Are you joining the ever-increasing number of people doing Dry January this month?
Whether for a quick health kick, to get your alcohol intake back under control, or if you are thinking of more permanent changes, a 30 day break from alcohol can work absolute wonders for your physical health and your mental wellbeing.
Most if us know alcohol is a poison - and ethanol is the same stuff you put in your car to drive from A to B. Once ingested, our bodies stop everything else to get rid of it. We are machines! The most amazing thing of it all though, is how quickly our bodies can rebuild once we take an elongated break. Sleep gets better, really quickly, and your skin, your hair, and even your weight improves for many. You will start to notice the difference in as little as a few weeks, or even days for some.
But there is no need to white-knuckle this. Here are some fantastic tips to make your challenge fun.
Download the 30 Day Free Alcohol Experiment.
This one is a no-brainer. It's free, and it's an app, so can be used anywhere. Cleverly designed by the team at This Naked Mind, it uses daily snippets of educational information and videos to remap your thinking about drinking. It is super interesting too, it blew my mind the first time I did it!
Get started here: 30 Day Alcohol Experiment
Read Quit-Lit as you go.
This really works, trust me. I could not get enough of these when I took my first breaks! Highly recommended are:
This Naked Mind by Annie Grace
Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker
The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Gray
Alcohol Explained by William Porter
Change your mindset
Yup - rewire required!
Instead of thinking "ugh, another night with no alcohol and no fun", think "I get to be hangover free again tomorrow!"
And start to notice the little things. For example, as you brush your teeth in the morning, notice how much cleaner and brighter your teeth are, and how much healthier your gums are looking. Take a look at your eyes, too. Not bloodshot anymore, are they? And when you are driving to work in the morning, relish the fact that if there are police pulling people over for sobriety tests in the road ahead, you have zero to worry about! It's the little things that add up... Notice them, pay attention to them, and hell, even journal them. Which takes me to the next suggestion....
Journal everything!
Yup, write it all down. Future you will thank you for it, trust me. This stuff is going to make epic reading material for you in the not-too-distant future. Not only that, but writing everything down reinforces it to your brain as well, increasing your success rate massively! You absolute hero!
Change your other habits
Do you normally go to a bar after work? Or on Fridays?
Change it. Take this opportunity to try something new. Even if your friends and colleagues are still drinking, nobody will say no to a night of LazerQuest, or pottery painting, learning archery, axe-throwing, or spending an evening ridding yourself of stress in a smash shop! Just think of all the fun you will have together, throwing bottles at walls and smashing crockery! Endless fun, and far more interesting to stick on your socials than "went to the bar. Had a beer. Bleurgh."
Think about it... You know I am right. Epic nights for the win!
Treat yourself
Guess what... Alcohol costs a lot of your hard-earned money. If you totted up how much you spend in a year it would make your eyes water. And right now, you are saving loads of it. So spend it on YOU without any guilt whatsoever!
Just think, previously you would have just poured it down your throat, and then perhaps thrown it back up again on a heavy night. Why not buy yourself those boots instead, and you can have something to keep AND you'll look fabulous! Or get that game you have been wanting for ages. Or, hell, that new tech you've been dreaming of. You've earned it - You're doing something awesome! Now look at those boots, or that new tech, and feel real pride. You got something good instead of pouring poison down your throat.
So many ideas.... so much to tell you
Honestly, the list could go on and on, but I appreciate I probably only have four or five minutes of your time here, if that.
The biggest tip is keep going, and feel an immense sense of pride in what you are doing right now.
Don't let those clever alcohol marketers win this month. Lose the herd mentality of our alcohol-saturated culture.
Good luck, and let me know how you get on!
Amanda x
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