7 Tips To Get You Through Dry January

The Dry January challenge, where you give up alcohol for an entire month, can be very challenging if you regularly drink alcohol. It's likely that your social life, relaxation and many daily rituals are surrounded by alcohol, so avoiding that can be quite the challenge.

Well, good for you for taking on Dry January. The good thing is that you are not alone in this endeavour, and we are here with seven top tips to help you get through Dry January.

1. Publically Announce Your Dry January Intentions

Research has shown that if you publically announce fitness and wellness goals, for instance on your social media platforms, users are more likely to meet their goals. This helps motivate people, both because they don’t want to admit they haven’t met their goals, but also because other people help motivate and share encouragement. So go ahead and share your sober January goals online. 

Having a community to answer to for your actions can help you stay focussed on staying dry. It also means you can avoid temptation as your peers are less likely to buy you a drink or offer you a drink when they know you are attempting a booze-free month.

2. Keep Any Booze Out of The House

The best way to avoid succumbing to temptation is to avoid temptation in the first place. So one easy way to do this during Dry January is to remove all the alcohol from your house.

If you have a well-stocked bar you might not want to, but in which case try and move your alcohol to a less visible place, or perhaps box it up and put it in the cellar or garage for the month. That way you won’t see it and be tempted to have a drink during your sober month. 

3. Stay Busy 

A lot of people drink when they are bored. In this case, to avoid drinking it's best to avoid being bored. Stay busy, do fun things or learn a new skill this sober January. 

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the US recommend taking up new hobbies when quitting alcohol so that you always have something you can do. So why not take up cooking, gardening, or get back into your fitness regime during the Dry January challenge? That way you won’t have as much time to think about drinking!

4. Learn To Sit With Uncomfortable Feelings

Many people use alcohol to avoid having to feel uncomfortable feelings. And let's be real, we get it, no one wants to have to feel bad or uncomfortable. But learning to sit with and feel these emotions is actually a really healthy thing.

Whilst it might feel very uncomfortable, to begin with, sitting with more negative emotions can help you process them. So instead of avoiding these feelings, drinking and not feeling, then storing them away, unprocessed in your brain, allow yourself to fully feel everything. You might be surprised by how it helps in the long run, even after just one sober month. 

5. Drink More Water

If you are thirsty, and maybe a little bit tired, it can be very easy to reach for a long alcoholic drink to quench your thirst. But the best thing to keep you hydrated and stop you from feeling thirsty is simply to drink more water. Often we reach for anything but water, which, whilst understandable, is actually counterintuitive because water will help us the most.

If you find plain water boring, then why not try infusing it with fruits or mint, or add basil seeds to the drink? That way you add a slight taste or texture to the drink. This is a great habit to continue after your sober January ends!

6. Put Your Non-Alcoholic Drinks Into Alcohol Glasses

Want to feel fancy whilst drinking something non-alcoholic? Then simply pour your drink into an alcohol glass such as a cocktail glass. That way you can trick your mind into thinking you are drinking alcohol.

Another great benefit of this is that, if you are out, you can avoid awkward conversations about not drinking. You might not want to tell people why you are doing Sober January, or you might just be bored of having the same conversation on repeat. Well, by drinking an alcohol-free beer out of a beer glass no one even needs to know that you are drinking alcohol-free.

7. Play Around With Alcohol-Free Drinks

In a world with such a huge array of non-alcoholic spirits, wines and beers, there is no reason you need to miss out on delicious cocktails just because you aren’t drinking. So, if you are looking to motivate yourself to avoid alcohol during year's this Dry January challenge, then start getting creative with alcohol-free drinks.

Not sure where to start with non-alcoholic drinks? Then try the JOMO subscription box. Each box is packed to the brim with delicious alcohol-free goodies and arrives directly at your front door each month. Going alcohol-free has never been this easy.

Each box contains:

• 1 Full sized bottle of an alcohol-free spirit

• Thoughtfully chosen mixers, garnishes and recipes to go with the spirit

• Mindfully selected snacks

• A selection of ready-to-drink alcohol-free drinks

• A glossy magazine with interviews and articles about all things alcohol-free.

So why not reward yourself this Dry January and try out the delicious alcohol-free products in the JOMO subscription box?