Dry Run Challenge 2016: Half Way

Challenge: 180 days without alcohol

The Reasons

The day after Australia Day and nursing a less than pleasant hangover (though I’ve had much worse) I decided to quit alcohol for a while. I felt I’d become too reliant on it and started thoroughly disliking my drunk self. I was maintaining my beer weight from Germany and seemed to have an almost constant heartburn. My friend Jason didn’t drink yesterday as he had decided to give up alcohol until he went to New Orleans in April, just because. I thought about this today and was inspired to do the same. I also wanted to do it to help support Sarah during her pregnancy non-drinking period, by being a partner in venture and not just a drunkard relying on her forced sobriety providing a guaranteed designated driver. Giving up alcohol for a while would also help me to prepare for RUN Melbourne 2016!

The Challenges

Fri, 29-Jan-2016: Visited a friends family BBQ where beers were flowing. We were constantly offered a drink due to not having one in front of us – such good hosts! It was early days for the cleanse, so I dodged offers by saying I had gotten over it a bit from Australia Day.

Sat, 30-Jan-2016: Visited a Em’s birthday BBQ. Although there wasn’t a lot of drinking going on, Ben did have a batch of his newly minted home brew beers. Reported to be quite good, I wanted to try one just for curiosities sake. We later went to Jason’s dinner BBQ and catch up. We had heaps of fun chatting, playing table tennis, showing each other ridiculous YouTube clips on the TV and playing “Cards Against Humanity”. It was the first time I realised that alcohol was not a totally necessary component of an enjoyable Saturday night. Jason had fallen off the wagon though: the beer was too hard to resist. He’s sensible though, just had a few quiet Coronas and enjoyed the night as usual.

Fri, 12-Feb-2016: End of a massive week at work and wanted some reward – a diet lemonade with some lime was a lowly substitute. Apparently sugar cravings increase once you give up alcohol and so far I’ve found that to be true. I’m trying to stick to teas, water with lemon/lime or diet soft drinks to avoid substituting one bad addiction for another. I’ve really gone nuts on the peppermint teas! When I feel like having a bad sugary dessert, a peppermint tea curbs that craving to miraculous levels. A great secret weapon!

Sat, 20-Feb-2016: A wondrous sunny day in Melbourne. After dumplings we decided to go to a rooftop beer garden. Hard to resist on such a nice day, but persisted with the waters. Beers on tap were not among my favourites, which made it a bit easier. We later went to a free concert put on my the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Patto had the wine thermos at the ready! Everyone around has a beer. I’m realising how deeply ingrained drinking is with the weekend/relaxing and that people do it on an almost unconscious level.

[!] 30 days in: I have dropped about 2kg. I have been riding my bike to work (20km daily round trip) and no other strenuous exercise to speak of. I’ve always lightly remarked that beer is an absolute killer in the weight department; the magnitude to which it actually is, however, has been truly astounding to uncover. I don’t feel like eating to excess as much as I did previously, which has also probably contributed to some weight loss. Bypassing “Sunday hangover food” is probably another big factor for that. Regular heartburn has largely disappeared. I feel like I’m thinking clearer. Sundays are filled with potential, instead of regret.

Fri, 27-Feb-2016: Nightjar Market in Geelong. A perfect summer evening for hanging out and enjoying some great tunes. Blackman’s Brewery from Torquay were supplying beer and I sure could have knocked the top of one of their most phenomenal beers – the Arthur Smoked Porter. I believe it’s award-winning. It’s certainly the best dark porter I’ve ever tasted. Another time Arthur ….another time.

Sat, 5-Mar-2016: A friend’s 30th birthday out at a remote winery. I fully expected the line “You’ve come out to a winery and aren’t going to have any wine!?” to come out at some stage, and indeed it did. It’s hard to explain that I’ve decided to not drink for a period of time “just because” but still want to attend friends’ birthdays. I parried the inquisition and moved on with the night. I’ve noticed that for “dancing parties” alcohol certainly does help (up to a point) but when it comes to the “lounge parties” and “shooting the shit” types, it doesn’t make much of a difference either way. We still got to talking about dying in space vs. drowning and the masturbatory habits of owls. Phew!

Sat, 12-Mar-2016: My brother killed himself this morning at the age of 23. I have no doubt that his bad thoughts were amplified by alcohol and pushed him over the edge. I’ve felt those bad “alcohol-enhanced” thoughts before, and they’re scary. At those moments I was strong enough to recognise what was going on, and knew that the beers were doing the talking. The next day was always fine. He might have known that too, but I don’t think he much cared to go on. Oh God, I wish I could have made him do this dry-run with me! It was never going to happen though: there were few things he enjoyed more in life than a froff or a pre-mix.

[!] 60 days in: I have lost another 2kg since last month. My riding to work routine has been interrupted by bad weather conditions and taking time off work, so exercise is not much responsible for the further weight losses. I haven’t been eating as much, particularly around the time of Cody’s death. I’m also starting to feel that I probably won’t drink as much when I come out the other side of this dry run. I’d be more happy now with having only one or two beers and then just enjoying the night for what it is.

Sat, 26-Mar-2016: We caught up with friends at Little Creatures Brewery in Geelong. At 1/3 of the way though the dry run, I was walking into the devil’s arena. Although missing out on one of my favourite brews, the White Rabbit Dark Ale, it wasn’t too hard to resist the temptations. We all had some food and I felt that helped a lot. I think the body craves beer more when it’s hungry, perhaps searching for those calories to fill the void. They were wholly supportive and put no pressure on me to drink: they probably saw that I gave it a fair enough nudge in Munich! It is possible to catch up with friends when out and not have to do it over a beer. I do miss those tasty Dark Ales though!

Fri, 1-Apr-2016: After Cody’s funeral, the group of kids I grew up with in Lara wanted to have a catch up at Irish Murphy’s. When I went to meet everyone, I walked through the pub and couldn’t see anyone around. If you think it’s awkward waiting for friends at the pub, try doing it without a beer in hand! I decided to wait out the front for someone to arrive. Surprisingly my Dad showed up and we then decided to get a meal inside. Once again, the good feed warned off any temptation to drink. The array of beers was pretty standard too, nothing wrong with that, but I was not going to break my run for just an average beer! I drank plenty of water and nursed a “spirit looking” glass most of the time. Good catch up and had plenty of laughs. Most went on to the clubs at midnight, and the few later left behind I drove across town to re-join the revelers.

Fri, 8-Apr-2016: Casual catch up with Jason and Catherine before they leave to go to America. Jason was amazed that I was still going with the “Dry Run”. He commented: “How long did mine last? 10 days?”

Sat, 16-Apr-2016: Thirty or so friends gathered to celebrate Sarah’s birthday at Little Creatures Brewery in Geelong. Once again I was forced to watch others enjoy those tasty dark ales! This time around I was in a particularly down mood; I had got Sarah a hard drive tower (for her birthday) to consolidate all her drives and it had appeared to corrupt a drive worth of data just before we left – most of which was not backed up! I had tried a program to restore the data, but it contained a bunch of malware that proceeded to stuff up bits of my computer. I had to leave everything in this state as it was time to go out.
With everything computer-wise going to shit and thinking about all the potentially lost data (or worse yet, taking it to a recovery specialist), I was feeling that a drink was much needed to forget those troubles for a bit. At that point I just had to think about Cody and how alcohol doesn’t really help when you’re down. I did manage to put it out of my mind for most of the event as the company and conversations were really great.
When we returned home, the recovery scan for the data had failed and things looked pretty grim. Later, Sarah and I were both on our computers when our wedding photo on the wall near the front door fell down with an almighty crash and scared the bejesus out of us. Glass smashed everywhere and the large frame was completely totaled. Sarah and I decided to give up for the day and she said “Tomorrow is a new day…”. Let’s hope so!

Sun, 17-Apr-2016: A new day rises! I decided the hard drive tower was no good and boxed it up to be returned. Luckily, it turns out that the corrupted drive was not the one with the data on it – the data was on a drive that I had put aside after the tower was not recognising it at all. All the data was in tact and I immediately made backups! Sarah was still lying in bed and I went in and informed her: “Today is a new day!”. We then went out for a birthday presents “re-shop” since the day seemed to have much more promise. I got her a new WD 4TB drive so she would not need the tower and a new camera tripod. Everything else that we got/had to do in town was successful and came with unexpected price discounts! Winning! Those true tests of character come when times are tough and I am glad I got though yesterday without breaking my resolution.

Sat, 23-Apr-2016: We spent the weekend camping with friends in Halls Gap. Once the tents are pitched and we all sit around the campfire, it’s the perfect time for a brew. In these situations where I don’t want to feel too left out, my chosen drink of substitution is diet lemonade with an added squeeze of lime. It tastes like a mixed drink and still feels like a treat/indulgence of sorts.

Sun, 24-Apr-2016: Andrew went a bit too hard too quick and his triathlete body rejected the sudden poisoning. I can empathize though, as I remember gin making me feel the same way – that sea sickness kind of feeling that you just can’t shake. The one liners he came out with though, Tom and I have never laughed so hard! Some include: “Everyone wants to be an individual, but not me!”, “But I can’t get in [the tent] when it’s spinning!”, “Where’s my bouquet?!” (referring to his bucket).

Mon, 24-Apr-2016: We went for a walk down to Mackenzie Falls in the morning before we left for home. When we got to the first lookout no one in the group except for me could be bothered going down the 500m of stairs to get to the falls! The coup caught me off guard. On the way back to the car park, Tom jestfully commented: “I don’t like non-hungover Reece” referring to my enthusiasm and energy which is normally not so present in a regular “morning after”.

[!] 90 days in: I can’t believe it’s only the half-way point! I’ve had no less than 5 dreams where I have drank, forgotten that I was doing this and felt really disappointed. I’m not losing weight anymore, but I knew it was always going to plateau when the “beer weight” was gone. To shift what’s remaining I will have to actually start actively exercising (more than just the bike ride to work). In the last few weeks I haven’t been missing beer at all, but have started jonesing for a good spirit – probably something like a whiskey and coke. I feel that beer is something that you adapt to and appreciate over time, so once that adaption is not fed the desire fades in a similar fashion.

The Lessons Learned

I am likely stating the obvious here, so think of these as a record of things I have encountered and verified to be true:

• Conversing with someone a few drinks in works fantastically, conversation is loose and comfortable. Once that “pint of no return” is passed however, conversation becomes a total drag.
• I’m starting to realise that overly drunk people are no fun when you’re stone sober. Surprising, I know. This is why bouncers hit people.
• Waxing lyrical with a fellow drunkard seems like a discussion teeming with holy enlightenment and worldly importance. With unimpaired ears you’ll realise that usually it’s just a repetitive and over-emotive mess.
• When you stop drinking and have a subjective look at it – you really start to see the far-reaching negative impact it has on the world around you.
• I’ve realised that I got so good at drinking that I developed an ability to make sensible decisions by putting myself above the situation, being self-aware of how alcohol was affecting my reasoning and choosing against those strong thoughts
• I was a total klepto-drunk, but was reforming my ways after becoming a bit more self aware
• The most inebriated I have felt since giving up alcohol occurred after eating a supermassive burger from Launch Kitchen in Geelong. I felt legitimately drunk and light headed, and called it “being food drunk”. I later discovered that it is actually a thing.
• It can amplify the smallest bad feelings into unbearable thoughts
• You may crave alcohol as an escape from your troubles, but it is never an effective antidote
• Beers taste good though
• Of all the varieties of beer, I miss the darker ones most. Nothing like a dry spell to discover your true favourites!