-:
00:17
Hello darling heart and welcome to the drink less, live better podcast. This is the podcast that helps you to see that drinking
-:
00:25
less doesn't need to be stressful, lonely, or boring. I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided to have a year alcohol
-:
00:32
free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back. With my experience and training, I now help other women with their
-:
00:40
alcohol free or drink less adventures. I'm here to tell you that you can be truly joyful without alcohol in your life. Join
-:
00:52
me here each week to find out how. Now, can we talk about Dry January? The idea for a dry Jan campaign was born in 2012. That's
-:
01:01
10 years ago, when Alcohol Change UK started the conversation and movement in this country. Its popularity has soared since
-:
01:11
the idea was first tried on for size and last year over a 130,000 people signed up for it with many squillions more taking
-:
01:20
part without signing up. Footnote here. Squillions. That's a highly technical term and entirely appropriate tool for measurement
-:
01:27
in this instance. I think you'll agree. I'd love to know what your stories are around dry January. Please do email me this
-:
01:37
month and tell me. I'd love to feature your words on the podcast either anonymously or not, as you wish. I've engaged in dry
-:
01:45
Januarys in different ways over the years. I can remember once claiming I was doing it Monday to Thursday, once claiming I
-:
01:54
was doing it as not drinking at home, but if I was out, it didn't count, and once I just made it through the 1st week before
-:
02:03
giving up. My birthday is the 4th January, and I went through many years of telling all my friends that dry jam couldn't start
-:
02:12
until the 5th Jan. Insert eye roll here. I look back on my old self and wonder what I was trying to achieve with that. Was
-:
02:21
it a last ditch attempt to hang on to the old party girl me? I don't know. So dry jam, There are positives to it. Yes. It
-:
02:29
makes for the start of a conversation around our habits. It gives our physical selves a break. It potentially breaks a pattern
-:
02:36
of regular drinking, and emotionally, we get a chance to recalibrate without using alcohol to either cheer us up or numb us
-:
02:46
down, and that's all okay, isn't it? Well, kinda. Thing is, come Feb, I used to go back to my old drinking ways with knobs
-:
02:54
on. Woo hoo. I've had a month off booze. I've proved to myself and everyone else I don't have a problem with alcohol. So back
-:
03:02
to it, and of course there was the same attitude in December. I'm having a month off Jan, so I can drink all the drinks in
-:
03:11
the run up to Christmas and New Year. Hooray. Go me. What if you go into dry jam thinking you can do it and find you can't?
-:
03:19
Who will be there to hold your hand? What if you are overcome by guilt and shame because you didn't achieve what you set out
-:
03:28
to do? Will you laugh it off like I did? Will you beat yourself up in private like I did also? Jan is a rubbish month for
-:
03:38
piling too much onto our to do lists. Any month is a good choice to do dry or any week or any day. Just because we're partway
-:
03:46
through January doesn't mean you cannot start your sober streak right now. Dry January may not be suitable for some people.
-:
03:54
If your body has become dependent on alcohol, stopping drinking without supervision from a medical professional, all team,
-:
04:02
is a serious no no. Thank you for listening to this episode. Please listen in again next time when I either hope you are or
-:
04:10
aren't doing dry January. You can sign up to my 5 day drink less experiment and find out about working with me one to 1 at
-:
04:16
drink less, live better.com. Thank you. And PS, I believe in you.