Sober holidays are really good - no nursing hangovers over the hotel breakfast, you can be out and doing things before it gets crowded, and because you don’t drink at lunchtime you can do stuff in the afternoon as well.

What’s your game plan? Are you going somewhere with good AF drinks? Does your friend know that you’re not drinking?

Viel Glück!

(google translate assures me that means “good luck”).

congratulations!

It hit 33C in the UK yesterday. We’re not built for that sort of weather.

woo-hoo!

oh, drinking dreams are weird. I’ve always put it down to my subconscious working stuff out while I’m not looking.

When I was still “off the booze for a bit, you know, see what happens,” I once woke up absolutely furious with my partner for giving me wine in my dream, and that was one of the things that made me realise I was in it for the long haul.

Welcome, we’re glad to have you here.

OK, regret is one thing, but try to avoid feeling shame. You are dealing with lifelong consumption of an addictive and harmful substance. Take a deep breath, pick yourself up, and go again.

Oh no, I’m sorry.

Remember, those 108 days aren’t lost, they taught you something you can use as you start again.

have you considered using some of the other supported listed in the various pinned posts on here?

Interesting that you’ve found non-alcoholic drinks that you like, though! I’m still in that phase of drinking energy drinks just to feel something, even if the thing I feel is my stomach cramping and my anxiety spiking 😂

I went into it with the attitude of “I’m not spending the rest of my life drinking lemonade and you can’t make me.” 😁 So I always make sure I have AF drinks in. Usually it’s a few cans of Lucky Saint and some Old Jamaica Ginger Beer, but I really like kombuchas and other fermented teas as well.

I’m not sure where you’re based, but if you’re in London, Club Soda in Covent Garden is a low and no alcohol bar, bottle shop and tasting room with a huge range of AF drinks, from 0.5% beers to high end kombuchas, wines, functional drinks, all sorts of stuff. They do mail order as well. https://joinclubsoda.com/tasting-room/ They’re also working with Majestic to expand their low and no offering. https://www.majestic.co.uk/low-no

for mail order: Dry Drinker https://drydrinker.com/

The alcohol-free co https://thealcoholfreeco.co.uk/

Wise bartender https://wisebartender.co.uk/

Also check out your supermarkets, especially the bigger ones. Waitrose have got a good range, as has M&S and Ocado. Morrison’s are expanding their range, too. I don’t know about Sainsbury’s or Tesco, I only have their corner shop style supermarkets near me but they both carry Lucky Saint, I think the bigger ones carry more options.

Relying on willpower is a dangerous game. It gets used up in thousands of little ways every day and, as you recognise, one day you’ll get to the point where increased temptation meets used-up willpower and disaster ensues.

You’re building a new sober life, and you wouldn’t build something without scaffolding, you need sober scaffolding. There’s some resources in the pinned posts here, check those out and see if any of them grab you.

In my first year, I was very occasionally conflicted, but because I’d told everyone I was off the booze, I felt I couldn’t then start drinking without having loads of difficult conversations. I’m British, dammit, I’d rather saw my own leg off in public than have a difficult conversation.

Going into social situations, I made very sure there were non-alcoholic drinks I liked on the menu (and yes, I once vetoed a venue for a work thing because “the non-alcoholic drinks are shit, I’m not drinking water while everyone else is on the wine,”), and if it was a party at a friend’s, I’d offer to bring stuff I knew I liked. There’s nothing worse than being faced with a row of booze and a jug of tap water.

I don’t miss it. I have very occasionally thought “what this day needs is a nice cool glass of rosé,” and then I stop and think “OK, right, what brought that on?” and usually it’s because “this is the first nice day we’ve had in about a million years,” and habit and association are incredibly strong drivers of habit and behaviour.

The office where I work in central London, UK has bike parking for 300 and only eight vehicle parking spaces. We also have a fitness suite. There’s two (male and female) locker rooms with showers, towels provided, a drying room.

At least one of the green building standards doesn’t give you the top rating unless you have provision for active travel, institutional investors won’t buy your shiny new building unless it’s rated “Excellent” or “Platinum”, tenants are looking for added extras which encourage their staff to come to the office rather than WFH.

And Westminster Council charges business rates (property tax) on parking spaces.