Dry...

Dry January has been a breeze this year. I mean, it helps that I just never started drinking again after Dry July but whatever...

It's been funny to watch the evolution of Dry January start to run its course. It started a few years ago (or at least that's when it hit enough of popular culture that most of us knew what it was) and it did the slow burn start. A few people did it, then a few more. People dovetailed it with Whole 30 programs. Which they started because of New Year New Me resolutions. 

Dry January just sort of makes sense after the really indulgent holidays. Brent and I did it for a couple of years, I want to say 2019 and 2020. January 2020 was pre pandemic, we did not try in January 2021. Fuck that shit. But it was a thing, it was actually a bit of a challenge which we were surprised by because we weren't really big drinkers. But the times we did drink had become an ingrained habit. A bourbon with our BBQ, a margarita at Allan's on Friday, a cider at the game. So just breaking the habit was good. Thinking about it. 

But February would come, we would head to Hawaii and Mai Tais were ON. 

So what did it really do except enforce that you can do anything for a month? Not just for us, but for everyone doing it. So you went a month without drinking then picked it right back up. What did it do for you?

And then people started making a lot of nonalcoholic botanical drinks to give you the sensation of drinking, the ritual of drinking but without alcohol. Which some of them are really good and I like that bars offer them now, sometimes. I mean, I don't always want to drink water or a Sprite. I'd like a fancy fruity specialty drink too. But they had to market them to people who are "sober curious" and bullshit like that. Because for some reason drinking is the normal thing instead of not drinking.

And just like that, as it became mainstream for people to not drink at all Dry January is over. Now we've moved on to Damp January. For those people who cannot wrap their heads around 31 days without a drink, how about just drink less? Again, like drinking is the normal thing instead of the oddity. And honestly...if you can't make it a month without a drink maybe drying out completely is a good idea?  

I've talked about it before, I have gone ages without drinking at multiple times in my life. I was a bigger drinker in high school than I have been at probably any other point in my life. (allegedly, assuming that the statute of limitations is WAY past) But because I drank a lot then I know how easy it would be to drink a lot all the time. And with a mother who constantly stressed how we had alcoholism in our family and a fairly high tolerance I was pretty cautious. I stopped drinking when we decided to get pregnant and I didn't drink again until Katie was like 3 I want to say. 

And oh boy, that first time was a lot. It was a company party and the brothers who held the party made sure my cup was never empty. We tried to add it up later and think I did somewhere between 7 and 12 jello shots and had 4 or 5 beers. I threw up so much I'm pretty sure my stomach turned inside out at one point. I couldn't even look at a side of salad dressing without getting queasy for years afterward. (They made the shots in the little plastic cups that dressing comes in)

So that was that for drinking again for a long time. Just didn't need that in my life. Thank you. 

The crazy thing about being a non drinker, but not an alcoholic is that people really don't like it. They are insulted that you don't drink. Or at least act like it. And when you do have a drink they treat it like they won something. Oh...you're having a drink. I didn't think you drank...I see. 

And even when I am in a phase where I drink, I don't drink much. A drink. One time a week. Sometimes on vacation I'll have two. And if we are taking a full lazy day at the resort I might have 3 or 4 all day. Crazy! But that's still rare. Open bars are always a waste on me. I'm probably going to stick to one before dinner and one with dinner and call it good. It's okay, there is alway someone there drinking my share. 

I haven't decided yet if I'll drink when we go to Hawaii this year (yay! we're going back after missing last year!). I do like a Mai Tai. But I also have liked not having hot flashes over night while my body processes the alcohol. 

Because that was what triggered this time quitting. I had to stop bourbon because it was triggering the joint pain. (Dark alcohols have more congeners than clear ones and if you are sensitive to them they cause more issues) But then I noticed that on nights when I'd have a cider at the game I'd have more hot flashes. And more severe. Did some experimenting to see if it was something else; a snack, or the excitement, or the odd hours, and no, it was the booze. So I stopped drinking in July completely and yeah, it's better. 

I also go through phases where the fact that your body breaks alcohol down into poison, no matter how much you drink, there is no perfectly safe amount, just amounts that they don't do as much damage, really bothers me. There is no other substance that we'd be like, okay, look I don't eat a lot of poison, just a little bit a few times a week. It's fine.

Is it? Is it fine?

And when that "It's poison" voice is louder than "I really like the way bourbon tastes" I stop drinking. 

Until I start again. 

So for right now I am in a not drinking cycle. People will assume I'm an alcoholic and if they ask and I correct them that I just don't drink they will get a little bent. It's all pretty familiar territory by now. But still weird.

The only other thing that people seem to get really personally attached to is my hair. So imagine if I decide to cut it all off while I'm in a sober phase? 

Heads will explode.  

No worries. As of right now I'm thinking about growing it out to my waist. The only thing that might change that is how freaking long it takes to color now that it's longer. If I have to choose between red and length I think red will win. 

Cheers to that.