Sober Day 1

So I did Day 1 and 2 on Thursday and Friday. Then on Saturday my husband asked if I wanted a balcony beer.

(How many other people do that? Give a cute nickname to provide a reason for this particular drink: 

a toast, a cheeky beer, swift pint at the pub, nightcap, mimosa or bucks fizz (yay morning drinking),  aperitif, roadie - endearing Australian slang for travelling beer)

Anyway, so I said no. Cue, shocked silence, then the inevitable ‘Why?’.

‘Because I’m trying not to drink.’

Another silence.

‘I’m thinking that too. From Monday.’

Wine Witch rubs her hands together and then,

‘Ok cool, I’ll start from Monday too.’

So, back to Day 1 today, Monday, after a final bottle of red wine last night. Thing is, my husband always wants to and is successful at cutting back or doing long dry spells. He has the same impulsiveness I have and is probably as likely as me to say, ‘One more?’, but he’s better at knowing when to take a break. Maybe it comes with age.

So right now this should be easy because he’s doing it too. We spoke about it (balcony beers in hand) on Saturday night, with me saying I thought maybe I should give up for good, and he thinking that he’ll probably save it for special occasions.

I quoted what I’ve read extensively in all the quit-lit: the first 30 days and up to 100 days are meant to be the hardest. If I keep doing 30 days here (Dry January this year) and 30 days there (Sober October last year), no wonder it’s hard and doesn’t really change anything overall. I’m repeating the same difficult steps again and again.

I’ve been gearing up for this all year, since January, ten months ago, when I read a plethora of books to get me through the month. Last week I reread Clare Pooley's The Sober Diaries and I’ve been dipping back into Catherine Gray’s The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober all weekend. It’s time.

Now it’s the end of the day and we’ve watched Succession and I’ve made us both a hot chocolate and it’s 10pm and time for bed.