💬 Friday Thread: Dry January?
Do you want to/plan to change your relationship with alcohol this year?
Morning, everyone! ☀️ If you’ve just signed up, a little introduction is probably in order — Fridays are when we gather for a chat, usually on running/fitness/health-related things (and occasionally other topics too), so I thought I’d kick off the new year with a topic I know lots of us wrestle with: alcohol, specifically giving it up for the month of January.
Here’s where I need to revisit a little history of my own, in case you’ve forgotten: a couple of years ago, I shared with you that I was giving up drinking. And I was successful at it — for 83 days! A number I’m really proud of.
But then, I let myself slip and have a glass of wine — “just one couldn’t hurt, right?” — and got back into the habit all over again. For a variety of reasons, I’ve never found the right moment to quit again, so now I’m doing “dry January” as an experiment and a promise to myself. To give up alcohol for at least the next 31 days — which, so far, I’m on day 3 and doing just fine.
My question today is, how about you? Are you doing Dry January? Have you given up drinking before and if so, how did it go? Do you want to — or, is there anything else you’re giving up as an experiment this month?
I’d love to hear your thoughts! — Terrell
P.S. — I’ll be running the Polar Opposite Peachtree 10K 🥶 here in Atlanta tomorrow if you’re here and planning on running it too. Reply in the comments and we’ll try to connect at the race!
I may as well just come right out and say it: I hate alcohol. My biological father was dead by 45 from his addiction. It owns my mother, too, though she is more temperate. It's a class one neurotoxin. It is linked to various cancers. It shatters the lives of millions of American children. It harms people in so many ways that honestly I am shocked that it is legal. But it is profitable, so I'm not shocked. This being said, many people are able to have a balanced relationship with it, unlike my father and my mother. I drank craft beer for years. I relied on the daily softening of reality that alcohol provided. My particular struggle was that I resented drinking for a long time before I gave it up, which is to say I resented myself. I did the fits and starts thing for half a decade. I enjoyed so many nights with friends over pints. I did. But every morning, I felt off, like I was far away from my true self, far away from a man whose highest aspiration in life is presence. I mean presence of mind, presence of capacity, presence of spirit. What if I went to dinner and had two beers, then a friend called me in duress and I, loose on the temporary giddiness of alcohol, was unable to be fully present to that friend in their time of need? What if my dog went into anaphylactic shock in the middle of the night and had to be driven to the emergency vet and I was unable to be fully present in my capacity to get him and myself there safely? I choose sobriety everyday because I want, as a man, to be the safest person I can possibly be to all those in my life who I love and who may need me at my best at any moment. I don't need motivation from the facts about alcohol's physical and psychological damages to stay sober. Abstinence is not the motivation. Presence is the motivation. Sobriety is easy for me because not being at my best for others is intolerable to me, painful to me. Cheers Terrell. Happy New Year.
Okay, wow -- I didn't realize how timely today's thread topic would be.
Just saw this in the NYT -- the surgeon general is calling for warning labels on alcohol:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/health/alcohol-surgeon-general-warning.html