Sober October

Well I wish you every success and such a worthwhile cause.
I will send you lots of support but I won't be doing it with you.
Without a regular G&T and a few glasses of wine , my life would be hard work.
However I will make a donation to my favourite charity, Smile Train, for every drink I have in October and consider it my penance for being weak willed.

Good luck Teatime. You are very brave.
Like annsixty I could not do without my 6.0pm G&T with DH. It keeps us going.
However, the SoberOctober idea is worth supporting. So a donation to our local hospice is going out this weekend.
Thanks for reminding us all that others are not as fortunate as ourselves.

I'll join you Teetime. In fact I've already made a start by cutting back over the last couple of weeks. Friday and Saturday evenings will be the most difficult for some reason I'm not bothered the rest of the week. I did it in February and I drank a lot of the flavoured tonic waters to give an impression I was drinking G and T. Hopefully I'll lose some weight as well. Like you I'll donate what I would have spent on booze to our local hospice. Good luck.

I've just googled 'sober':

Not affected by alcohol - not drunk.

Serious and solemn.

Enjoying a without being drunk stops me being serious and solemn.

Good Luck, teetime. Hope you succeed.

Good luck . I do dry January and it's a bit of slog. I do manage 2 or 3 dry days a week and usually have a pint glass of ice cold fizzy water with lemon or lime at the time I'd normally have a wine , which dampens down any cravings, and by the time I've eaten I'm ok. I treat myself to a mini choc ice from Lidl on a non drinking day.

I do not drink alcohol at all. I am always sober.

Good for you abbey but not much support for someone who is giving up.

Having set up a standing order I know that the charity of my choice does not have to wait for me to have a 'dry day' one off.
No I don't expect a pat on the back but were we all to do this, no matter how small the amount, would make such a difference to the unfortunate amongst us.

I do not drink alcohol either. I am 15 years without it next March. The reason is obvious I think.

It became a problem and I got off that downward spiral earlier than alot do if they ever do.

Sober = serious and glum! LOL. Nah not here it doesn't. I have more fun without alcohol than I ever did with it.

In fact if you think that you can't enjoy life without it then you probably need to take a look at your drinking

So go sober for October is a year round continuous go sober for me

Good luck teetime I wish you well.

I thought about doing it but e have two lots of visitors staying during October and we are going away to visit friends for a few days so abstinence isn't likely to happen.

Oh I know we could say 'No' but as others have mentioned I tend to remain sober when I drink anyway and it's never excessive so I'll happily contribute to charities but perhaps not serve the 'penance' in this case.

Good luck to all those doing it though.

Wish you luck for such a worthy cause. I have a jar I feel up through the year with small change. Usually give it to the local charity or for Poppy Day.
That way I can still have a g&t or a V&T or glass of. Wine.

I know others will not agree, and I am pleased that money is being raised for a good cause but .... I am disturbed that so many people seem to think that giving up alcohol is so hard. Are they all being serious? If you depend on that wine every evening isn't it time you were looking at your lifestyle?

Why aren't they all hoping to continue to remain alcohol free once the month ends? Think of the money you could save and donate every month, and the health benefits to yourself and family.

As long as a person is within the amount of units which is recommended, where is the harm?
Good luck to those planning a sober October!

I used to only drink at weekends then October last year I had Melanoma extraction op and couldn't go for my evening swims for 3 months so started drinking 2 glasses of wine every night. Just as my leg was almost healed My husband became very ill with Sepsis and Cellultis and I started drinking more. I'm up to sometimes 4 a night mostly in halves. Well to cut a long story short we are both starting no drinking tonight. Have re- opened our gym membership and will go for a swim this afternoon. Then at 7:30 plan to listen to our self hypnosis tape "Drink less wine", then have a cup of tea. Our donation will go to our local Church who are having an October appeal to buy an electric organ.

Yep I'm doing it and OH joining me from Wednesday (pre-arranged social things that he can't avoid). I did forget yesterday and had a vanilla vodka and coke but on it now well and truly. I find it also helps me lose weight. Have been trying to get to 10st (am 10st 3lbs) for what seems forever and just can't budge that last 3lbs. Maybe I've reached my optimum weight? Good luck to all my fellow Sober Octoberers! Will also be doing Dry January to help with the excesses of the festive season (Darent say the C word!!)

It won't be hard for me to cut down on alcohol in October as I hardly ever touch the stuff. I find it really hard to understand dependency on alcohol to get you through the day. It's one of our biggest problems, I think. Alcohol wrecks lives.
I must admit to being a bit prejudiced, but I lived with an alcoholic for 32 years. I know what it can do.
Sorry if you think I am old sourpuss, but I would rather be thought that than dependent on alcohol.

Wildswan, I don't think giving up alcohol is hard. I can take it or leave it and rarely drink during the week. Alcohol is part of socialising for many and dare I say it, an enjoyable part too.

Of course people ought to be aware of dependence on alcohol but it's like most things in life - we make our choices and live with the consequences.

I have known many teetotal people suffer ill health and I suspect we all know of the healthy living, fit people who have died young.

I am of the opinion that life is short and a little of what I fancy definitely does me good. A G&T before dinner every now and then is, imo (and I know we are all different) one of life's pleasures.

I can say no. I don't need it, but I do enjoy it.

I appreciate alcoholism isn't nice. My first husband thought every activity involved a beer and the way it affected him wasn't good and destroyed family life, so I understand your concerns.

I have a no alcohol policy because of my attacks of labyrinthitis but it makes me realise how difficult it is for alcoholics. At social events, I long for a glass of something. Left a street party early as there were no alcohol free drinks. Please please always supply some lemonade or tonic water or Shloer for the drivers as well.

Good luck Teetime!
Try things like the Fevertree tonics, they are delicious.
As a student, I was on medication and was told on no account to have any alcohol. To my surprise, it turned out that having fun was a matter of state of mind. I had as much, if not more, fun than my alcohol-fuelled friends.

I too have had a problem with alcohol as did my late DH (he died of Lung Cancer, nothing to do with his alcohol consumption).

In October 2015 I was admitted to Hospital with Pnuemonia, I had also been drinking heavily. Came out sober, stayed sober, found a lovely non-alcoholic cider in Tesco as well as non-alcoholic wine & soft drinks.

Last month I ended up in Hospital with an infection, I had also had a few days where I had "fallen off the wagon", now back to being sober again, it is difficult to imagine life without your evening glass of wine or G&T but you can get used to it.

abbey, despite the squelch from another GN member, welcome to GN!

I think you had a valid point to make. I am not teetotal but I am a very light drinker and I get fed up with the constant assumption that regular alcoholic drinks are part of every body's life and that giving it up for a week or month is a real achievement or a saintly sacrifice.

If you do drink regularly and giving up for a month is a real áchievement, then congratulations on achieving it. In your turn accept that to those of us who do not drink or drink very little, seeing a months abstinence as an achievement is baffling.

I love my Friday pub nights and only drink then. Also I just did Sugar free September so will definitely give this one a miss.
Luckily I can give it up without a problem though, and did a January a couple of years ago. But I have to ask why do we do this to ourselves?

Keffie it’s good the hear you have more fun without alcohol. I very rarely drink, mainly because my mum and her ‘friends’ were heavy drinkers and it was horrid! Another close relative became an alcoholic so I’m wary.
I do find that I turn down some evenings out as I get fed up of being judged boring because I don’t drink. To be honest I find it gives me a horrid headache.

I don't think it's a case of depending on the wine, wildswan16, more a case of enjoying it. For those of us who drink in moderation it's just one of life's many little pleasures, and we should no more be judged for it than we should for enjoying a bar of chocolate every night, or sugar in our tea. As for health benefits, I thought the current thinking was that moderate drinkers are on the whole healthier than teetotallers anyway? I'm still deciding whether to join in, but it'll probably be a no. Life's short. Good luck to all of those taking part.