Signing Up For Dry January

Dry January, ever heard of it or ever tried it? I never have, tried it that is, it’s not something that’s ever even been on my radar but after a slightly tumultuous December I’m giving it a shot. Yep, I’m saying that out loud, I’m really doing it. I am, I am. Previously, giving up alcohol for a month, especially the month straight after you’ve basically hammered it non stop always seemed totally pointless to me, surely feeling a bit blue in January the odd glass of wine might help right? But this year I feel like my body needs a rest and re-boot and I feel that stopping drinking for at least a month is the right thing to do (or at least try, she says positively :))

booze pic

Dry January is incredibly popular, according to the Daily Fail more than 2 million people have signed up for the challenge this year. I’m not signing up for sponsorship but just the numbers signing up this year show the amount of people who also want and need to give their bodies a rest too. When Boxing Day happened my way to solve this was to get incredibly drunk, then at a family gathering a few days later I got (very) drunk again, and finally there was New Years Eve and, yep, once again, drunk. I feel like I’ve been trying to blot out what happened, which is okay (I’m giving myself a break here) but grabbing a glass of wine is often how I will handle a stressful situation and waking up the next day looking and feeling like crap, never helps, in fact it often makes me feel worse and incredibly guilty.

I’ve always enjoyed a good drink, I love it in fact but I’m actually a very bad drinker and a terrible lightweight. In any social situation drinking eases my nerves and helps me settle in, but often what happens is that I get over excited and drink too much too quickly. I am not a relaxed drinker, I’m a fast drinker and maybe when I was in my twenties that was something to be proud of but not anymore. Outside of social situations I tend not to drink Monday to Wednesday, but come Thursday I’m gasping. Especially if I’ve had a hard day with the kid I feel like I’ve earned that glass of Sav Blanc once she’s in bed. I’ve tried half hearted attempts at cutting back before but I’ve never seen it through, but since the miscarriage, I feel like I owe it to myself to try and fix things. I feel like I owe my body that at least, it needs a chance to recover and if I want to get pregnant again, given that it’s clearly not happening easily then lets give it the best shot eh.

I’ll let you know how this goes, so far I’ve been feeling pretty smug but then I remember it’s only the 4th of January and I had my last drink five days ago, whoops. I have a friends birthday drinks this weekend but I’m driving to avoid temptation, then I’m pretty much planning on avoiding all friends for the rest of January (joke) Wish me luck!

 

 

 

 

 

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