This is a good way of looking at it!

I have a Halloween party next weekend and my specialty is sweet treat type stuff. gonna be hard making something I can't eat but I'm going to stay strong.

Just got back from a concert with a couple of my kids. Feels good man.

Sober concerts are underrated.

I also got to try a mineral water I never tried before. They didn't have San Pellegrino but they had Topo-Chico which was really good.

ha wish my mrs was like that. She's the opposite "oh lets get some wine and watch a movie" "oh lets go to the pub and see people. You can't no drink if we see people thats weird"

Need to crack back on with things in November. Need to start (and stick to) an actual diet because my food intake has been whack lately. Want to get shreddy shreddy.

So will probably do complete T-Total for November too.

I'm also trying to take James Clear's advice (he wrote a book called Atomic Habits, its one of my favourite books of all time - definitely check it out if you havent). I'm trying to figure out what the trigger is to wanting to drink and what I think I am solving/feeling by doing it. Treating myself a bit like a rat.

We never buy alcohol on the food shop, but we will pop out to the 24/7 petrol station (its a supermarket one) and buy it spontaneously there in the evenings. It definitely started in Lockdown, purely out of boredom. I think EVERYONE was drinking way too much. You'd go into ANY time and there would be a queue of like 10 people all holding beer/wine. Srs. I've never noticed it that badly before. It was weird.

I'm not sure if its habitual or out of boredom. Or I dont know if its because I feel stressed in the evenings and want to unwind from the day and "switch off". Never drink a lot. We usually at max get 2 bottles of wine between us.

The Atomic Habits book would say realise what the trigger is and realise what feeling you are trying to solve by doing the action. Then in the future, when you feel X instead of doing Y - you start a new habit that is good for you.

For example. I look at the clock and see its 8PM. Feel like craving some alcohol to switch off/unwind. Would go to the shops.
Change to: I look at the clock and see its 8pm. Feel like craving some alcohol.. Do 5 sets of Dumbbell Bicep Curls or read 30 pages of my book, or go for a walk outside and do 2500 steps.

Cool man. I ****ing hate sparkling water

glad you enjoyed the concert! I agree that sober concerts are underrated. Always sober at concerts crew and have sooooo much fun!

Sober concerts were tricky and funny IMO.

There was no football game to go to yesterday as the nephew and His team played too far away from where I live yesterday. Depending on how close the games are or how far away the park he plays on is determines if we all go or not. Me, my kids and a group of relatives.

I didn’t drink but I ate a couple of hot dogs and didn’t ditch the bun.

Last week I got to take them to see Shang chi it was cool but I feel like I’m growing out of marvel. Had a good time though. But I did spend a lot of money that day.. kids still be like “Uncle Deathstroke can I get that” buy me this. Thanks uncle deathstroke.”

Is it normal to be in a ****ty mood? I'm on day 7 without alcohol and I just feel depressed.

Not gonna lie man this seems hard to do!

I can only fathom replacing alcohol when I crave a drink from a certain trigger, with another substance or activity that's actually fun. Walking outside can be fun, maybe reading a fantasy novel can be fun, but if you focus on always doing productive chit when you'd rather kick back, I think it'd be a timebomb before I go crazy and drink heavy some night. I could much more easily see eating some yummy / somewhat healthy snacks, or vaping a little weed, or something like that. You want fun and relaxation at 8PM, not to discipline yourself at 8PM. IDK, can't knock it till you try it though.
Sounds to me like you're just not occupying your time well. I can drink and do just about nothing and still have a fun time. Now you're clearing up, unfogging your days and time itself by looking through a sober lens, and realizing you're not doing anything fulfilling or fun. That's my best guess tbh.

What up Boyos. I started late but I'm on day 12 sober. Fuk that sht i was drinking too much. Golf trip with my boys Nov 4th so I guess that will be my next beer. After that i will go until Thanksgiving.... my plan anyways.

Fuk yes that's normal. Especially if you're a daily/common drinker. You just have to tell your self there are ups and downs. There will be better hours and days ahead. Just struggle through it. Exercising helps as well as eating healthy stuff.

Also, I'm jumping on the mushroom bandwagon...

Trying Lion's mane for mental health/support..

https://www.realmushrooms.com/

Yeah, it's definitely not easy to get around that mindset. Whenever I struggle with willpower - like if im craving a chocolate bar or ice cream, I just think that I want that food because its going to taste good for like 2-3 minutes and then I'll swallow it and forget I've eaten it. I think of myself like a lab rat and then say holdon - am I smarter than a ****ing rat? yeah I am boyo and then I dont do it.

You could replace the bad habit with another bad habit for sure, but swapping vices/bad habits would never be the best idea. Like if you smoked a lot of green and had bad munchies and gained fat, nobody would recommended sniffing pepsi to kill your appetite and lose weight lol.

I think the trouble of being bored by not drinking and just watching TV or something and trying to ignore the fact you are craving it takes much more willpower than to distract yourself by doing something else. E.g. If you went for a run (even though you cant be fked to do that) - you would 10000% NOT crave a beer. Because you've never associated Drinking beer whilst running, right?

I think where good habits stay hard to keep on track with is because you are in that "valley of disappointment" where you start doing something you know is good for you, but you don't yet see the results from it.

To use the running analogy - say you would drink 3 times a week, but you replace all of those sessions with going for a 3-5 mile run. After the first few runs you wont notice much difference. You'd wake up without a hangover, it will help fix bad sleep, you will notice a saving of money (buying alcohol).

But now imagine you've been sticking to this for like 6 months. You'd have a LOT more money saved up, you would probably be much leaner, healthier, better cardio, faster at running, better skin/hair (from sweating) and have kicked a bad habit. You invest the $500 or whatever you were spending a month on alcohol into an ETF Tracker getting you 10% returns a year..

Vs drinking heavy 3 times a week, which could accelerate into full on alcoholism, a ton of wasted cash, bad health etc, over weight, beer gut etc.

When you do things repeatedly that are not in your best interests, they get worse and worse over time. When you do things repeatedly that are in your best interest and serve future you, then they multiply MASSIVELY via marginal gains and compound interest.

yesterday marked 8 weeks without a drop!

This weekend was actually a bit easier, no issues keeping occupied. feeling stronger in the weight room and midsection continues to lean out despite the fact that I eat 2x as much since I stopped drinking.

When you put it like that it makes sense, now I get what you're dishing out. Seemed crazy earlier comparing yourself to a lab rat, without the context. Now it's like, is my health/money worth the 5 minutes of pleasure from this unhealthy tasty food? What about this several hours session of feeling intoxicated? I'm a fan of long term investing / interest building from a financial perspective, need to put similar concepts into terms for health.Dasitmane. You beat my record since I started drinking at age like ~21/22, which is about 6 weeks. The part I boldened is what I'd like to see happen to me over the long term. Though the other perks you mentioned are nice too.

One thing I've found thats helped a bit, as lame as it sounds, is to work overtime shifts. Less days off = less days to consider drinking. Not only are you saving money but you're making time and a half. Unless you're the kinda guy who brings alcohol into work days.

Great post. I have to admit start of 2020 Jan 1st I stopped drinking for the entire year until thanksgiving. I replaced alcohol with Kratom. Thought it was a life saver at 1st but over time I feel that **** is just as bad for dopamine.

2021 I started brewing beer again thinking I had control of my drinking... "only on brew days" "maybe just on Sundays too" Then it slowly get you back and all the sudden it's chasing that high every fuking night.

Now i am going on 2 weeks no booze/beer and cut the Kratom to 70% less. Hopefully I can kick that **** soon. Tapering off... withdraws I read are a nightmare going cold turkey. Wish Kratom was never legal.

No fap is hard too lol

Tapering now omg it sucks. I'm switching the heavy drinks to light drinks then tapering from there.

Just occurred to me that Sober October technically ends on a Sunday, meaning the first of November is Monday. So even though Sober October technically has 2 weeks left, I can't really drink for nearly 3 weeks unless I did so on some work days lol.

Decided if I make it to the end of Sober October, and I guess the majority of the first week of November, I'll throw myself a pizza + booze party on the weekend (Nov 6th or 7th).

I'm already thinking about that too. That first weekend of November is going to be glorious.

I guess I'm in? but not really this is really really hard...I just told myself I really want a bottle of Jameson. Then I thought about tomorrow, and the hangover fuarkkk.

This chit sucks I really want a drink, but nah.

This is me right now..

My Mom just told me her father (1died before i was born) drank everyday since he was 12yo. Lived to 63.... cheap bourbon. Used to wake up every morning with his "eye opener" glass of bourbon. Never saw him drunk. Just drank all day. I think he had liver cancer. He was a market store owner and did a little farming.

That's where i must get mine from but luckily i only drank at night unless there's something going on/weekend.

Fuk that sht brahs.... hard liquor is so bad. I love freedom but part of me wishes it was illegal. Just the hard stuff.

Entering the final stretch guise. Any updates?

Day 95 sober for me.

Looking to finish the year strong.

I cracked this past Sunday unfortunately. I'm coming to terms tho that I hate drinking. Trying to stay sober until I have a bachelor party in the middle of November, probably am going to have a couple drinks then. Every day battle for me.

Breaking tonight for our TEN YEAR anniversary. Enjoying my weekend guilt free.

Eating lots of good food, too, so Monday morning it's right back to working out lol.

Keep it up everyone!

stay strongk fellas!

Eggnog season has began. Hold me boyos.

Awe you 2 lovebirds enjoy it. Hope your ass doesn’t get too sore by Monday lolol

Hope you had a great anniversary!

We're in the home stretch boyos! Only 2 more weekends. Party tomorrow night, I'm going to stay strong.

Groce... not a fan of that sht lol

Day 18. Feeling damn good. Used to have some apathy going on.... alcohol sucks. Keep it moderate boys.

Ignore my rep comment brah. It's too late now. I got hit a few more times since.. uggghhhh

Anyways. Love how great the sleeping has been.