Dryuary: Why I’m Doing It
It’s January 3rd. Day 3 of Dry January.
I’m not as young as I was in that pic… the booze tends to hit me harder, no matter how many hangover cures I try, so for the past five years or so I’ve participated in “Dryuary”. This is the 5th or 6th year I’ve done Dryuary. Here’s a brief chat about what it’s about and why I take part.
First off: What is Dryuary? The term itself is an abbreviation for “Dry January”. Meaning, no booze for the entire month of January.
Now for the big question: Why do it?
I’m pretty sure it started after a holiday season that went over the deep end in Christmas parties, booze events, crazy dinners and late nights. By time New Years Eve came around it was a foregone conclusion that a massive booze intake would close out the year.
Drinking like that for so many weeks in a row takes a toll on my head and my body. I end up just feeling like you-know-what. I felt so hung over that it took a few days to come back around. It was towards the second or third day of going what I call “bushy tail” (shout out to any M*A*S*H fans who get the reference) that someone – maybe Doug The PromoRat – mentioned, “so you’re doing Dryuary?”.
I wasn’t doing Dry January, in fact I had never heard of it… but that’s what it turned into. After a few days of staying off the hooch, the clear headspace became it’s own reward. So much so that it because a Carl tradition to go off the booze to re-set myself every January. Consider it a way to kick off the New Year with a clear head.
These days, I drink less during the year and during the holidays. Like a lot of people, I tend to use alcohol as a coping mechanism which is pretty dangerous. So, for me, this is a good way to put a big stop sign on that, get a clear head and look at some priorities.
And although I fully admit to pouring a massively huge and delicious Manhattan (rye/sweet vermouth/bitters) on New Years Eve to toast the end of 2023, I’m loving the break from it so far.
There’s a few benefits that you might see if you decide to do this one day.
The first is pretty clear: Less hangovers. Well, duh. The second is you’re saving the bucks you’d normally spend on booze. The third kicks in a few days or weeks after the booze spigot gets turned off: better sleep. I love when that kicks in.
So, if you’re doing any kind of Dry January or maybe a Damp January where you cut back some…. this post is for you. I’ll check in with you every now and then because there’s definitely triggers that make me want to duck back into my little Kentucky Bourbon collection… I’ll share some of that in a different post.
Until then, Happy New Year!
-Carl
