Week one of Dry January 2022 complete. Although I’ve often thought about drinking and had the odd moment when I felt a bit of a craving, those were fleeting and it’s not been difficult so far. In fact I’ve been rather enjoying myself; it’s almost a relief to have permission not to drink, especially after a week of culturally expected over-indulgence. It’s also been helped by the fact that I’m on-call this week, which usually means no or only low-level drinking anyway, so a good week to start on.

I think I’m feeling better overall as a result. It was good to have a clear three days before going back to work, so I felt about as clear headed as I could. Didn’t have a great night sleep on Tuesday after the first day back at work despite feeling exhausted. Regular lateral flow testing tells me I’m likely clear of Covid but I’ve not been feeling well over the last few days - but I’m sure that if I’d been drinking I’d’ve been feeling worse.

The challenge is likely to come when I start feeling less under the weather generally. Next weekend I’ll hit two weeks in and won’t be on-call, so if there’s going to be a time when I’m likely to feel temptation, that’s going to be it. I’m determined to see through the month, though, and don’t expect to fail - most temptation is easy enough to avoid and any cravings pass within minutes at most. But I’m going to try to record honestly how I feel as I go (I keep a semi-regular journal) and continue to post a summary here each week.

Now for some crisps and something non-alcoholic before dinner.