I completely agree with this, just drink water or soda or whatever. Really my only beverages this cut are protein shakes, water, and energy drinks.
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Yes, but prudence is not always passion’s most obvious bedfellow and there are times when even too much is not quite enough.
in again for this year (will take a break for a week of skiing tho)
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I am joining the club for the third year in a row, from the end of christmas holidays last Sunday until my wife’s birthday on the 8th of February.
Actually, I am / was looking forward to it, and this thread with Patricks pieces of sometimes strange and unexpected music is an inspiration ! The classical brake in the Ozzy piece up-thread has an element of the Beatles’s “Strawberry Fields” intro, one of my all time favourites.
On another note, I freely admit that during the - also for me - personally challenging year 2025, I enjoyed the many good wines I opened from my cellar. They did have a relaxing effect, and as much as I know as a cell biologist, that alcohol is harmful from the first drop, I do believe that relaxing and the sheer joy of having a good wine with a good meal with good company, and also planning these for the weekend days (no consumption during weekdays) at least compensate for the negative effects of alcohol.
Well, we’ll see how this January is developing - keep the good music coming !
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Thank you! When I woke up this morning, I thought “I forgot to post some music, but the thread is active and no one will notice.” Now I have to think of something! And regarding the classical break, I agree with you. The first time I heard “No More Tears” it was playing on a TV as background music. When it came to the classical break, I thought another song had come on!
I truly hope your challenges are firmly in the past and that you are moving forward with purpose.
I opened many good ones as well, including several I was saving for the mythical “later.” However, there were a handful of times this fall when I uncorked a second bottle… which solves nothing. Overall, though, I was able to rely on my friends, my faith, and my family. I’m not out of the woods yet, but the worst is over. It helps that my kids are awesome!
Anyway, I need to hit the treadmill and will think of a good track to post.
I got some decent treadmill time and remembered a cool artist I discovered back in 2018. Tigran Hamasyan is an Armenian composer and jazz pianist. The only way I can explain him is that he can “speak” piano.
This track, called “Road Song,” was recorded in 2015 at Jazz Sous Les Pommiers, a long running festival in Coutances, Normandy. Tigran begins with a long solo piano waltz. The peaceful, dissonant chords quietly build up to the 4:54 mark, at which point the song veers off into mind- and genre-bending stuff: jazz, fusion, eastern european motifs, improv, prog, etc. I hear influences of Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, King Crimson. I even hear the Vince Guaraldi Trio – if they were on acid.
Someday, I’d love to catch Tigran in Coutances, playing in a club that served plenty of Eric Bordelet Cidre Brut. As for today, though, it is no wine, no problem.
Stay dry, folks.
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It felt oddly satisfying yesterday in my pre-op phone screen, when we got to the alcohol section, to say that by the date of surgery “I will have been 30 days dry”
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Love Tigran Hamasyan. His music scratches something very deeply satisfying for me.
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I’m through a week and feel pretty good. The challenge for me is always the weekends. My wife (rightfully so) refuses to allow us to be hermits for January so she’s busy making plans which usually includes dinner with friends (enjoyable) but it’s typical for booze to be included in those meals which certainly makes it harder for me.
This week was pretty easy as we had a TV show to binge and I ended up in bed pretty early each night.
In addition to no alcohol, I’m doing my best to stick to 10/8 intermittent fasting as well as low carbs.
I just looked back on some data that I kept. 2023 and 2024 I did dry January until President’s Day weekend. In 2025 I had 4 exceptions to dry January and stopped the first Friday of Februrary (so didn’t make it til President’s Day). 2023 I low carbed it to go along with no alcohol. I lost a reasonable amount of weight. 2024 I included IMF with the low carb diet and lost a good deal of weight. 2025 had those four exceptions and a less rigid diet and while I lost weight, it wasn’t a lot.
FWIW, I’ve been doing dry January for at least 7-8 years, maybe more, but never really kept any data until 2023.
I think it would be really helpful for me to do an additional dry month in the Fall. Haven’t seemed to have found the will power to incorporate that so far.
I did a 3 week reset in August in 25, was really nice and well timed
Yeah…that’s smart. I usually start my year at my heaviest…then do a beginning of the year reset and things look pretty good until somewhere in May/June where things start trending in the wrong direction and I often end up close to or at where I started. If I could do that reset in September/October I’d most likely end the year down a decent amount and start the new year (and new reset) from a lower point.
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Credit to @Sarah_Kirschbaum for the idea!
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Sober October sucks in the Midwest. The weather is so variable. It can be 90 degrees and sunny on Monday (Niçoise salad and chilled rose’) then 52 degrees and rainy on Tuesday (Cassoulet and a GSM). Pretty much everything in my cellar will be perfect to drink at some point in October.
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It’s why Sober September is problematic here in NJ. Mostly good weather. Lotsa weekend activities. End of summer produce still strong. Can eat outside and the bugs won’t devour you.
I do dry January sometimes but this year I’m trying a damp January. Generally drinking less often and, when I do drink, only having one drink on any given day.
One of my themes for this year is neither eating nor drinking so much that I feel physically worse after doing so. That’s something I’ve struggled with, especially feasting! No lying on the couch in pain for me this year.
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I did sober Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week! 
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We do resets during Advent and Lent. We’re not particularly hard core Catholics but we find a wisdom in some aspects of the liturgical calendar for us.
Advent is basically 3.5 weeks and is pretty easy to manage. Everyone is anticipating the holidays and when you abstain prior to Xmas there is no post New Years letdown. Avoiding dreaded “holiday parties” is an added benefit.
Lent is almost 7 weeks (oh, the fasting doesn’t end with Lent proper, there’s an additional week so it’s more like 47 days or so). While long, there is a break in the middle for a day. This is long enough to be very effective in making weight loss goals.
We also tend naturally to eat less and drink less at the height of summer because we don’t really run the AC that hard and we just lose all interest in alcohol and meat during that time.
This is how I have felt every day this year as I remain dry. Nothing about it is making me happy. So there.
I have learned that all potato chips come in single serving bags.
I’m calling the sheriff for a wellness check. 
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I AM the Sheriff.
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