Dry January Sunday Selfie

Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Dry January?

Does it have anything to do with the weather I hear you say?

Not quite, as January is the middle of winter so you can bet your life it will be wet and windy most days. And what a wet and windy week we've had so far with Storm Eleanor truly battering many parts of the UK and Europe.

However, that's not what Dry January is about. Perhaps this selfie will give you a clue if you don't already have an inkling...

Yes, that's right. Dry January is that abstaining from alcohol thingy that humans do after the crazy overindulgences of Christmas.

So, that's why today I'm handing you over to Mum for this special post about her participation in Dry January 2018. I support my mum in everything she does and I am fully behind her wanting to give up the booze for a month, Hope she gives it up for good, but we shall see. One small step and all that...

Mum: You make me sound like an alcoholic, Athena. But yes, I am totally into taking part this year and I am pleased to say that today is my 6th day sober!

Me: Well done, Mum! Keep going 💚💖

Mum: OK, here is a deeply honest post about my own relationship with alcohol. Sorry if it is a bit long and too deep for a cat blog. But I think it's important to share in order to help others going through similar issues.

Thanks in advance for reading. If you don't want to read, that's OK. Just enjoy Athena's selfie 💖💜

Oh, and you can laugh at this selfie of me with Athena, which is from a few years back.

Morning after selfie from a few years back

WHAT IS DRY JANUARY?

Dry January is an annual campaign that sees millions of people signing up to abstain from alcohol throughout the whole of January.

WHY AM I PARTICIPATING IN DRY JANUARY?

If you've read my memoir The Cat Years: How My Cat Soulmates Saved Me you will know I once had a big problem with alcohol. I wasn't a drunk in the gutter drunk but if I had not stopped then who knows where I would have ended up?

For me, it's the reliance I have always had with it that kept me trapped in the negative thinking that alcohol was a friend that could help me get through anything in life. An introvert by nature and always socially anxious, drinking helped me come out of my shy Cancerian shell a bit.

Also prone to depression since my teens, I wrongly thought alcohol would make me happier, so every time I got depressed I felt that the only way to get through it was to drink. I did this for about 5 years - drinking every day and partying hard at the weekend (yeah me, the shy girl that has always been happier in my own little world).

In the end, it was my dear beloved cat Suzy dying in 1998 that changed all that. I don't know what happened but I truly believe she helped me from the other side because for some reason I didn't want to drink anymore. I wanted to get better and sober. I was too young to let the poison that is alcohol destroy my life.

But I soon began to miss having a drink to relax after a stressful day and thought I'd only drink in moderation. And it worked. For a while. I still can't believe how I managed to keep my drinking to a minimum through some traumatic times - like my dad's liver transplant and my brother's major ear operation that lasted 10 hours and which left him deaf in one ear. More depression followed, along with anxiety, panic attacks and through all that I was studying hard for a degree in Literature. I got through all that drinking normally.

After my dad passed away from liver cancer in 2010,  I swore I would never drink again and focused on my dream of becoming a published author. When that didn't happen I decided to self-publish.

But slowly, slowly, the drinking crept up on me again. By the time I self-published my books the market had become over-saturated - everyone suddenly wrote and published books and it did not matter that I spent over a decade researching and writing my precious vampire trilogy or my semi-autobiographical novel. No one cared. And why should they with so many books and authors to choose from?

My failed writing career (I had dreamed of being a writer since like forever) exacerbated my reliance on alcohol. I drank to reduce the anxiety and to help me forget the pain of being a failure in almost everything I have ever done. Yes, I know there are worse problems, but it had been my dream for so long and I was unemployed (or depression had made me unemployable) that I wanted to make a living doing something I loved.

This time around I only drank wine. White mostly - my favourite being Chardonnay. Throughout the heavier drinking days of my youth, I used to down vodka, brandy (often starting the day with brandy in my coffee), whiskey (the thought of it now makes me want to puke), Southern Comfort (yuck) and even beer (which I absolutely hate).

I do have quite an addictive personality. It runs in my family. My dad was a gambling addict and yes, he later became an alcoholic, got cirrhosis of the liver and so he needed a liver transplant. Seeing him suffer should have been enough to put me off drinking for life.

Alcohol is an addictive drug. Some can handle it and drink in moderation. But I know I can't. I just can't stop at two drinks anymore. Once it enters my system I just want more and more. I have noticed that. And if I don't stop now I will return to my old ways. Now is the time to STOP.

THE BENEFITS OF DOING DRY JANUARY

So now I've been sober for 6 days and I already feel better. I feel lighter, have more energy, and am not stressing out so much even though I am still worried about the same problems that made me drink in the first place. I do have a lot of problems. But drinking doesn't help. It's better to face those problems head-on - and SOBER!

WHAT I'VE BEEN DRINKING INSTEAD

Apart from drinking 3 cups of coffee a day and taking Athena's advice to drink lots of water, this is what I am also drinking to keep me going.

I am a chocoholic and so I love this chocolate Oatly Healthy Oat Drink  both cold from the fridge, and when it's freezing outside, I like to pop it in the microwave and heat it up in my Crazy Cat Lady Latte Mug to make a lovely hot chocolate drink.

DAIRY FREE!

To sleep at night I enjoy a cup of  Clipper - Snore & Peace and I occasionally have a cup during the day too so I can take time out to nap with Athena.

And as always, a nice cup of Twining English Breakfast Tea  

Here is my progress so far as of yesterday (6th January) using the app.

Keep track and motivated with the excellent Dry January app.

ARE YOU STRUGGLING TO QUIT DRINKING?

Here are a couple of books I can recommend which I've read lately and they've really helped me look at alcohol in a whole different way.

                                                                

AND HERE IS MY MEMOIR 

The Cat Years: How My Cat Soulmates Saved Me

(published in 2012)

As always on Sunday, we like to participate in
THE CAT ON MY HEAD's SUNDAY SELFIE BLOG HOP.