I'm going to quit drinking for 30 days...

and see what happens.

I'm tired of the following:

1. Late-nite binges, waking up in the morning with an awful hangover and feeling like my kids are inconvienancing me by asking for something as simple as waffles for breakfast.

2. Logging into my bank account the next morning and being amazed at how much money I spent.

3. Figuring out how I'm going to get my car in the morning or wondering what made me decide to drive home.

4. Getting into stupid arguments with my friends that that would otherwise never happen while sober.

5. Lying to my wife about how much I had to drink or how much $ I spent.

We'll see what happens.

GL Irish.

I did this for Lent a couple of years back and it was difficult b/c most of my family and friends are social drinkers.

Last week I went on a pub crawl through lower Manhattan and spent a little over $200 drinking.  Terrible feeling when you sober up the next day.

 Good deal Irish..............been through the same things over & over.

 Make it the 30 days.......for starters. When you get the urge just stop & remember that alcohol will always be around........you're not missing anything.........& remember why you're stopping.

I've been saying it for years now. They could just put out pills that cause gout if you drink... Everybody would quit drinking alcohol eventually. Once you get over the mental addiction... you find that drinking is way overhyped and really not as much fun as you thought it was.

Gout is a great cure for those who don't have the willpower to stop drinking alcohol on thier own.

Reading this thread title made me chuckle. I'm actually 13 days into this challenge as well. Each month I try to either eliminate or add a challenge that could/should better me as a man, but I've made up excuses not to follow through with this one for the past 4 or 5 months. Before choosing this challenge, I couldn't remember the last time I went more than a week without being drunk. Actually, the catalyst for this change was a 3 day bender starting on July 4th that resulted in a 2 day hangover and a ton of money tossed away. Even being that I'm only 24, I still see the idiocracy in acting that way. Those days need to be through. Further, while I have no children or other factors that went into choosing to do this, I still feel the similar remorse each morning after getting borderline blackout (for the second or third time of the week): loss of money, acting foolish the night before, staying up way too late, creating a reputation/livelihood based around alcohol, and recovering from a hangover for almost a full day following it. My friends, like many people's, are social drinkers, so I have had to remove myself from most of them for this period - be prepared to do the same. I feel you can identify these people by how they react to the news of your decision. It gets easier each day. Having not been hungover during this time has allowed me to focus more on other positive outlets. Creating a new rhythm to your day is probably most key to succeeding. For example, I wake up each morning with the sun, regardless of how long my day will be. Also, I've been pseudo-training for a sprint triathlon for the past 2 months, and the training intensity has increased tenfold. Finally, I've also incorporated CrossFit into my training once again. These few tasks have given me something to focus on besides drinking and have worn me out sufficiently to where I "pass out" from exhaustion instead of booze each night. Just my .02 on the subject. Hopefully you can find some motivation in this post. Good luck, bud!

Eddie, I thinkk you immediatly need to go fuck yourself. You don't know a thing about this man.

Good luck Irish, but ya won't need it.

Good luck Irish.  Being a home body, and doing normal things with your family is under-rated.  Take it easy.

Eddie, relax guy. I'm not looking for anyone to support my "major drinking problem." I'm acknowleding that I have an issue that I want to fix and the 30 days thing is just a start.

Also, I don't ask or expect anyone to treat me differently because of my service. It's 9 years, not 5 years and I'm still active duty and am going to Grad School at Georgetown on the Army dollar. So I'm not completely a fuck-up. My time in the military have been 100% volunteer so I don't feel entitled or whine or make excuses.

I've been able to prevent my drinking from bleeding into my family-life but as I said in my original post, I feel like it is starting to have a negative impact on more than just my bank account. Hence, the change. 30 days is just a start for this new goal. So chill out man.

GL Irish.

I too am an everyday drinker. Vodka followed by beer and wine at night.i have a hard time getting up in the morning and it is affecting my health and my job somewhat.

Keep us posted on how you're doing. You have my support.