Stoptober. Anyone else doing it.

[Martin H]

I will carry on refusing to join in any of these charity-encouraged give-up-a-thons. If I want a drink I'll have one, if I don't then I won't. I dare say I'll end up having to sponsor other people though.

Anyway, October is an important month to start getting into training for the upcoming Winter Festival of Consumption, only 2 months away!

[Scarlet]

Anyway, October is an important month to start getting into training for the upcoming Winter Festival of Consumption, only 2 months away!

Brilliant! I'll start that tonight....

[Noosner]

I'm thinking about calling it Startober, as I actually managed to get myself out on a gentle run for the first time in three years.

[maytreefrannie]

I will carry on refusing to join in any of these charity-encouraged give-up-a-thons. If I want a drink I'll have one, if I don't then I won't. I dare say I'll end up having to sponsor other people though.

Anyway, October is an important month to start getting into training for the upcoming Winter Festival of Consumption, only 2 months away!

Well, I always feel it's easier to sponsor others than to be training for long runs or sky-dives or whatever; and a good cause benefits. I don't smoke but love the occasional glass or three.

I love the idea of getting into training though for the upcoming festival, as aptly named by you.

[Kristen]

Day one yesterday. Really fancied a G & T but had a mug of coffee each time instead.

I used to give up alcohol for lent each year ... well ... "most" years. Over the years my consumption increased, and I got to the point where I thought it was more of a habit than a social activity - we would open a bottle of wine each night ...

A couple of years ago I decided I ought to do something about it, so I bought a book about drinking; my plan was just to cut down, and I wanted to have a read about suggestions, motivation, what the health issues actually were, how to cope with parties / friends offering a drink, all that sort of stuff. Not that I lack will-power, but personally I prefer to be prepared and armed with the facts when I approach a "project" as I figure that gives me a better chance of success.

The book had some stuff in it that I judged more scary than I had assumed before. Anyway, long story short, it said something along the lines of "To cut down the best approach is to stop altogether, for a prolonged period of time, and then resume at the rate you want to" which it qualified with "most people who do this don't restart". Yeah! Right!

I haven't had a drink since! (Not strictly true, I usually have a beer with a meal when we are on holiday, because the countries we go to don't have any decent non alcoholic alternatives ... so perhaps a beer a day for one or two weeks of the year; in days gone by that would have been a couple of beers, or a large beer, I even tried that the first time we went on holiday but I just don't want to drink that much any more, and one small bottle of beer is definitely all I want now). I haven't drunk wine since, and [it may be hard to understand but] I just don't feel the need, at all.

Mrs K says I have become very pious about alcohol. Looking back on my life I can see how useful alcohol was in my Youth, Beer Googles and Bravado, relaxing social inhibition and all that. But I can't see what, at all, it has contributed recently. I don't enjoy a good meal any the less for not having a nice bottle of wine with it (and we used to drink some very good wines indeed, and usually a nice desert wine too ...), but on the other hand I was sleeping badly - waking for an hour in the middle of the night, which I put down to my increasing age ... happy to say that I haven't missed a night's sleep, at all, since I stopped drinking (bar the few weeks). If the kids had a crisis in the middle of the night I no longer have to worry about whether I would be sober enough to drive to wherever they needed me ... no chance of getting my collar felt, and all that THAT entails!, being slightly over the limit on my way home from a party, and no fuzzy head or lack of clear thinking the morning after - something I don't miss at all!

One of the key, critically important, things for me was to find a non alcoholic substitute drink that I liked. I ordered quite a lot from some alcohol-free shop online to try out (alcohol free wines [which I found universally dreadful - apologies to whoever won them in the village fete, particularly if they accidentally thought they WERE alcoholic!], alcohol free beers [some of which I found I liked] and some other fancy juices).

Don't feel any different this morning.

I reckon it will take most of a month, assuming that you were drinking enough, before, that there is a gain to be had. I don't suppose someone who drinks a reasonable number of units, a couple of times a week, will see any difference.

[Glutton4...]

Oops, sorry! Yes, I do mean 'Go sober for October' I just got it in my head as Stoptober, as it's shorter. Lol

I generally have a couple of G & Ts in the evening, but that's because Mr. G pours them. If he's ever away, I don't drink. I don't usually jump on the bandwagon, as it were, but this time I just decided to do it. It is primarily to support a good friend whose Fella has a bit of an issue with the booze, and I'm trying to help her prove that it is possible to have just as much fun whilst not drinking. I figured, also, that it wouldn't do either my liver or my waistline (or even my pocket, for that matter) any harm if I had a go.

Anyway, kettle's on...

[Greenleaves]

I'm thinking about calling it Startober, as I actually managed to get myself out on a gentle run for the first time in three years.

You weren't chasing that bottle of red were you Noosner?

[cariann88]

You weren't chasing that bottle of red were you Noosner?

That's the only time I'd ever run if there was a bottle of vodka in front of me hehehe


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[Dorothy rouse]

You can enjoy a glass and remain sober, I go with the view that if it helps you relax, then that's better than getting yourself stressed and having a heart attack, also helps with the blood.

Have just run a very successful coffee morning for Macmillan.

[Nannysally99]

Well done you Dorothy, bet there was lovely cakes. Not allowed for me in Stoptober

[Dorothy rouse]

Well done you Dorothy, bet there was lovely cakes. Not allowed for me in Stoptober

I felt like my mother! Was baking for a couple of days! It was a really nice morning, raised £170.00.

[Glutton4...]

Oh well done Dorothy, that's great! And such a worthy cause.

Why is it, that as soon as you deny yourself something, you crave it? Normally, as I said, I only drink in the evening because the drink is made for me. Now I've decided to go without, I really really fancy one. Hubby thinks I'll cave, but I'm determined to give it a go. Despite several Birthdays to celebrate, this month.

Elderflower cordial, anyone?

[Noosner]

Oh well done Dorothy, that's great! And such a worthy cause.

Why is it, that as soon as you deny yourself something, you crave it? Normally, as I said, I only drink in the evening because the drink is made for me. Now I've decided to go without, I really really fancy one. Hubby thinks I'll cave, but I'm determined to give it a go. Despite several Birthdays to celebrate, this month.

Elderflower cordial, anyone?

Yes - it's maddening, the effect of the 'no' word. But go, G4, go! I just know you can do it. I think the craving will wear off after a day or two. (Either that or you will suddenly go berserk and drink everything in sight including the horse dip!!)

[Noosner]

You weren't chasing that bottle of red were you Noosner?

Ha ha, v funny, Mr Greenleaves!! But it is amazing the speed a bottle of wine can get up to, rolling down the hill!

[snakeshack]

Did the sober for October last year, can't say it was difficult for me although I did carry on brewing , just didn't drink any. Then participated in the unofficial ratarsed for November so the net result was negligible
This year I'm doing stoptober, and after 2 days without a fag am finding it quite hard, I'm definitely much more irritable and am having problems with the cravings


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