41. Beyond Dry January

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Hello, darling heart, and welcome to the drink less, live better podcast. This is the podcast that helps you to see that drinking

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less doesn't need to be stressful, lonely, or boring. I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided to have a year alcohol

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free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back. With my experience and training, I now help other women with their

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alcohol free or drink less adventures. You can find out more about me and sign up to my 5 day drink less challenge at drink

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less live better dot com. I'm here to tell you that you can relax, connect, and have fun without alcohol in your life. Join

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me here each week to find out how. Well, here we are. If you're listening to this podcast in the 1st week of February, you

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have made it through to the end of January, the longest month ever. February is here and you can breathe out a massive sigh

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of what? Relief, disbelief, tension, surprise, joy, hope, relaxation, grief? What? What do you breathe out? Do it with me

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now. Okay, we're going to take a deep breath in together through the nose and then breathe out long and slow through the mouth

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while we think of the feeling. What came to you? I'm feeling joyful about all the people who have used this opportunity to

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reassess their relationship with alcohol. Some people will, of course, be planning to prepare to return to their drinking

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ways and be totally happy with that. They will think that they've given their liver a bit of a break, enjoyed some better

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sleep, and perhaps explored a few new or different ways to socialise. There will also be a whole host of people who have really

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enjoyed the experience and will have made another commitment to their health and well-being to continue perhaps for another

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month, maybe 2, 3, or longer. And then there'll be people who didn't fit in either of these camps, the ones who didn't quite

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make it through a dry January, and wonder why it was so hard, those who were tripped up by unexpected events, either good

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or bad, that they felt they needed a drink to celebrate or commiserate, and those who couldn't get started in the first place.

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If you listened to last week's episode, There's a Hole in My Sidewalk, you may have realized that the poem is not specifically

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written about sobriety, although it's often quoted in recovery circles. I see it as being about transformation, how we keep

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on making the same mistakes until we know better and are able to make a change. 1st, we need to notice the change we want

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to make. Then, we need to try new strategies to move ourselves closer to the change we want. We might not get it right for

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a while. We may need different tools, plans and the support of others. Once we decide our new path it's still possible to

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make mistakes, of course, but we learn from them as we go. We learn about that hole in the sidewalk, how to get out of it

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quicker, and eventually how to avoid it altogether. Let's not forget, if you continue to make the same choices you're going

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to end up with the same results every time. Remember, we're all just winging it. We are all flawed and perfectly imperfect.

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We just need to notice the unhelpful patterns, behaviors, and actions and learn what thoughts, feelings and emotions are driving

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them. Thank you for listening today. Please listen in again next week. I'd be delighted if you could rate and review this

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podcast. Thank you. And PS, I believe in you.