Dry January

[Konki]

Anyone done this before? How'd it go, did it lead to any permanent change, what were the positives and negatives? Ta very much.

I'm seriously considering it for a number of reasons, the main one being I have a baby on the way and these hangovers won't mix well with screaming and nappy changes.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Yeah, that's a fucking good idea. Be sober in the most fucking miserable month of the year. The fucking Chrimbo Decks are down, you no longer have a fucking excuse for drinking fucking prosecco or fucking port or fucking Special Brew or what the fuck ever at 10 O Clock in the morning, It's the fucking middle of fucking winter, It's fucking freezing and fucking miserable.
Yeah, nice idea that one, mate.

[Replies From View]

28th December 2018 will mark a full year without alcohol for me.

It didn't start as a Dry January though - I have done that before and I think I drank about 70 units in the first week of that February to make up for it.

For a few years I had admired people who don't drink, as I'd long resented how alcohol is imbued within most social interactions, or can be justified within any season or mood you're experiencing.  Feeling knackered after a hard day of work?  Happy with life and want to treat yourself?  Feeling depressed and hopeless about a deep rut you're in?  Lovely Summer afternoon?  Miserable Winter evening?  Basically everything potentially has alcohol woven through it and I had fallen into the trap of drinking alone, and I was drinking quickly so would never stop at only one or two drinks in a session.  I'll say I was never an obnoxious, hateful drunk, but I wasn't happy with it anyway.  Plus I had the long term issue in my mind of what might happen if I never stopped drinking that much.

And last Christmas I think I just managed to drink so much that my body wasn't wanting any more alcohol for around two weeks into January.  On previous occasions when I've drunk too much, my body has said "no more alcohol for me please" but a few days later I've gone out with some friends and pushed myself to have drinks with them, which has somehow reset my body's inner aversion to drink.  But last January I didn't do this - I decided to stick with not drinking, and then quite soon I realised I was saying no to alcohol not because I was taking a break from it, but because I was no longer a drinker.

Socially it can be a bit weird, because people have this deep-rooted thing where they assume there's something wrong with you if you're not drinking.  Plus you get pangs of regret every now and then that you and your mates aren't going through the same social experience if they're getting drunk and you're not.  But to be honest it's not that bad either; I worried about that more than is justified.  If anything my creativity is stronger now that I don't drink.  As people drink they think they are getting funnier but they're becoming less funny and just louder.


Anyway, sorry - that wasn't so much a Dry January answer as a 'no longer drinking' answer, but you did ask about permanent change which led me to suggest that approaching it as a Dry January might not lead to permanent change.  If that's what you want you may require a slightly different approach.

[Sebastian Cobb]

No, I don't think I'll be doing that.

[Replies From View]

No, I don't think I'll be doing that.

Konki will be dealing with screaming and nappy changes though (to say the very least about what's needed to raise a baby) - will you?

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Konki will be dealing with screaming and nappy changes though - will you?

Yeah, I will.
It's terrible living alone !!!!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Konki will be dealing with screaming and nappy changes though - will you?

Depends on how pissed I get I suppose.

[Replies From View]

I can only accept one version of that joke, I'm afraid.  Please choose between you which one it will be.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I was first, so I was . Yer man Cobb can fuck off.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Seems fair to me.

[biggytitbo]

Vagina dryness is a very serious matter.

[Lost Oliver]

^ I laughed.

[MuteBanana]

Anyone done this before? How'd it go, did it lead to any permanent change, what were the positives and negatives? Ta very much.

I'm seriously considering it for a number of reasons, the main one being I have a baby on the way and these hangovers won't mix well with screaming and nappy changes.

Dude. Dont drink while pregnant. If you're man, grow up. You have responsibilities.

Dry 2019 for you.

[Konki]

Me man me. The plan is to try and stay off it for a while using January as a kick-start (baby due in March).

Thanks for your input RFV, that was an interesting read. I tend to only drink socially now, managed to knock home alone drinking on the head, so that's what will be tough I think. I probably won't have much of a social life after the baby is born though.

[Bobtoo]

I decided to have a Dry December in 2016, and haven't had a drink since. It was partly because I was thinking the same as RFV

For a few years I had admired people who don't drink, as I'd long resented how alcohol is imbued within most social interactions, or can be justified within any season or mood you're experiencing.  Feeling knackered after a hard day of work?  Happy with life and want to treat yourself?  Feeling depressed and hopeless about a deep rut you're in?  Lovely Summer afternoon?  Miserable Winter evening?

partly because we do work for one of the biggest alcohol companies and they are a shower of cunts, partly because I'd noticed my consumption creeping up and it was getting to be too much of a habit, and partly because my weight was also creeping up.

[thenoise]

Yeah, fine I won't drink in January.  At least I can have a fucking wank by then.

[Vodka Margarine]

I thought Dry January was just another part of that whole 'Stoptober' type social experiment craze. It's sad if people feel they have to make very personal decisions according to the law of 'Do a thing in a random month and mention it on the internet an awful lot'. Sadly, British culture tends to normalise dysfunctional drinking to an unhealthy degree, to the point where it becomes a quirky 'thing' in itself when you say "actually, I'm done with this".

[alan nagsworth]

I thought Dry January was just another part of that whole 'Stoptober' type social experiment craze. It's sad if people feel they have to make very personal decisions according to the law of 'Do a thing in a random month and mention it on the internet an awful lot'. Sadly, British culture tends to normalise dysfunctional drinking to an unhealthy degree, to the point where it becomes a quirky 'thing' in itself when you say "actually, I'm done with this".

That's not the only thing it normalises: I regularly see advertisements on the tube and on social media aimed at the stress and anxiety of what is expected to be a normal existence. I saw one with a supposedly reassuring "One less thing to keep you up at night!" message and I've clocked a bunch of shit on Instagram stating "if you're feeling anxious, stop scrolling and read this", often pushing apps with simplified pleasantries such as breathing exercises to reduce the crushing, multifaceted and definitely-not-simple mental health issues so many people face, or convince themselves they may be experiencing, every day. It's fucking piss. I hate it.

[Paul Calf]

Sadly, British culture tends to normalise dysfunctional drinking to an unhealthy degree,

Steady on, Dad.

[Sin Agog]

I decided to have a Dry December in 2016, and haven't had a drink since.

I read that as December 2018 at first and thought, "Whoop-de-doo, it's been all of a day.  I don't think AA even give out chips for that."

[:(]

You'll need to up your drinking to cope with a newborn

[Sin Agog]

Sadly, British culture tends to normalise dysfunctional drinking to an unhealthy degree

Steady on, Dad.

Forums like this even do.  I remember there was this 18 or 19-year-old dude called Skyline or something on the RYM forums who was taking medications + drinking and posting on a thread specifically made for addled drunken poetry.  He was good at it, too, like a malaised millennial Keats.  The kids in there loved the affected fatalism of fucked posting- gave their desk-lives a bit of a sheen.  Well, anyway, after being egged on by e-friends who really liked him, he died a few hours later.  Think that may have even happened twice on there!

Drinking in lieu of addressing a problem is lame.  It can be a casual act, but generally speaking it's better to just accept your shyness, or whatever the catalyst is, than chemically Hyde it away every night.

[Emma Raducanu]

This time last year, I was working closely with a colleague who had become a genuine alcoholic. He was pissed from 7 in the morning and started getting sent home. He was like my best friend at work; one of the few quiet, gentle people I could have decent conversion with. I looked out for him, tried supporting him back to health.

I know he'd been banging this stunning Brazilian woman who'd used him and left. Guess that's why he turned to drink. One time he set fire to an oven and just walked away and started to drink. It was devestating seeing him decline. It was about this time that I realised my own relationship with alcohol was entirely healthy. I'd go 6 months without touching a drop and didn't even think about it. Recently I've been drinking the odd 330ml bottle in the evening. I enjoy it and plan on drinking more frequently as Christmas approaches. As the festivities die down, I'll probably naturally drink less and January seems a good time to start getting healthy again. My old colleague was sacked last march. Haven't seen him since but I'm informed he's way worse now.

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

Unless you're intending to stop altogether, Dry January seems a bit pointless to me as most people I know who've done it, have just carried on as normal in Feb and for the rest of the year. It's just an alcohol equivalent of a fad diet really, unless you stick to cutting down your boozing permanently.

Fucking love the booze myself, but not to a self destructive level so I'll be giving dry January a miss once again.

[pancreas]

I won't do it and you can't make me

[Ferris]

Me man me. The plan is to try and stay off it for a while using January as a kick-start (baby due in March).

Thanks for your input RFV, that was an interesting read. I tend to only drink socially now, managed to knock home alone drinking on the head, so that's what will be tough I think. I probably won't have much of a social life after the baby is born though.

Baby due in Jan for me. I'm stopping drinking after New Year's Eve and seeing how I go.

I did a dry January this year and felt amazing at the end of it. Looking forward to that feeling again. By July I was back on the sauce as hard as ever, so it didn't stick but I'd like it to really.

[Emotional Support Peacock]

I definitely should experiment with a month off and see how I go from there. But as Lisa Jesusandmarychain says, starting in January seems like it will just make it harder. I'm thinking I'll do it in March or early April as it starts getting lighter and warmer.

[Jockice]

I am going to drink in January. Well certainly on January 4th. Because a certain someone in my life has her birthday on that day, which is possibly the shittiest day or the year to have a birthday. My sister also has a January birthday. She doesn't like it. At all.

[Jockice]

Socially it can be a bit weird, because people have this deep-rooted thing where they assume there's something wrong with you if you're not drinking.  Plus you get pangs of regret every now and then that you and your mates aren't going through the same social experience if they're getting drunk and you're not.  But to be honest it's not that bad either; I worried about that more than is justified.  If anything my creativity is stronger now that I don't drink.  As people drink they think they are getting funnier but they're becoming less funny and just louder.

my mates are used to me not drinking now. It's almost a decade since I last got pissed and although I'll very occasionally have a pint of lager or a white wine or a g&t (the only alcoholic drinks I can bear the taste of) that is it. One. But I still also occasionally have to listen to the 'go on pal, have a drink, have a good time' stuff. I even once had someone say that he couldn't imagine having a good time without alcohol. I actually found that pretty sad.

It's only when you don't drink yourself that you realise how bombarded with and dependent on alcohol British society is. Like that TV advert about drinking gin at 5pm. It's considered totally normal. Not that I object to people drinking., unless they start acting like an arsehole. It's not a moral thing for me. It's just that alcohol doesn't do it for me (or does it too quickly. I have a frighteningly low tolerance level which has got even lower as I've got older). Nor, as some people have asked me, am I a recovering alcoholic, which they seem to think is the only reason why anyone would choose not to get pissed.

I don't have any creativity though, so that doesn't matter.

[confettiinmyhair]

I decided to try for a 12 month spell of not boozing, and I haven't touched a drop since the 24th of December 2016. Partly it was because I was dating someone in sobriety, partly it was because I was drinking to cope with stress. The drawbacks have been in recent months now losing that relationship, which makes me want to booze to oblivion, realising my addictive personality moved on to snacks and takeaways, which has saw me gain weight and feel like a useless podge, and my social life dwindled because mostly meeting up with people happened in pubs or merry gatherings. I'm now trying to cut down on eating junk in 2019. Probably going to be more miserable.

Maybe drink in moderation OP?