85. Dry December

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Hello darling heart and welcome to the Drink Less live better podcast.

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This is the podcast that helps you to see that drinking less doesn't need to be stressful, lonely, or boring.

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I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided to have a year alcohol free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back.

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With my experience and training, I now help other people with their alcohol free or drink less adventures.

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You can find out more and sign up to my 5 day drink less challenge at drink less, live better.com.

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I'm here to tell you that you can relax, connect, and have fun without alcohol in your life.

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Join me here each week to find out how. Dry December.

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It doesn't exactly trip off the tongue, does it?

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We're not about to see one of the big charities pick up that idea and run with it, and that's because it would be way too

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out there, too unusual, too difficult to sell as a concept, too odd, too hard to explain, and frankly, unrealistic in their eyes, I suspect. Or is it?

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In 2019, I decided to give myself a break from alcohol.

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I was planning to start on the 1st January 2020, but as the clock was counting down, I decided I should actually just start in December.

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I was only wasting my own time, as my favourite teacher used to say.

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When I woke up on 8th December 2019, I didn't have a crushing hangover.

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I had had 2 gin and tonics the night before.

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We'd been to friends, had dinner, had fun, and slept over.

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I seem to remember I had drunk very little because my friend's husband and I were doing a 10 mile run the next morning.

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It felt fine to get up, run and know the last of my drinking had been done, at least for a while.

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I was glad not to have a big rock bottom moment that resulted in me having to stop.

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I didn't tell anyone else my plan.

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I decided I wouldn't drink in December as a warm up to the whole of 2020 sober.

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Surely, if I could do December then the start of the next year would be easier.

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And I think I was probably right.

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December could be perceived as the most difficult month to do sober because of all the socialising, but once I had set my

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mind to it I was actually okay.

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I didn't buy myself any Christmas booze.

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I made plans for how I would tackle my work night out, my friend's big Christmas night out, my mum friends, and all of the

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rest of the activities that were in my diary.

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I treated myself with nice alcohol free drinks and good food through the month.

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I educated myself by listening to podcasts like this one and reading books in the genre that some people call quit lit, the

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books that are either scientific or perhaps memoirs about people's drinking and people's choice to stop drinking.

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A Dry December might sound weird to you, but I enjoy a little bit of weirdness in my life.

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I do enjoy being an outlier now more than I ever did before when I was drinking. A dry December then. It's unusual. I'm unusual.

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Are you ready to be unusual and embrace this season?

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Be able to spend the time with the people that you want to, clear headed and

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live better 2023 retreat. You'll see the link to a hidden podcast episode to help you with your 5 PM cravings, and you'll

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be able to read about my one to one coaching programme.

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I'd love it if you could follow and download the podcast.

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And if you feel inclined to leave a review, that would be lovely too. Thank you for listening in today.

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Come back again next week, and, PS, I believe in you.