Dry January: Was it Successful?
I like to drink. I’ve always liked to drink. I like the feeling of letting loose, not being in your own head all the damn time, and having fun with friends and family. But even I can admit that I have a habit of not knowing my own limit and being unable to say no.
You know when you go to the doctor and they ask you “On average, about how many alcoholic drinks do you have a week?” and you lie because you’re scared of the doctors reaction when you say a number well beyond what they want to hear? (Same kind of thing at the dentist when they ask you how many times a day you floss).
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking is considered to be in the moderate or low-risk range for women at no more than 3 drinks a day and seven drinks per week. For men, it is no more than four drinks a day and no more than 14 drinks per week.
I’m sorry, but that just can’t be right, can it? 7 drinks a week? Are we forgetting about weekends? By definition, I am far beyond a moderate drinker.However the past few months, with vacation time, the holidays, and football season, I was so over the empty calories, the hangovers, and feeling clouded and anxious. I could literally feel how unhealthy I was. So I decided to do Dry January with hopes of seeing these benefits;
- Reduced anxiety
- Weight Loss
- Better Sleep
- Motivation throughout the day
- Save Money
- Healthier Skin
Week 1
Okay so the first week started out great. I was ready and motivated to succeed. The weekdays flew by with a breeze. I found no reason to drink. However, when the weekend hit, I’m not gonna lie, I struggled. It’s hard to resist something you’ve made so habitual. I wanted more than anything to watch football while having a drink like I had been doing for the past few months. So, you know what I did? I made my way to the grocery store and got me and my sister some alcohol free beer. To be honest, they weren’t bad at all. It satisfied my unnecessary need to sip on something while relaxing on Saturday.
One of my goals starting dry January was to lose some weight. I was putting so many empty calories into my body….like 1,000’s of calories. How hard would this be? It was harder than I thought. I’m pretty sure I ended up eating more food to compensate for the lack of alcohol. lol. My bad.
Week 2
Not so Manic Monday’s
I was so happy I got over the first week hump. I knew that was going to be the hardest for me. You guys don’t know how good it felt to go into work this Monday. It was the first Monday in a long time where I didn’t at least feel a little bit of the effects from drinking the day before. During football season, Sunday was always a drinking day. Most Mondays I was either a little bit hungover, or feeling groggy and cloudy. I was never quite on my A game and gosh it felt so good to be this week.
Dry January was made a lot easier knowing my team was not making the playoffs (Thanks Vikings…)
Sleep
I am also getting such better sleep. It’s crazy. Before I would wake up at random times in the night and not be able to fall back asleep. I am now sleeping through the night and feeling rejuvinated the next day. Checking my sleep scores on fit bit, I was getting low scores in the 60’s and 70’s. I am now getting scores in the 80’s and 90’s. Lets goooo!
Energy
Because of the better sleep I’ve been getting, I can see a difference in my energy. I have been motivated to work out more. I even woke up at 6:30am to go to an Orange Theory class…on a Saturday bruh. I’ve been waking up without having to hit the snooze button before work. I’ve been doing things I’ve been too anxious to do before like making budget plan for myself.
Week 3
Bachelor Monday
No wine for me! I sat down with some alcohol free beer and enjoyed watching drama unfold on the Bachelor this week.
(Was a little weary coming into this season but it’s pretty juicy, I’m not gonna lie.)
Anxiety
Lets talk about anxiety for a second. I have struggled with anxiety for the better part of my life. At times it could be pretty crippling for me. And that has no doubtingly contributed to some of my drinking habits. Especially in the past few years. Not to get too in my feels, but the past two years has been hard, scary, and filled with a lot of worry. 2020 we were hit hard; Racial injustice and a pandemic happening all at once. Literal people dying at the hands of law enforcement and literal people dying because of a virus we didn’t have a vaccine for. Not only were these things scary just as is, but the avalanche of divide and ignorance that followed was too much.
These past few years, we really got to see where political figures, celebrities, family, and friends lied. The line was drawn and shit was lonely as hell. I think drinking was a way for a lot of people to cope with what was going on around them. Little did I know I was creating a never ending cycle. In my mind drinking would help me feel less anxious. And while that might be true in the moment, most people know that the day after drinking can be mentally and emotionally hard. According to a Healthline article by Kristeen Cherney, PhD, Alcohol changes levels of serotonin and other neurotransmitters in the brain, which can worsen anxiety. In fact, you may feel more anxious after the alcohol wears off. Alcohol-induced anxiety can last for several hours, or even for an entire day after drinking.
So while there may still be a million and one more problems, these past three weeks of not drinking has helped me tremendously. I still have moments of anxiety or worry, it doesn’t linger as long as it would before. For the first time in a long ass time, I’m able to REALLY take a breathe and damn does it feel good.
Oof, that was a lot.
Week 4
I did it! I finished Dry January! It is currently January 31st and I am so proud of myself. Honestly, this week wasn’t the easiest, I would call week 4 a soft win. Mostly due to the fact that I had both my period AND Covid. Quarantine has been lonely and extremely boring. I kept thinking that a drink would have been nice. I mean, c’mon, I’ve watched 5 seasons of KUWTK, downloaded and deleted 10 games on my phone, watched TikTok until my phone died, and took naps even when I wasn’t tired. A girl could have used I drink is all I’m saying. Nah I’m just joking (kinda).
Although I didn’t foresee week 4 looking like this, it’s nice to know that even when things weren’t going my way, I didn’t need to rely on alcohol to make my time any better. And I know it wouldn’t have made my time any better or me any happier because I’m sitting here right now happy as shit that I completed my goal.
In Conclusion
Before I started Dry January, I had a list of things I wanted to see improve. Let’s talk about the results!
Weight Loss
Weight loss was probably the biggest motivating factor in getting me to do Dry January. I have been trying to lose weight for awhile and am currently on a journey to create a healthier more confident me so I thought cutting out alcohol is sure to help! And it did, but not in the way I thought it would. I didn’t drop pound after pound as soon as a cut out the alcohol. But I can literally feel that my body is healthier. I’ve been having way less digestion issues, I’m less bloated, I’m more active, my mental health is in a better place, etc. I can honestly say that as the days went on this month, losing weight was no longer my purpose or my goal. I was experiencing and appreciating other benefits that were giving me confidence in myself, and making me a healthier person.
Reduced Anxiety
I am an anxious person and I always have been. So I still had my moments because thats life and I have anxiety. Removing alcohol is not going to erase that. BUT as I said in week 3, I saw a major difference in the amount of anxiety I was having and the things I was doing to cope with it. I definitely appreciated the lack of worry/sadness/anxiety the day after a night out/drinking can cause. I was in a happier and simpler place this month and that feels great.
Sleep/Motivation
I’ve known that people get worse sleep when drinking. I’ve had many experiences with either waking up at random times in the night and not being able to fall back asleep or just waking up feeling like I didn’t get any sleep at all. This month I had a months worth of good sleep. You can even ask my Fitbit. I have been more energized, and alert. Because I was more energized and alert, I was more motivated than normal to do things, such as working out. we all get into periods of time where it seems almost impossible to get the motivation to workout when watching a movie sounds so much better. But this month I was much more easily motivated which felt amazing.
Mo’ Money
Oh god, I don’t even want to put a number to the amount of money I spend on alcohol. Its probably been a lot less ever since I stopped going out as much since the start of the pandemic. But it’s also probably more than I would like to admit. It was so nice being able to save money this month. Because of Dry January, I took the time to create a budget plan for myself. This month was a great segue into making smarter financial decisions in the future.
Skin
My skin has been acting up the past two years. I’ve been breaking out where I wear my mask, and my face has been really dry. I was thinking alcohol could have been a contributing factor, but now that its the end of the month, I didn’t really notice a change. I guess I just have dry skin and maskne but that’s neither her nor there. Moving on.
Relationships
The way alcohol can affect relationships isn’t something that I have thought about before, but wasn’t a motivating factor. However, after this month, I realized that my relationship with my boyfriend was something that benefited this month. It all makes sense though, the benefits above are going to translate into my relationship as well. There were much less silly arguments and unnecessary moodiness. I’m sure he appreciated that as well;)
Moving Forward
Tomorrow is February 1st which means Dry January is officially over. The question is, am I going to have a drink? Yeah, probably. Am I going to go into the rest of the year mindful of all that I experienced this month? Hell yes, I am. This month I’ve learned that my body works so much better when I’m treating it better. Crazy how that works, huh. For real though. I like to drink, and there’s nothing wrong with having fun and drinking, to a certain extent. I’m going to go into the rest of the year making changes to the way I consume alcohol. I want to continue making progress in my journey to becoming a healthier, more confident woman, and this part of that effort.
Cheers
Peace, Love, Sweet Scented Wildflower
