Dry January

For the second year in a row I did Dry January. Last year I had one cheat day for my grandfather’s funeral on January 10. So really I abstained for 21 days.

This year—even during an insurrection—I haven’t had a cheat day. I have gone without drinking for 31 days. The longest period since I turned 21.

For the first week or two, I kept thinking about how much I enjoy drinking wine and would have loved to have had a glass right then. But as the month went on, not drinking became routine. Like wearing a mask when you go to the store. And as with any routine—as tiresome as it might be at the outset—it quickly becomes ordinary. It’s just another thing that you do in that long list of mindless tasks you do every day.

Not drinking is tolerable, but so incredibly boring. I could go another month, sure, a year… a lifetime, perhaps. But I wouldn’t want to live that life. Wine is one of my great joys.

I suppose I do Dry January to prove that I can. I don’t want to get to a point where a month without wine is intolerable. So I’m going to keep doing it, every year.

Like a routine.