Dry January - A fresh start

Dry January: The First Step to My Sobriety

As January approaches, I'm reminded of my journey. This month marked the beginning of a profound transformation for me. It was more than just a break from alcohol; it was the first crucial step towards a clearer mind and a more wholesome life. Over the years I have developed quite a heavy drinking habit (among other bad habits), and it was only made worse with the onset of work-related holiday happy hours. Being in Sales it was a very busy season for me which meant a lot of drinking.

Somewhere along the way, I picked up on this Dry January trend and jumped on the bandwagon. The first time I did it seemed like a herculean undertaking to be able to not drink for a whole 4 weeks. Friends and coworkers doubted me and would make comments like “You’ll be drinking by the end of the week” as they would shrug off how seriously I took it. But this only motivated me more to prove that guy wrong. At the start of Feb, I felt great, and most notably, I had lost something like 20 lbs. I looked great and I felt great! I also saved a little money, but at that time, I wasn’t keeping track of the financial side of it and I didn’t know it back then but I was spending close to a Thousand dollars per month on Alcohol on average. I was so happy with the results that I vowed to repeat it every year and would add an extra week with every year that would come to pass. In 2020 Dry January had accumulated 4 extra weeks and turned into Dry January and February. Then Covid hit, and my drinking reached an all-time high.

I used to brag about how much I drank and took pride in my ability to hold my liquor. I loved drinking, and never expected to be 100% sober, but at the Apex of my alcoholism, I faced a fork in the road and needed to choose between sobriety or deep regret and despair. The circumstances of this decision will be discussed in future issues of “The Sober Thinker” but I can tell you this for now – I chose to fight for a better life and was ready to give up drinking. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the annual tradition of abstaining from alcohol at the start of the year gave me the necessary mental readiness and habitual preparedness to give up drinking for good. As of this weekend, I am two years sober and I could not be happier. Since then my life has dramatically changed for the better, and Dry January was the first step of that transformation and without it, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to stop.

Key Takeaway: I encourage you to challenge yourself and start this yearly tradition of abstaining from drinking alcohol for a whole month in January. You may not want to be completely alcohol-free, but maybe in the future you will decide to do it, and building this habit of being able to cut yourself off from booze for a whole month, long term, will empower you with this incredible tool to be able to break the cycle and take control of this habit of drinking alcohol.

Are you doing a Dry January? Let me know!

Discover more from Sober Sober Thinker:

1. 🤝Join our sober fun meetup group: Movie and a Dinner | Meetup 

2. 🍾 Tost - All Natural Non-Alcoholic Sparkling Drink: My favorite Non-Alcoholic drink. Just in time for New Year’s Celebration!

3. Forbes: 10 Perfect Mocktails To Enjoy While Observing Dry January

4. Why Dry January is Good for Your Health

Mind Map for Dry January:

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Cheers! ;)

Amir.