2009. It was a pang for sure now and then, especially when others were drinking, but I found that went, once I got a drink into me of softdrink, or something I could feel a little bit guilty about. The only real bad time was when dad cracked a seal on a bottle of bundaberg rum, and that smell just clanged into my nose and I wanted it. But you know what, I put my hand up for something else, held off for a few minutes and then just forgot about it, and was freaking glad to be not drinking. Truth be told, I find it something really easy to do - but then again, stopping dope smoking was freaking terrible. I had a massive addiction to that muck, and my booze habit was nowhere near as much. I tried to smash that hooch thing for years and multiple bouts of psychosis didn't work ultimately until that final time when I just said 'fuk it, that's it'. And never again. Now I can't even smell marijuana because I get this freaking hatred and enormous anxiety that I'm going to have a psychotic episode.
I reckon trying to break a habit/addiction - and especially one like alcohol, where there are encouragements to drink everywhere, is something that is freaking hard and I encourage you to just bloody well try your hardest. It sounds like you've made efforts previously and you are in just those past efforts accomplished at taking a stand.
I am thrilled that you are talking about this stuff. I am already proud of you for openly speaking of your actions.
And if there's any consolation, ever since I gave up drinking, I don't know what it is, but my cock I swear is bigger. I don't know what the hell is going on, and I'm not talking a massive amount, just bit more girth, length, a bit more blood, just a more fuller proud piece of man meat. I don't know what that is, maybe it's because I'm getting by without the booze in me. So more confident perversely or something? Not a massive difference, don't get me wrong, just a bit more than I have noticed. I know, bizarre...
take care richard watts.
I salute you.
xox
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