{"id":1289,"date":"2024-01-11T08:27:59","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T13:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/?p=1289"},"modified":"2024-02-05T06:21:59","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T11:21:59","slug":"dry-january-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/?p=1289","title":{"rendered":"Dry January 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I stated in my 2024 Resolutions<\/a> post, I’m doing a dry January. I’ll be updating this post throughout the month.<\/p>\n

2\/5\/2024<\/h3>\n

Well it’s done! And I’ve been drinking every night of February. That will probably break tonight.<\/p>\n

I think I slept better but I slept longer. I definitely gained weight but it could also be because I’ve been exercising more (that happens to me). It could also be that instead of drinking, I will eat more when we go out for dinner.<\/p>\n

It got a lot easier at the end of the month. And I haven’t gone crazy in February. With Brian gone for two weeks I’m responsible for the pets so there’s reason to not go crazy.<\/p>\n

The first sip of beer after January felt like diving into a cool pool on a hot day. Simply refreshing. It was tough when others were drinking and I wasn’t. It kind of changed my relationship with alcohol in a way. I don’t feel the need to go crazy and drink everything. I’m more moderation now… however, that could just be because I have responsibilities until Bri gets back. Or maybe I’m just fooling myself and I’m not being responsible… I don’t know.<\/p>\n

I may do dry January again… maybe not.<\/p>\n

1\/19\/2024<\/h3>\n

More than half way through! It is getting easier. The real challenge has been not cheersing people when we go for a happy hour. I’m ordering orange juice. I’m glad I have friends doing this with me. I’m really proud of my friend, Mark, for hanging in there with me. We met up last night and everyone was not drinking.<\/p>\n

I haven’t lost any weight and this morning I woke up and it felt like I had a hangover. It’s also harder to get to sleep. Yesterday wasn’t a good day for my brain. My Portuguese was poor and I’m having a very difficult time in class understanding how to give directions. It’s different than in English.<\/p>\n

It’s strange but everything feels fine. I feel normal for the most part… just lower energy and not sleeping. But when I am sleeping, I’m sleeping well. I don’t wake up during the night. I dream more, I think. This has been easy for me but I still want to continue drinking after this month.<\/p>\n

1\/11\/2024<\/h3>\n

It’s been a tough, slow month so far. I’ve had some challenging days where alcohol would have helped. It’s been 11 days since I last drank alcohol. I know I’ve done longer sprints like this in the past (like when we didn’t have plans for a weekend) so I know I can get through it. In Portugal I drink a lot more than in the states (besides during covid when the only thing to do after work was to drink).<\/p>\n

So far I feel okay during the day. However, I feel like they lie when they say you are going to have more energy, sleep less, lose weight, etc by stopping drinking. I’ve had the opposite effects. I’m sleeping 8-9 hours a night (vs when I drank I would get 7-8 hours of sleep). I feel like I’ve gained weight and feel bloated. I also eat a lot more which sucks. I feel like when I drank I wouldn’t eat as much. I feel like I have a lot less energy now. Often I feel like I need to take a nap or feel tired during the day. It sucks.<\/p>\n

Alcohol also helps with my portuguese and my overall anxiety. Yesterday I played poker with some people and I felt so nervous and I was shaking. Alcohol helps calm down my nerves and relaxes me but I couldn’t have that.<\/p>\n

I’m glad I’m doing this with a friend. Brian is also doing it too. The support from him and my friend helps. I know I’m not the only one going through this hell.<\/p>\n

I hope it gets better. Will update again soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I stated in my 2024 Resolutions post, I’m doing a dry January. I’ll be updating this post throughout the month. 2\/5\/2024 Well it’s done! And I’ve been drinking every night of February. That will probably break tonight. I think I slept better but I slept longer. I definitely gained weight but it could also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,29,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-friends","category-personal","category-random-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1289"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1294,"href":"https:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1289\/revisions\/1294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longlivethemonkey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}