Sober Springers like you have shared their plans for the end of the challenge.
Steve
"For me, I'm done with alcohol forever! I say that cautiously as that has been my intent before, but this time I really feel like I've learned my lesson so to speak. I'm not so much giving something up as gaining a whole new lifestyle. I very much look forward to living the rest of my life sober!"
Dominika
"I love my sober life now and I'm not going back to the old one. I decided that I want to go sober through my life 🤩Doing the Sober Spring was the best decision of my life!! 💯"
Lisa
"In January, I secretly hoped to at least *do* Sober Spring. I never imagined that I would have gotten this far along. I don’t have any plans. I’ll just see how it goes. I can’t imagine never drinking again, but, on the other hand, not drinking feels too good! I definitely enjoy the challenges such as Dry January and Sober Spring. I think I’m going to attempt dry July."
Tifenn
"Dry January got me here, Sober Spring is my way to sober life, I think now I know I won't drink again. I do not miss it, I am happier, sleep better (even though it is less!), share more... I used to drink when upset, now I confront my issues and slowly but surely, making life work out better for me, on my own. Courage to change 🙂"
All of these tips come from members of the Dry January and Beyond Facebook group – people who’ve taken on the Dry January or Sober Spring challenge and continued, whether to moderate or stay totally alcohol-free.
- Give yourself a big fat reward. You deserve it!
- Take a photo of yourself and keep it somewhere as a little reminder of how good you look and feel. Then write down a list of the benefits you have experienced during sober spring.
- Think about your next steps. Keep them considered, small and realistic. Keep going on the sober trip by setting another goal. If you choose to drink try to be mindful about your return to drinking.
- Keep up with the Try Dry app, keep up with all the positive new activities, keep doing the work that spurs you on.
- Weigh up whether you want to go back to where you were. Over time staying dry gets easier and it is fun to think of being in the vanguard of a health movement
Here Sober Springers share their reason for taking on Sober Spring to start with… We thought now might be a good time to reflect on your reasons.
Angie
"I discovered alcohol around the age of 17, that warm, fuzzy feeling after the first couple of drinks and I thought ‘hello, I quite like this.’ I had a stressful job - well, it was sometimes stressful - but there was a big drinking culture. Pints after work, HUGE nights out where we met in the afternoon and went home in the early hours, so I kept up. First marriage failed, his fault. Second marriage failed, my fault. But through it all alcohol was my go-to, my friend, the one thing I could rely on to block it all out. But it didn’t really as the problems were still there when I recovered from my hangovers, of which I have had hundreds.
"Fast forward 34 years, lockdown! I don’t have to get up for work! Yay! I was drinking to excess every two days, hangover, abstain, repeat. I was addicted.
"The day I decided to stop followed me drinking two bottles of red wine, then some rum and Coke followed by being sick. At 2am I was lying on the bathroom floor, at 52 years old, now a grandmother, and thought what the hell am I doing?
"I haven’t declared it to all, family know, but one particular friend said ‘you better be back on it for the wedding and the concert’. I track with the TryDry app and love my wee fireworks every night.
"Sober is the way to go. Never say never again, but not today."
Ciara
"I started this year by participating in Dry January. I'd already been cutting down a lot; most of 2020 was sober for me. Sober Spring seemed like the next little boost to encourage me to keep going on since Dry Jan. Once it's over I definitely plan on continuing booze free. Life is so much better without it. I feel clear headed, my skin is glowing, I can concentrate much better at work, my fitness has gone through the roof, and I no longer have this dark cloud of grogginess hanging over me. Here's to a life without booze!"
Paul
"If I started drinking, 99 times out of 100, I would keep going till I was absolutely hammered. Before I stopped drinking this equated on average to two or three bottles of wine a week, drunk over the course of Friday and Saturday night, with more alcohol added on top (which would be a mixture of flavoured gins and craft beers) if we went out socialising.
"This wasn't a problem when I was younger and I could almost 100% guarantee that whenever I drank, I was just my normal happy self, but my usual sass was just turned up a notch or 12.
"But what I realised was that as the years passed by and my life experiences came into play, which at times have been very hard, the joyful Paulio that people know and love still remained in place for the world to see by day, but when the alcohol began to flow the emotions slowly began to overflow. And when I say overflow, I mean became a cascading waterfall.
"I have had an unbelievable Sober Spring. As of today, I haven't drunk alcohol for 120 days and this is the longest time dry since I turned 18. Even after only this amount of time dry, I already know that it's not something I will be returning to because the benefits have been far too great for me. I actually feel the best I've felt mentally and physically for years.
"It was a completely random decision that accidentally unfolded into something much more and I couldn't be more grateful."
