Dry January
A couple of years ago, I decided to do a Dry January. That means no booze at all, for any reason (yes, even at a birthday party / wedding / after a bad day / whatever) for the entire month. To some people, that might not sound like a big deal, but to me it sounded like a major commitment. Before I gave this a try, I wasn’t even a huge drinker or partier — I would do wine on weeknights, and maybe a some cocktails on the weekends with friends. So, my Dry January was not about “detoxing” or turning around a serious bad habit. Mostly, I wanted to see if having a sober month was something I could do. I also wanted to see how it would make me feel (better? more focused? totally the same?). Going in, I figured I would probably miss having a drink with my friends on the weekends, but as it turned out, the effects were way more far-reaching than that. My first-ever dry January not only totally changed my relationship with alcohol; it changed some of my friendships, and I’d even argue it changed my life. In fact, January 2016 will be my seventh Dry January.
Intrigued? If you are planning to try a Dry January, there are some important things you need to know before you embark on this challenging, enlightening, and ultimately rewarding booze-free journey. Here we go.
You might want to try not to get totally wasted on NYE
The first two weeks will be really hard.
You’ll realize that almost all social life is centered around food and drink.
A lot of people, including your close friends, will be SUPER annoying and unsupportive about your decision.
Tell people you’re on some SERIOUS antibiotics or, in very extreme cases, tip your bartender for club soda.
You might decide you don’t like your friends anymore.
This sounds horrible, but it needs to be said: Being dry for the month might make you realize that some of your friends kind of suck, or at the very least that you don’t have much in common with them apart from drinking. What happened for me was this: I realized that some of the people I was hanging out with would all get drunk together and tell the SAME STORY AND JOKES OVER AND OVER AGAIN AD INFINITUM. It was shocking. And it shocked me mostly because it made me reflect on myself: After all, just a couple weeks before, I was probably that guy. I was the one telling the same stories and jokes over and over again. Which led me to realize that… .