Takeaways from my first dry January

I did it: I went a month without a drop of alcohol. I’m kind of in disbelief, to be honest.

Between the holidays and some tough life stuff going on, I drank way too much in December. Alcohol was my coping mechanism of choice and I leaned into it unapologetically. By the end of the month I was ready for a breather and dry January seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I don’t usually do well with extremes. Diets, fitness plans, team sports, committing to watch entire television series–any kind of strictly regimented thing is most definitely not my thing. Giving up alcohol entirely was a pretty hard-line approach for me, so I’m clapping for my damn self for making it through.

While it didn’t spark any OMGBREAKTHROUGH moments, it was eye-opening in a lot of ways. Here are a few of my key takeaways from my first dry January.

It was easier than I thought it would be

While there were plenty of moments where I thought, man, I could really go for a glass of wine right now, I never desperately wanted a drink. This was a nice surprise.

Pouring a drink is a default in so many situations, from relaxing after work to dinner with my husband to any social gathering, so it was kind of a relief to find I didn’t need it to still enjoy myself in those situations.

My sleep was on point almost every night

This was by far the biggest upside of the month. I don’t think I’ve gotten such good sleep since I was a child. I passed out within minutes of my head hitting the pillow almost every night and woke up feeling like I’d just come out of one of those cryogenic chambers Elon Musk wants to be preserved in.

My anxiety decreased significantly

I live my life waiting for the other shoe to drop. My mind is forever on a hamster wheel of planning, scheduling, and running through ‘what-if’ scenarios so that I’m prepared for however things go. Maybe it’s not anxiety so much as it is being a control freak. Whatever it is, I felt less of it. I made decisions with more clarity and worried less about their outcome.

My complexion didn’t improve at all

My skin without makeup can be a blotchy mess. Certain foods and many skincare products make it flare up, and I’d been hoping that cutting out alcohol would show in my complexion. It didn’t.

If anything, my skin was actually worse than normal this month. I had a few breakouts and the dry winter air had my skin looking scaly and irritated a lot of the time. I guess the silver lining is that I’m not missing out on fabulous skin by starting to drink again.

I felt good… but not amazingly good

The first week of January I felt great! I was exercising daily, I had tons of energy, I was flush with the enthusiasm of a toddler when they hear the baby shark song. Then it wore off and I just felt normal.

I’m not sure if it was a purely mental thing from starting a new routine or if my body got through the detox phase and went back to a state of equilibrium or what, but my husband (who also did dry January) and I remarked to each other around day 20 that we were both surprised how un-amazing we felt.

It wasn’t that we didn’t feel good, but from the way some people talk about dry January you would think they’d found the fountain of youth. I felt good in the way you do when you’re not consuming garbage and taking care of your body, which is great, but it wasn’t anything earth shattering.

Early weekend mornings are the best

It was so nice waking up every Saturday and Sunday without a single hangover. I started most of my weekend mornings early with a walk with Bo and a yoga session followed by homemade brunch. And the days seemed to stretch on forever! I got so much done on the weekends when I wasn’t feeling crappy from one too many the night before.

I saved a boatload of money

If you read my post last week, you know I had the best month of spending I’ve had since Johnny and I got married. That’s huge!

While I spent a lot of time at home in January rather than out and about doing things, the things I did do were significantly less expensive because alcohol wasn’t in the equation. Johnny and I made an agreement that when we eat out in the next few months, we’ll treat drinks as a splurge rather than the standard, which will help keep the positive spending trend going.

I craved sugar like crazy

Oh my gosh you guys, this was awful. I’ve put in so much work over the last year to get rid of added sugar in my life, and this month was a total backslide. I craved all of my food vices like crazy—candy, cake, donuts, sugary cereal, you name it.

I’m guessing my body was trying to compensate for the sugar it was no longer getting from my nightly glass of wine, but this seemed extreme and I wasn’t prepared for it.

I probably won’t do it again next year

Lol. While it was a good experience and something I’m definitely glad I tried, I don’t necessarily think I have much to gain from doing it again. I’d rather just drink more moderately in general and  abstain more often than going to the extreme measure of taking it off the table entirely.

What about you? Have you done dry January? What did you think of it?

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