Member-only story

Psychology

Dry January: The Only Guide You Really Need

Brad
5 min readJan 1, 2022
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

Even though I like to drink regularly, a dry month is a great opportunity to reset, recharge, and regain clarity. Heading into my fifth dry January, I thought it would be helpful to share some advice on how to get through it who are trying. After all, alcohol is an addictive substance and even if you’re not an alcoholic, it can be a challenge.

If you already drank this month, it’s ok, start today, or just try a dry February. Because it’s a shorter month, it’s perfect for first-timers.

Fill your time

Time changes during a dry month. I realize how much time I spend drinking, getting beer, or thinking and talking about beer with my friends. Beyond that, there is also a bit of “time dysphoria” where the day just feels uncomfortably longer. Usually, I might have a few beers and watch movies, suddenly finding it’s time for bed. In a dry month, you may catch yourself looking at your watch after a long day and it’s 2 PM. You need to find something to fill your time so you don’t sit around and think about drinking.

This is the perfect time to take on projects such as learning chess or a new language, home improvement, anything that’s going to be productive, engaging, and beneficial. It has to eat up a good amount of time but also be rewarding. Even if…

--

--

Brad
Brad

Written by Brad

Writer, experimenting with life.

No responses yet