{"id":9899,"date":"2019-02-09T07:25:35","date_gmt":"2019-02-09T12:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newvinegrowing.wordpress.com\/?p=9899"},"modified":"2019-12-27T11:36:20","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T16:36:20","slug":"what-i-learned-doing-dry-january-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/what-i-learned-doing-dry-january-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"What I learned doing Dry January for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DryI didn’t intend to do Dry January.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

After overindulging during the holidays, as seems joyfully inevitable, I just thought it’d be worthwhile to reset those bad habits.<\/p>\n

John and I have done three-week cleanses together<\/a> before, where we prepare meals that limit sugar, dairy, white flour and more, focusing on fresh veggies and fruits. Since it was just my thing this time, I was a little less gung ho. I didn’t shop for a bunch of extra supplies and didn’t strictly commit to cutting things. Instead, I just wanted to be more mindful.<\/p>\n

I typically prefer to eat heavy on vegetables and whole grains anyway, and with the season of Christmas cookies and eggnog behind us, that felt fairly simple.<\/p>\n

Then I started noticing how many people were talking about Dry January, and I just kind of hitched my cart to their horse.<\/strong> I was going to drink moderately in January, but instead mostly abstained.<\/p>\n

There was a moment of discomfort. Usually my own.<\/h3>\n

I like to socialize, and our socializing often involves having a wine or cocktails.<\/p>\n

My goal wasn’t to abstain from people, just alcohol, so I had to separate the two.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I realized I often overthought how people would react if I ordered juice or seltzer, and initially, I would over explain and apologize.<\/p>\n

Except for a little ribbing from some favorite bartenders, people mostly didn’t notice or care. In a few cases, I was met with support from others also on the wagon and from one bartender who handed me a Dry January menu with thoughtful, sophisticated alcohol-free concoctions listed.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t awkward to anyone but me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alcohol doesn’t have to be synonymous with fun<\/h3>\n

A wise friend of mine observed, “I need to get over the idea that stopping\u00a0drinking<\/span>\u00a0will make me less\u00a0fun<\/span>, it\u2019s not true actually!”<\/p>\n

Our culture has linked drinking with the fun-loving bon vivant, while the teetotaler is an uptight kill joy.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

But increasingly, I have come to realize I don’t especially like the person I am after a few drinks. My lowered inhibitions can lead me to say and do things I regret the next day. Regret does not equal fun.<\/p>\n

What if not drinking, or at least drinking less, is synonymous with fun because I won’t have those regrets?<\/p>\n

Drinking gives us social cover to let loose<\/h3>\n

I was talking with another wise friend about drugs and alcohol, and he observed that they give us social cover to act the way we’d like to but feel we can’t because of our ego or insecurities.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Take for example American men, who might worry it’s un-macho to be too affectionate with\u00a0 friends … unless they’ve had a few beers, in which case it’s “I love you, man” time.
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