#dryathalon

[top10films]

Dan Aykroyd in Trading Places is one of our  Top 10 Movies To Motivate Your Dryathalon

[anothervgenericaccount-blog]

#DryJanuary #dryathalon #dryjanuary #alcoholfree #boozefree #health #detox #willpower #selfdiscipline

[elusivechord]

One month. No alcohol. Raising cash and eyebrows for cancer research. BRING IT.

[anniee1987]

#Dryathalon #September2016 #SponserMe #NoAlchoholForAMonth #CancerResearch #BeatCancer #CancerSucks #DigDeepInYourPockets

[thewanderingwally]

The Verdict

And the verdict is.. It was a fantastic experience, at times truly eye-opening, and i would recommend to anyone.

I agreed to partake in the dryathalon through January with a colleague after having quite a heavy December - there was good times with Christmas parties, time off work and plenty of friends around but the fact is; it was mostly a blur, and an expensive blur looking back.

New years day i awoke with a slamming headache and a racing heartbeat. This was much like many of the mornings i had experienced through December, so nothing really new there. I was awaiting the arrival of my mum and step-dad who were traveling down from London to spend the weekend here in Falmouth. On there arrival we headed down to the new pizza place across the road and this is where i had my first drink craving. It was less than 8 hours since i had been standing (wobbling) at a bar ordering my last drink of the New Years celebrations but still the instinct reaction to my parents coming down was to take them for a drink - put headache and racing heartbeat aside. Hair of the dog had been a Christmas hangover cure but it's probably best for everyone to kick that particular habit if it persists. Anyway, we arrived at the bar of the pizza place; "What would you like to drink?" asked the girl behind the bar. "Lime & soda" i replied to my mothers and step-fathers amazement. "Oh yes, you are doing that Dry January thing aren't you?!" "That's right, so i have to start now.." I replied in an almost already defeated tone. "Are you really gonna go through with it? You know it will do your health no better" claimed my step-dad - right now at this present time i have his statement set clearly in my mind because boy was he wrong - who was enticing me to give in early and forget about it. These sort of quotes happened regularly, but after the first dry week i had already learned how to counteract them verbally as well as psychologically. So I managed to avoid the drink over that weekend and then in the following week I had to travel up to Derby for a funeral. The funeral wasn't so much a drinking do so i managed to resist temptations and then by that point i had made it through 1 week without too much hassle.

Week 2 i arrived back in Falmouth, and my drinking crave had returned. I was back to only working 2-3 shifts in the pub compared to the 5-6 i was doing over the Christmas period. I would have thought that by cutting down the hours around alcohol would help, but it didn't. This is where i discovered another factor of alcoholism; Boredom. I was bored and lacking social involvements, and this was frustrating me. Social invitations and even general conversation began to decline when people realised that i was taking this dryathalon seriously. They thought that by contacting me they would be tempting me back to the booze. This was only partially true, i really did miss hearing from them. This left me with little to do apart from sit downstairs in the basement/living-room watching Breaking Bad whilst freezing my ass off. It was extremely cold. I refer to this week now as the "going cold-turkey" week. To be taken literally as well.

Once i passed the cold-turkey stage, everything seemed to be brighter. Looking back at one of my previous posts Half-way Dry written on the 18th January (two and half weeks in) i can see how i had overcome a great challenge, it read; "We have passed the half-way mark, hurrah! It really isn’t that difficult is it?" Although, just 2 weeks dry doesn't really sound like a great achievement does it? But it was! Try it yourself and you will see - unless you are a monk, nun, amish or any other non-drinker stereotype. Sure, i've done dry runs in the past but the majority of them were due to medical reasons or money shortages so it's a completely different ball game doing a dry run in good health and in good wallet. 

It really was all downhill from that point, i barely noticed any cravings and dare i say began to enjoy not drinking! Time was flying and i was in very good health indeed. Until the 29th January.. That's when i was prescribed a weeks course of antibiotics due to a random small lump appearing just above my eye. It came from nowhere, literally had no idea. Within taking the first round of meds i was out sparko! Knocked completely out for the count for three days. 1st February had been and gone, still no drink. And you know what.. it didn't even bother me.

And so my verdict would be to recommend everyone (if you have a drink) to experience a dry run so you can see for yourselves. I think everyone's experience will be different from each others and different lessons will be learned. For me though, it proved that i had a lot of psychological connections to drinking that i didn't realise were there. Although, when i saw the bigger picture i was cured, and cured for good. For future benefit i will now be able to recognise these small triggers and choose what i would like to do to deal with them, as opposed to going blind-autopilot. It's all in your head.

But now it s time to move on to more important posts than dry january, thanks for hearing me out.

[thewanderingwally]

The End Is Near

So the three week landmark has passed and i am now cruising past third base, on my way past the post and home to a complete dry month. Was it really worth it though?

7 months ago i was skint. I was skint, i was in debt, i was homeless and on top of all that i needed to fork out the best part of £800 to put a deposit + 1 months rent down on a room. Things were at a low, the only positive that kept me going was that we had been awarded grant money to start up our business - 'Inner Beats'. I needed money and i needed it fast (dont worry, the next sentence is not going to involve prostitution). I signed up for night work in a fruit and veg place simply called "West Country Fruit & Veg" - it does what it says on the tin. 

The hours were horrendous and the work was tedious, and towards the end of the shift it could become physically challenging. I knew this would be the case before i even started the job but i needed the money and there was no other choice i could think off at the time. I set myself a date, 2 weeks from day one, and this would be the day that i would pack it in take the money and run. Then when I arrived to sign the contracts i discovered a clause that says that "if the new employee leaves at, or before the two week mark then the wages will be reduced by 50%." Bastards, they clearly had me, and probably many other applicants sussed. Fine, four weeks it is. Just to make sure there was no funny business with the payment.

When i first arrived, i was greeted with a traditional west country 'wasson' (as in 'What's on?', a Cornish greeting) from the night shifting crew and then we were straight down to business, no messing around. They were hard people, proper working class grafters, the majority in their late teens/early twenties with a couple of kids under their belts already! I was not this, and they knew this. They looked at me and thought "what is this single bloke in his mid twenties doing here in this dump" i imagined. Anyway, fortunately i have had a history with 'hard graft' jobs so i knew how to put a shift in, and more importantly i knew the banter. Still, i hated it. I counted the days down every night, even repeating the number over and over on the mini bus on the way to the warehouse in order to comfort myself e.g. "repeat over, deep breath, only 12 nights to go, deep breath, only 12 nights to go etc etc."

Anyway, the reason for this story is because i can compare West Country Fruit & Veg to the dry month that i am on the verge of completing. At first, i was counting the days/nights until i was free and able to carry on life as before. This carried on for the best part of two weeks, but then something happened inside me. I realised that i had made it to the halfway point and the end was now in sight. A bit like riding a bike up to the top of a hill and then coming back down the other end, once you get halfway the hard work is over and you  can just glide down the rest of the way. And it's quicker than the first half too! Probably where the phrase "it's all downhill from here" comes from.

I found that i wasn't necessarily counting down the days towards the end anymore as i knew that it would come soon, all i had to do was be patient. In the first two weeks i was forcing the outcome and this made everything more difficult. In both situations, it was a mental challenge - the difficult elements were only created in my head. Now i come away from Dry January as i did from West Country Fruit & Veg. It was a strong life-lesson which shone some light on some particularly gloomy patches. And also i'm financially better off at the end! Couldn't recommend it more.

In fact, i would recommend challenging yourself as much as possible. Whatever it may be, it is you who is your greatest challenger. Beat them and you will both reap the benefits.

I'll speak to you again after passing the finishing posts!

[thefamilytartan]

bottom's up!

It's Saturday night. Steve's at the pub with friends and I'm partying at home. I really really really really want wine at my party.

I'm still sober for the sake of Cancer Research UK. My initial fundraising goal was £100. This lovely human being offered to go sober for a month in Thailand if someone would match my fundraising efforts.....so I cranked my goal up ten notches. (Thanks Sean and Sunil!)

According to the Cancer Research UK site, "£50 can buy enough glass slides for a scientist to examine 1,470 tumour samples through a microscope."

I've surpassed my initial goal. I'm currently at £163.07. Can you help me on the way to my goal of £1000? (Please say yes.)

If you're in the UK, you can donate via text. Send EJOY77 £5 to 70070. Easy peasy.

[thefamilytartan]

i'm a dryathlete

Can you buy a drink for me? I'm not drinking this month.

Cancer Research UK issues the Dryathalon® challenge each January: participate in furthering cancer research by finding people to sponsor you to give up drinking for a month.

When a friend in Cambridge told me about it and asked if I was interested, I felt a bit silly for considering it. The event vaguely targets people who know how to get their party on, asking them to step up and take a "brave and valiant pledge to go dry this January".

Let's be clear: I am neither brave nor valiant. I am not a boozy socialite. I am a woman with two busy toddlers who like to party at 6:30am. A night well spent is no longer defined as a roomy dance floor, high heels and a healthy supply of gin and tonic. Now it's a midday kitchen dance party, a Scandanavian crime drama, a bowl of popcorn and a cold cider followed by an early bed time.

Truthfully, the challenge to go dry for January didn't threaten my comfort zone and I felt like asking for sponsors was a bit of a stretch. Which is a better call to action? "Can you sponsor me to do the impossible and give up my expensive drinking hobby for a month?" or "Hey, can you give me some money for charity? I'm going to buy non-alcoholic ginger beer instead of the real stuff this month." I'll let you figure out which side I fall on.

So why I am doing the Dryathalon® for Cancer Research UK?

Cancer took on a different meaning in 2014. Earlier last year some special friends back home were blindsided when their mom was hospitalized and later diagnosed with cancer. It took us all by surprise. Up until that point, cancer hadn't struck close to me. Now it's very real. Now I have a reason to take the Dryathalon® seriously.

Here is where I need your help.

Let's imagine we're catching up at the pub. We're laughing and having a great time. You offer to buy me a drink because it's been ages and that's the kind of person you are. I flash a grateful smile and explain the Dryathalon. I ask if it's okay to accept your generosity in the form of a glass of water and small donation towards cancer research. You say yes.

Please say yes.

I have set a humble goal to raise £100 and thanks to online charitable giving, you can be generous from wherever you are reading this. All you need to do is head over to my fundraising page and throw down some money.

Dryathalon will be a stretch but it won't break me. I am not brave nor am I valiant for taking part. Sonya and Bridget's mom, Vickie, and all the other people currently battling cancer are extremely brave and valiant. This is a small but meaning gesture to further the research that endeavours to make cancer a thing of the past. That future is worth raising a glass to, don't you think?

Please buy me a drink or four.

xoxo