Dry January

“That is asinine.” 

So texted my dear friend Christine to me when I told her I was participating in Dry January. 

She followed up with, “All things in moderation” and “January has to be the worst month anyway for something like that when it’s cold, dark, and not much to look forward to.  June would be a much better month.”

I followed up with, dang, she’s right and went ahead and poured myself a glass of wine, thereby removing myself from the Dry January experiment into the Damp January one.

For anyone not familiar with these terms, let me explain.  At some point in time, someone somewhere started this thing they called Dry January. 

Ostensibly, it’s to help dry you out, clean you up from all your excessive drinking that may have occurred during the holidays. Kind of like hitting the alcohol reset button and getting you ready for the next 11 months of the year with a clean slate.

I am not really sure when this all started, but I first became aware of the trend when a coworker told me they were doing it.  That was pre-Covid, so call it like, maybe 5 years ago.

I looked at them like they had 5 heads.  They were clearly an early adopter because I had never heard the term or the practice and knew no one in my social circle that was doing it.  Now, I am not sure what that might say about my social circle, mind you.  Feel free to make whatever assumptions you would like.

However, fast forward a few years and a whole boatload of articles that are talking about how any amount of alcohol is bad for you and that really, one shouldn’t even engage in moderate alcohol consumption (clearly the alcohol industry needs a better PR Director).

So last year, I made the transition from thinking that Dry January was stupid (I mean, what’s the point really of not drinking for a whole month if you are just going to go right back to your regular drinking habits for the next 11 months?!) to, well, let’s give it a try.  What harm could it do? Nay, in fact, it would seem that it might accomplish some good.  At the very least, giving my liver a month-long break.

I made it about 8 days into January last year before I had a drink.  And that about was the same timeline this year when I had my conversation with Christine who quickly, although in her defense, quite easily derailed me.  It didn’t take much to derail me is my point.

Especially given that our beloved Eagles had just imploded, finishing out the regular season in a death spiral that is sure to sink them in the playoffs.  I mean, if losing to the stinky Giants who hadn’t beaten us in like 3 years, who lost 11 games this year, and has one of the worst offenses in the NFL isn’t enough to have a glass of wine, what is?

That brings me to Damp January.  Gotta love this.  I think only in our current era could there be an out like this. 

Can’t hack Dry January? Don’t have the willpower, the stamina, the guts?

Don’t worry, not a problem! Don’t blame yourself, don’t stress yourself, it’s all good!  Try Damp January instead! Cut yourself some slack and have the occasional glass of wine or whatever your alcohol of choice is. No need to feel bad about yourself. 

This would never fly in, say, the Puritan era.  Well, to be fair, I am pretty sure the Puritans didn’t drink period.  They also made you wear a scarlet letter on your chest if you committed adultery and they found out about it (or so says Nathaniel Hawthorne).  They were no joke.  No half measures.  No coddling oneself.  And for sure no Damp January.  For them it was Dry January Through December. All day, all night, all week, all month, all year, every year.

While that was a repressed, authoritarian, rigid society in the extreme and one I have no desire to revert back to, have we perhaps gone too far in the other direction? When we can’t even hold ourselves to a goal we willingly set for ourselves? Have we gotten too soft?  In an era where every kid gets a trophy for participation, are we losing our ability to succeed when times are challenging? Giving ourselves an out, a guilt-free out no less, to take the easy path?

Hmmm, this is all way too philosophical for this blog.  I don’t have the answers.  What I do have is a nice bottle of Chianti which will go nicely with my spaghetti dinner on this cold and very damp January day.