I’m going to take part in Dry January this year. I’m a grey area drinker, which means I don’t drink for the alcohol, but for other reasons. Mine is all emotional drinking. In the same way people can be emotional eaters, I have a beer or 8 to block out emotions I tell myself I am not able to process.
I am giving myself the opportunity to spend one month evaluating my drinking habits, with the goal of breaking the cycle.
I’ve got some allies in the UK who are going to also participate. I’m looking for more recruits here on dear old Forumosa.
I stopped for 43 days because of stomach issues. I still have the stomach issues but they are less intense. I had a few drinks Monday night. I’ll be drinking about once every two weeks from now on. The daily drinks were not healthy and I’m sure there was some dependency.
Good luck to you. It’s very doable, I think. It’s also a good idea to share this idea here and with your friends, as you’ll have more motivation to stick to your goal.
Anything more my Asian flush turns into a bit of a rash… It’s a good thing because I think I’ll definitely be an alcoholic without this biological behavioral correction mechanism.
Full respect, but the timing doesn’t quite work for Taiwan, I figure - after all, it’s not as if December here has been a constant round of Christmas and New Year parties.
But I often do something similar for September, because August is usually fun with family and friends in Canada - and so a heck of a lot more booze than I normally drink here.
And very occasionally for Lent, because, um, well, not much of a reason actually. I think just one year I thought “Huh, that 4-5 drinks a week has become closer to 7-8”, so I wanted to recalibrate.