How it started

I don't drink any more, not even less', such a fun joke from the past! But for me, I haven't been drinking for over three months.

Before I stopped I was always very principled and disciplined, from Sunday to Friday I didn't drink a drop of alcohol. But on Saturday evening, my disciplined behavior was very hard to find. On Saturday evening I was allowed to drink alcohol. I also had all kinds of rules around that for myself, so I usually kept to the imposed number (which was seriously quite high, 8 glasses). But that alcohol in me often made me anything but disciplined, so I did get over that number sometimes. By the way, I had the same rules for holidays and public holidays as on Saturdays! So have fun! At least nine times out of ten I regretted something. Going to bed way too late, arguing, saying the unkind things, having less appetite for breakfast, having a crappy Sunday left, being a bad example for my kids, just a few things I'll shake up in a minute like I think about it! Seriously, just jokingly check my calendar on the Sundays the first half of 2020 and it says nothing! Those are just some kind of calculated half hangover days! How bad!!

So I decided on September 26, 2020 that it was enough for me for a while. To help myself I made a kind of schedule. It was important to know for sure which days were really not done and which days were still allowed. For example, the Christmas days were excluded and it was possible to simply drink a glass of wine with the Christmas dinner.

New Year's Eve would also be a day that you couldn't possibly spend without drinking. So that was also on the schedule as a day that was just allowed. I started following all kinds of groups on Facebook. All people who are in the same boat, who have gotten into serious trouble. People who don't know each other, but are there for each other every day and every difficult moment.

However, there were also many easy moments. My birthday on a Monday, Monday has never been an option to take anything. Only if my birthday happened to be on a Saturday. So I just went through that alcohol-free without even thinking about it.

Every year I have good intentions. For me, these were always in the area of dealing with alcohol differently. That's why I often participated in Ikpas or Dry January!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to go for a walk with Joost after dinner. That way we kept moving a bit and you could talk to each other about things that were on your mind. From September 26th we only talked about no longer drinking alcohol logically 😉

I pass

When I saw that IkPas was starting again, I didn't hesitate for a moment. How nice to have a stick behind the door to keep up with your intention! Of course you have to do it yourself in the first place, but it's great that we can help ourselves a little extra by sharing the idea that you are not alone, sharing tips and tricks and reading experience stories. View it per period and now at least until January 31!

The holidays

Finally, let's talk about the past holidays. Yes, I said they were exempt… While I looked at my installed app that counts my sober days, 90, okay actually just 13 Saturdays, but still… I realized I'm not going to break that with Christmas and with New Years Eve. Maybe then back to square one in one go… But no, it wasn't easy. Because if there is one thing that is associated with fine wines, champagne and coffee, it is the holidays. Difficult, but let it get to you. And after these sober days, I am now confident that IkPas will work for the month of January!

Good luck to everyone participating!!

More about Judith

My name is Judith and I am 41 years old unfortunately. I really don't feel that way 😉 I live in Delft and have two children, Jeroen is fourteen years old and Thijs is twelve years old. I work 24 hours a week at the Regional Tax Group. There I work in the collection department and I arrange everything related to payments and remissions of municipal and water board taxes. All sorts of things are involved, such as payment arrangements, debt counseling processes, attachment, etc. I like talking to the customers on the phone. Even though it is not fun to pay taxes, I always have very pleasant conversations with people.

Originally I was educated at the Hague University of Applied Sciences and I did HBO Social Work. I am so interested in the social and wellness world. That's why I've always worked with people, even if only through volunteer work.

In addition to the annual NL Doet (which I always participate in with the children), I also work voluntarily at the library to read to children who speak other languages. This is intended to make them more familiar with the Dutch language.

I also love shopping (which is not so good during the Corona), chatting and drinking coffee with friends and walking with the same people. I also play a lot of Candy Crush and Wordfeud. I also read quite a lot. I like to do a bit of crafts, drawing, crocheting and painting with the children.

My relationship with alcohol is not good. I'm not good at drinking alcohol. I didn't drink often as I'm super principled and have quite a bit of discipline every now and then, but on my allowed day of the week (Saturday) I drank quite a bit and often enough to regret it. It's never damaged 'anything' and it doesn't affect my life, but I'm always afraid it could get out of hand. I hope to achieve that by the end of the month it will be an even more obvious fact to simply not drink! There are so many alternatives and you get so much in return!

 

 

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