Oscar's Everyone Day

Sunday 22nd June 2025
In 2021 Oscar the Grouch proposed one day each year where "we unite as a community and EVERYONE records an activity of some sort - a dog walk, a run, a swim, a ride, ski if you want...".

Sadly we lost Oscar in March 2024, so now we dedicate Everyone Day to him. Thank you for the inspiration you gave us Oscar.

Share your Everyone Day plans

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The benefits of giving up alcohol

283 watchers

25 contributors in last 30 days

LindsD Jan 2020 11:46am, 1 Jan 2020 32,315 posts	Quote Pin LindsD Well done Switts!
Joopsy Jan 2020 12:02pm, 1 Jan 2020 9,881 posts	Quote Pin Joopsy I went out to get my son at 8:45 this morning as he stayed at a friends last night. Roads were really quiet and I was really hoping to stopped and breathalysed. Didn’t happen. 😀
Love Lettuce Jan 2020 12:10pm, 1 Jan 2020 1,292 posts	Quote Pin Love Lettuce I keep hoping to be stopped and breathalysed too! The local police have very aggressive drink drive campaigns at this time of year so there are lots of them about but I've never been pulled over. One day maybe. Drink driving penalties are very strict in Guernsey - as a minimum offenders are off the road for 2 years and receive a fine. The ban gets progressively longer if blood alcohol is high or if you are a serial offender. Interestingly, there's a lot of local support for the strict penalties. It seems people like a drink but won't tolerate drink driving any more. In contrast, I remember being in the car with my great uncle in the late 80s when he was pulled over. The police officer asked him if he had been drinking, to which my great uncle replied: "Of course I've been drinking, I've been at the yacht club."
Derby.Tup Jan 2020 1:36pm, 1 Jan 2020 37,347 posts	Quote Pin Derby.Tup Roads deserted our way too this morning. I wondered if the Old Bill would be out but it was not the case ‘When did you last have a drink sir?’ ‘August 2018 drinkstable’
LindsD Jan 2020 2:21pm, 1 Jan 2020 32,322 posts	Quote Pin LindsD I have been wishing for that since 2014! Never happened.
Scorge Jan 2020 2:44pm, 1 Jan 2020 612 posts	Quote Pin Scorge happy new year all. double parkrun in the bank, and despite another hamstring niggle, fairly happy. one more casino night (after a power nap) and then normality starts to kick in. worlds strongest man final is the end of the holiday IMO. back on the sugarfree irn bru now. JFT
iaincr Jan 2020 10:31pm, 1 Jan 2020 610 posts	Quote Pin iaincr well done and happy new year to all! never pulled over either, I guess the police can tell the ones that have been drinking!
g1ngerrevolution Jan 2020 4:41pm, 2 Jan 2020 8,163 posts	Quote Pin g1ngerrevolution "I’m not tempted because I know 1 will mean loads, and not just today but for days." +1 to this. Exactly this. When I drink I do not stop, not just in the now, but tomorrow. Recurse ad nauseum. I fell into the booze trap over the holiday period. Back on the wagon now. The first day is always the hardest. I have thoughts and stats that I'm ruminating on. Forgive me for sharing here. Grandpa gave me the best advice when I asked him about quitting smoking: "If you want to quit, it's easy, but you have to want to quit." I quit smoking when I really wanted to. I still don't really want to quit alcohol, but I can't for the life of me think of any good reason why not. I've always been in the 'cutting down rather than quitting' brigade, based mostly on so much of my social life being based around the booze. I know it's not good for me - I need to lose weight and lower my blood pressure - both of which cutting out alcohol would help with. There is a history of alcoholism and heart disease in the family, the perfect storm for an early death if I keep going the way I have from age 18. For the past several years I've been keeping a record of how many "drinking days" a month I have. It's interesting to see the patterns and scores emerge around various weeks, months and seasons. So in 2019 I was sober on 245 of 365 days. The longest non-drinking streak I had was 16 days. The longest drinking streak was 8 when on holiday in Cornwall in July. But counting the days isn't working any more. When I started day counting, my drinking on "drinking days" escalated - it's a drinking day, I may as well "make the most of it". So each drinking day has morphed into binge day. (According to the NHS, heavy drinking is having more than 15 units in one week; binge drinking is having more than 8 units within two hours. I think my intake "of an evening" falls comfortably within 'binge' bounds, and my ~ 2-3 days a week drinking still put me into heavy drinker territory.) When I analyse it it all becomes a bit embarrassing how much I consume. Complete abstinence seems to be the only solution. But perhaps I'll do it just for today.
Diogenes Jan 2020 4:58pm, 2 Jan 2020 44,029 posts	Quote Pin Diogenes 245/365 is still good going. You are starting from a position of strength.
DocM Jan 2020 5:00pm, 2 Jan 2020 31,877 posts	Quote Pin DocM that's an interesting and honest analysis. I hope writing it down has helped you. I am happy to join you, just for today

About This Thread

Maintained by HappyG(rrr)

Looks as though this thread has become popular again, here in 2010 (it's now 2024, and it started in 2008, so I think "ever popular" might be more apt! :-)

G )

Good Luck everyone.

A recent plea for those struggling to "reach out" as they say in US of A!

"Anyone not feeling strong and confident, please shout out. Or fmail. Or any other comms that works. Don't drink alcohol when you don't want to, for lack of someone to talk to. Pick up the phone, not the bottle."

Some acronyms, in case people use them:
JFT - Just for today
ODAAT - One day at a time
KIS - Keep it simple
TBOGUA - The Benefits Of Giving Up Alcohol (the title of this thread!)

New feature: article/blog of the month (period may change randomly!) Swittle's wonderful 14,611 days blog: (see links below)

Linking Joopsy's 17 year blog too, cos it's awesome!

There is a GREAT article summarising some of the benefits, to save you having to trawl through the thread (includes links to helpful apps and other resources).

And a great list of Alternative Drinks started by the lovely LindsD:

Please add to these articles and make them as valuable as possible! Thanks! :-)

G

And one from way back when...
Dirt Monkey's brilliant blog on TBOGUA too - go try this...

Rebel has recommended a couple of good books:
The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
by Catherine Gray

The Alcohol Experiment: 30 Days to Take Control, Cut Down or Give Up For Good
by Annie Grace

A great response from a health professional in Ireland responding to a question from a Guardian reader about why the warnings on alcoholic drinks that are coming in:

theguardian.com

"Alcohol is responsible for at least 1,000 cancer cases every year in Ireland, with one in eight breast cancer cases arising from alcohol use. Even one to two drinks per day increases the risk of developing cancer, and that risk is the same whether those drinks are wine, spirits or beer. Unfortunately, there is a very low level of public awareness that alcohol has been classed as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning it is carcinogenic to humans. That is why Ireland has passed legislation that provides for health information labels on alcohol products, including warnings about cancer, liver disease and the danger of drinking in pregnancy. It is unsurprising that the alcohol industry, which promotes its products with carefully crafted myths of good times for all, is objecting to the mandatory provision of facts (Anger brews in Italy over Ireland’s plans for alcohol health warnings, 12 January).
Dr Sheila Gilheany
CEO, Alcohol Action Ireland
"

And the all important fabulous services:
Alcoholics Anonymous
National Helpline (FREE) 0800 9177 650
help@aamail.org

Al Anon
020 7403 0888

medal

Contact TBOGUA medal

We're adding in our own Fetch offer of one to one contact too, for anyone who doesn't want to post in the thread for whatever reason. Please feel free to fmail ANY of the names listed below.

- - - -
HappyG(rrr)
( Oscar the grouch RIP )
mrs shanksi
Derby Tup
iaincr
Love Lettuce
DocM
LindsD
GeneHunt59
GregP

Joopsy

Note: we're none of us experts, but we're happy to listen, to answer any questions and to offer support if you think it would help you. Except

marked above. Who are experts! :-)

(Note II: at Christmas some names may change a bit, but I'm sure you can still find us to fmail!)

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