My body really couldn’t handle it. Even my mum said that I should take some rest and recharge my batteries for my internship. Unfortunately, I didn’t listen and got really, really drunk the next weekend. I blacked out. At that point I said to myself: “I need to change this lifestyle.” My best friend and I spotted this thing called ‘Dry January’ on social media. It came at the right time because we both wanted to detox our bodies and improve our health. With a group of three we decided to take on the Dry January challenge.
The first week was pretty easy except for the weekend. We have a big group of friends and our weekends usually involve parties and nights out. That first weekend I realised that it is really nice to have a ‘sober buddy’. You can support and help each other when you are having a hard time trying not to drink.
By the second week, I couldn’t really see what the benefits were of not drinking, but I decided to keep going anyway. I got even more determined when one of my friends quit the challenge. Two weeks down, two weeks to go.
It was the third week when I really noticed some health benefits. Besides not having hangovers on a Sunday, I started to feel really fit. That might sound cliché but it’s true! When I woke up I wasn’t tired, and in my football games I felt in better shape. When it came to studying, I memorised information much faster.
I also really enjoyed using the app. You could mark each day with ‘did not drink.’ That was a satisfying feeling. On top of that, it gave you more insight in your financial life. I saved £40 a week, and instead of drinking on a Friday I had lunch or dinner with family in the city.
In the last week, I started to realise that it was almost the end of Dry January. The past three weeks flew by and on the last Saturday it felt normal for me to have a soda instead of a beer at the football club.
The last day of the challenge I was at the football club. At midnight, everyone started to cheer and applaud, and I immediately got handed a beer. It never tasted so good and I was really proud that I did the challenge. My friends and family thought that I would immediately go on the loose again, but I proved them wrong over the months that followed.
In January, I learned that being fit at the weekends also got you fit during the week. Before I started the challenge, I knew that I would drink after the challenge was over – but I was also a rascal who didn’t know when to stop. After the challenge, I was someone who could moderate. And that has been the biggest lesson for me: learning to moderate my drinking.
Now, after a party weekend, I have some chill weekends to bring some balance to my mental health. Dry January is a great and quick way to assess your relationship with alcohol. I don’t think it’s bad to drink, but I do think you need to be in control of how much you drink. Dry January did that for me: it helped me to moderate my drinking and create a better balance for my health.
