This ends funny. Promise.
I decided to do Dry January on a whim for the following reasons:
Ongoing sleep problems (previously addressed but alcohol almost always comes up)
Was looking to cut calories and alcohol has the least nutritional value of stuff I normally eat, not that we need to measure all foods like this, but just saying
Was drinking more at home than I felt was necessary for me. A crunch-time habit of having 1 drink to relax at the end of the day was sliding into 2... or more, but I was not relaxing 2x as much for those 2 drinks.
This sounds stupid, but one time over the holidays I had a Bailey’s spiked hot cocoa and as soon as I finished it I had a raging headache. I don’t know what the fuck that was about (I made it at home). I wouldn’t classify it as a hangover but apparently my body rejected this concept up top.
Honestly? Just to see if I could. I had done dry-3-weeks-of-January several years ago (after an overindulgent New Year’s Eve) but not actually done a full Drynuary.
So far, it’s fine. It’s relatively easy for me because I’m in my 30s, I don’t “go out” in a way that finds me in bars constantly and my friends aren’t going to pressure me into drinking. I will probably face more people accidentally thinking I’m pregnant than peer pressure-ers. (What do pregnant women DO for those months before they’re supposed to tell? Pour their wine into plants? Claim to be constantly getting over a cold?) While watching the Globes I had the thought “Man, a glass of wine would be really nice right now” but I didn’t follow through.
Of all the New Year’s Resolutions, “Dry January” is probably the one that I’ve seen the most backlash to online this year—not the giving up itself, but talking about it. I’m guessing it’s because it has gotten more popular in the past few years. I kind of don’t understand why people seem affronted by it. It’s a self-improvement project same as any. I don’t think I’m going to use it as an on-ramp to stop drinking entirely, but if people do that, good for them! I think I will drift further toward occasional drinks (when I’m making a nice dinner, when we go out, etc.) than I was when I started.
Of course in Chicago the seasonal aspect of this is important. The first winter I moved here people told me that drinking was basically the only thing to do here in the winter, and it’s an exaggeration but... not entirely. It can be tempting to hunker down and in my experience, it DOES take the edge of cold off. But if I’m going to do that it’s gotta be because I’m deciding, not because I just fall into it.
Okay here’s the funny part. I went to a baby shower on Saturday and had to sneak out mid-party to meet my mother-in-law somewhere. It was a surprisingly gorgeous day in Chicago, close to 50, sunny, and I’m standing on the sidewalk waiting for the Uber. Feeling good, feeling relaxed, I’ve got my boots on and suddenly I realize...
THOSE AREN’T MY BOOTS.
I had put on someone else’s shoes by accident. (Likely the guest of honor’s?? YIKES) At the door I reached into the pile of shoes, found a pair of brown boots, put them on and walked. And I was now locked out of the apartment where the shower was. And oh, here comes the Uber.
Several frantic texts later (verbatim message to my Uber driver: Can you hold 5 minutes for me? I put the wrong boots on?) I left correctly shod and laughing.
It’s good that I didn’t do Dry January to stop me from doing stupid stuff ‘cause apparently that’s not going to happen.
