Day one of no fun. Abstaining from demon alcohol, 24 hours and counting.

July 3, 2014 - Day 1.

Okay, time to do something about my drinking. I've struggled with the fact that I possibly…probably…drink too much.  Over the past several years, I have embraced red wine, Cava, and now Irish Whiskey.  I like it all. Well, not vodka.

I’ve weaned myself from red wine and champagne only to find out how much I enjoy that darned frozen Jameson’s or Tullamore Dew. Nothing better than a small crystal glass with Jameson's or TD placed carefully in the ice portion of the freezer for a minimum of thirty minutes. It gets gold and frosty and is delicately sweet, delicious with a hint of some floral essence.  After I've drunk the whiskey and the glass dries, it smells delicately floral. How can this be bad?  

The bad comes from how much. I don’t want to admit how much I can drink, but I have to. I can take down half a bottle in a day. Two to three ounces out of the freezer at a time. Scary. 

I'm  woman. I have breast cancer in my family. I have come close to driving after more than one trip to the freezer. I also have a 16 year old son so I do not want to drive after one of those trips to the freezer.

I don’t want to be someone that can never drink, but I need to get a handle my control! My son, my health and my looks are at the heart of it. My husband is a little unrealistic about any drinking as he no longer drinks at all. He isn't in recovery; he simply does not care for it anymore.  You know how fun people are who don't drink around people who do.  Yep, fun times, but he does have a point in that I need to curb my current intake.

It’s been over 24 hours since I had anything and so far so good. 

I've read up on the symptoms of withdrawal and no obvious symptoms of tremors, palpitations or nausea. Nice. Maybe I don't drink as much as I thought. One of the grosser articles talked about the odor of an ex-drinker. Yuck, I mean yuck. I'm a girl. I don't want to smell unless it's like violets and roses or sandalwood and something good. I have been sweaty which is gross, but that could be in part to menopause although I think that the majority is due to the whiskey. That and the 106 degree weather outside  I guess that is something I will have to figure out if I can stay off the alcohol. The thought of smelling bad is almost as disturbing as the thought of being an alcoholic. Okay, I'll be vain. It ties.

My goal is to write about this every day and see how I do in regards to symptoms and control.

Should I reward myself? $7 a day? $15?

Good luck me!