Hello Im 24 hours sober from alcohol. I didn’t consider myself an alcoholic as I could wait until I got all my kids to bed, house work etc done before I poured a glass of wine. But this was every night and I became sick of waking up with a hangover so I want to make a change. Im afraid of withdrawals and how I will cope with boredom in the evenings… I recognise I have a problem and want to change my lifestyle 
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Welcome to the community 
24 hours is great congratulations on your first 24 hours your Day1.
It takes alot to start and you have done that 
Hope to see you around.
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Congrats on your first 24 hours! Withdrawals are different for each person based on a lot of physical reasons, but also depending on how much you drank and for how long. It sounds like the psychological aspect might be more a concern at this point if you haven’t had any physical withdrawal symptoms so far, but they could still occur. Make a concrete plan for your evening activity so you feel less compelled to obtain wine, and if possible make sure your house is free of all alcohol tonight. You can always spend time perusing this community and the many helpful and even fun threads! Stay strong! You can do this!
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@RosaCanDo is right about the withdrawals, but, as a rule of thumb they kick in around day 3 or whenever your body has no alcohol left in its system.
There are several reactions to the lack of alcohol, the most common are the shakes, sweating, stomach upsets, general flu like symptoms, nausea and of course a craving for alcohol to make it all better.
Trust me alcohol will only be a very temporary fix, it will however, make things infinitely worse in the long run.
From how much you said you were drinking it’s unlikely, but, not inconceivable that you will have full blown DT’s which can be very nasty and even be life threatening.
Drink plenty of fluids, try and eat healthily and treat what symptoms you can with otc meds. If you are in any way worried about any symptoms seek medical help and be straight with them about what’s causing them.
Stay strong and don’t pick up that first drink 
&
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@KR87 I am in the exact same boat. I Am a “functional alcoholic”, which is what scares me the most. I wait until everyone is asleep and then start with a bottle of wine, sometimes drink a beer too. Its a toxic cycle. I was sober for 3 months and relapsed, however I am ready to do sobriety right. Lets take this thing day by day 
feel free to message me directly for accountability! We got this
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Hey! Welcome to the community! Try not to worry too much about the withdrawals. You might not even experience any. I would worry more about a plan to stay sober, what you will replace the wine after bedtime with.
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I was drinking a bottle of wine 12% every night plus 2 tins of gin and tonic. 2 bottles a night on weekends. Thats been the past 3 years give or take but have been drinking alcohol regularly for 15 years. Putting it down in writing really makes me ashamed of how much I drank. How did I not admit I had a problem for so long???
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When you get all your daily items accomplished and nothing suffers (meaning you arent forgetting items or letting things lapse) then its easy not to think of yourself as not having a problem.
Never would i have thought of myself as an alcoholic and when i (in my effort to seek help) told people around me that on my slow days i was chugging 2 bottles of wine and a six pack of beer with possibly a night cap (mixing didn’t really effect me)-- it has taken me some time to write this out fully — i would get no reaction so i figured it was normal 
those are the people i stay away from now.
I quit in December and had no withdrawal symptoms…maybe some headaches but i suffer from those anyways so this only made me want to drink again cause “how could i have a problem if i dont have symptoms”.
For me personally i started feeling many things at once in my 3rd month- read up to find it could be paws. Didnt know about paws symptoms until i was experiencing them. So much better now. Hang in there - being sick of the hangover feeling is way worse because if you keep drinking that never goes away but if you quit and start living a sober lifestyle then all the urges/crappy symptoms DO go away.
Wishing you strength in your recovery
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So happy for you!
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Don’t beat yourself up about that. I did the same. Years wasted. Never too late to start living a beautiful sober life. You definitely are not alone.
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I agree with @LeeHawk - shame will only drag you down and keep you stuck in the past. Try your hardest to focus on the now. I was also there for years with some major ups and downs. The creation of boxed wine (especially the small ones) was my main DOC and it was an awful slippery slope, then adding liquor and beer on top, yikes. Learning from regretful feelings can motivate us to not return to that behavior but shame and guilt are usually toxic. You’re making such a smart and brave choice to change the course of your life! Keep it going and we are here to support you. If you need to come back here and post if you’re having any trouble along the way, do it!
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Depends on how much wine you’re drinking. If it’s minimal, even if it’s daily, you’re not likely to have much in the way of withdrawals. My wife typically has 2-3 glasses of wine nightly and she’s never had withdrawals when she goes dry.
I was drinking 10+ shots of vodka nightly along with 2-3 beers and more on the weekends and I honestly didn’t have much in the way of physical withdrawals. My biggest withdrawal symptom was some pretty crappy sleep for the first week or so, especially nights 2 & 3 when I was experiencing night sweats. Other than that, I didn’t really have anything other than cravings, particularly the 3rd day. I didn’t have shakes…no headache or nausea, etc. So I’d say this is probably a very individual thing.
Boredom is a separate issue and there’s a bit to unravel there IMO. Speaking for myself, I have an issue with needing to go, go, go…something has to always be happening and if it wasn’t, I’d drink to be doing something as if the alcohol was giving me that “go” momentum.
Another thing I realized was that alcohol in general just made me a boring person…I’d drink and I’d sit there and do nothing really…just drink and scroll my phone or whatever. It’s boring generally…I was just drunk so it didn’t seem so much so, but I didn’t really have any inclination to do much of anything. Before I became a heavy drinker I did things…I went hiking, I biked, I mountain biked and walked my dog…I plaid frisbee with my buddies and golfed on weekends and went to movies and to car shows and art shows and museums, etc.
I’ve started doing those things again, but I’ve also come to embrace a bit of boredom and the quiet and just sitting and enjoying a good show on t.v. (and remembering what I watched and what happened), doing some reading, hanging with my kids, talking with my wife, etc. As my therapist once told me, “it’s Tuesday night…every night isn’t going to be a party…sometimes it’s just a Tuesday night.”
Alcohol numbs feelings and emotions…boredom is one of them…frankly, we’re supposed to feel boredom sometimes, it’s what makes other things more exciting.
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Boredom is huge. How I dealt with it:
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i made a list of every chore, every project I had neglected because of my drinking
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i set aside time specifically to research alcholism and addiction. I read everything I could.
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I lived on here.
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wrote down a list of everything i ever wanted to do, but drinking prevented
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taught myself a new skill. I always wanted to cook like a professional. So I reasearched and practiced
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i joine a recovery group
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Welcome, Kelli!
You’ve already been given some great advice but I just want to add one thought, because you mentioned your shame at drinking.
If alcohol was invented tomorrow it wouldn’t be legal. I know that doesn’t matter so much but when you consider the fact that (in the U.K. anyway) you can’t even buy apples without a beer promotion staring you in the face, it’s ridiculous. Anyway, there is no shame at all in having recognised that you want to drink less, only positivity and respect. Stick around please!
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Congratulations on making this realization in your life. I had the same, recovery is different for everyone. I was like you and that was my “rewared” or "relaxation " mode in the evening. Here’s what I did and I haven’t had alcohol in 497 days.
For me, I had to realize it was not the alcohol I really wanted or missed, I had created a habit. It takes at least 30days to break a habit, so buckle up.
I exchanged my wine for nonalcoholic wine. I still had my glass of wine every night, but no alcohol. I mean how could I cook pasta without a glass of red wine? This made it so much easier to remove alcohol from my life. There are so many amazing nonalcoholic wines, bubbles, beers and spirits out there it’s easy to just replace every thing on your bar with NA.
For the 1st few months I had a glass or two every night, then I noticed my mindset started to change. I stopped desiring a glass of wine at night. Now I hardly ever have one.
When I go out with friends, if the bar or restaurant doesn’t carry NA WINE, most don’t and I’m allergic to gluten so can’t do the NA beer, I bring a bottle. I’ve never been told no and have never been charged a corkage fee. Most are interested in it, I have them try it and urge them to carry something zero proof.
There’s a whole zero proof movement out there, I’m certainly trying to do my part in thr normalization of drinking zero proof.
You’ve got this! You’ve stronger than you think. I have 2 coworkers who have also stopped drinking this way… All wine moms (Hate that fing term BTW) But… we did it and you can too!
Waking up clear headed, no headache, clear mind at work, being present… so many beautiful gifts you’re going to be giving yourself.
Be Strong
Be Brave
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You’re not alone. I’m in the exact same boat. Started with a bottle of wine and then escalated to needing those pre-mixed cocktails on top of it. Stay strong, you can do this.
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