Dryuary Day 30

During Dryuary, as you take a 31-day break from drinking, you’ll discover (or rediscover) Moderation Management’s fundamental strategies.Taking an extended break from drinking is beneficial for many physical reasons which you will automatically experience by not drinking. To encourage long-term, sustainable change, you can also use this break to change your thinking around alcohol–which only happens if you work at it. 

Brain Lesson #5: What I Hope You’ll Take With You

February 1st is just two days from now. I hope you don’t just grab a drink “because you can”. 

Or at least if you have that thought, I hope you take time to challenge that thinking and remind yourself that you could have had a drink any day during January. And you can today, tomorrow or whenever you decide that you want to include alcohol in your life. If you’re drinking on February 1st, make a plan for it. Make sure it’s a drink that’s worth it and it’s not just a “because you can” drink. 

It’s my sincere hope that you will use your experience in Dryuary to build a practice of adding alcohol-free days into your week. 

This was my fourth Dryuary and I kind of sailed through Dryuary without any strong urges and even traveled, went out every weekend to bars, watched playoff football games and had a couple of girls nights too. I enjoyed all of it sans alcohol. I know that I don’t need to drink to have fun, socialize or vacation. But it wasn’t that long ago that doing Dryuary felt very different to me. And just five years ago having even one alcohol-free day per week was something that didn’t feel achievable. 

I want you to know that I got to where I am now, achieving my alcohol minimalist lifestyle and mindset after spending almost 30 years drinking daily and despite my “alcoholic genes” that I was sure caused me to desire alcohol more. I got to the point where I’m “sailing through Dryuary” because I committed to not giving up until I figured it out. I learned a tool–I call it the Behavior Map-Results Cycle-that helped me rewire my brain so that sustainable change was not only possible, but that change and becoming an alcohol minimalist was what I truly desired.

I hope you’ll use everything you’ve learned during Dryuary and use it to create sustainable change too. It can start with incorporating alcohol-free days into your life–just like you have during Dryuary. There is real physical benefit from alcohol-free days. Your sleep is better, your skin looks and feels better, your immune system improves…and your brain is better for them.  

I didn’t do this overnight–I didn’t do it in a month…but my first Dryuary in 2021 gave me confidence and momentum to increase my alcohol-free days each week, to reduce my alcohol use and to build my alcohol minimalist life. My hope for you is that you do the same, and that you keep going. 

Molly Watts is an MM  member, Dryuary alumni, author, coach and host of the Alcohol Minimalist podcast. Despite being an adult child of an alcoholic who hated what alcohol had meant in her life, Molly developed her own unbreakable daily drinking habit that persisted for decades. After transforming her relationship with alcohol, she now helps others do the same. www.mollywatts.com