Dry Jan 2026- anyone care to join in?

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Since there doesn’t seem to be a dedicated dry Jam thread I thought I would start one and see if I get any company.
I so need this. Drinking has made me feel sluggish, anxiety ridden and awful. I remembered how great I felt doing it last year but slipped back into old habits far too easily.

Congrats @Hedjwitch I’m skipping one tonight as I know I don’t have the strength.

My sleep is suddenly great! I’ve slept through for the past few nights.
I’ve still got a headache but it’s background noise now.
I‘m weighing tomorrow to see if I’ve lost anymore weight. Fingers crossed.

I want to check out the mentioned Trip drinks as I think i may like to continue (maybe) but the herbal teas don’t cut it long term.

Went to my big social occasion last night and I did drink. It was such a one off event that it deserved the wine. Back on the wagon now 💪

Hi everyone, I was here in the beginning but haven’t posted since. I have stayed dry though and really enjoyed it. Definitely have missed alcohol though and don’t think I could do it forever! Just wondering if anyone had any podcast recommendations to get me through the last week or so.

I like Sober Stories from Everday People by Sassysobermum. I haven’t posted before but have been following this thread. I’ve not had a drink since New Years Eve nor had a cigarette since then either.. I’m really hoping to carry this on as drinking levels were way out of hand. I’ve lost 5lb and just about to go out for a morning walk which would never have happened before! Well done everyone getting this far! 💪

Morning all day 26!

I’m still here, too. Not to sound smug, but I’ve surprised myself by really not missing the wine, and I’m not planning on going back to it immediately in February.
I’m happy to have broken the habit.

Thank you - I’ll check it out.
@TheToteBagLady I do feel a bit smug too but I do worry I will just revert back to old habits once dry January is over. I’m trying to get it clear what I want out of moderation and what it will look like for me before Feb hits.

@citrusfruit1 I’ve read a little on alcohol and moderation and being completely sober.

I’m trying to change how I think about and use alcohol.. that’s why I don’t feel like “rewarding” myself with wine on February 1st. I feel it would defeat the purpose of why I did this.
And I know from previous dry Januarys etc, it’s so easy to slip back into old habits

This is a wise post thank you @TheToteBagLady

Ive realised that I don’t want to go back, just forwards and I’ve been using alcohol as quick dopamine and it’s been such a hard month. It’s been hard because my brain can’t regulate. It’s been a wake up call. I’m finally sleeping well (it has taken nearlythe whole month, but I feel this is a sign of how long it took my body to recalibrate) and I don’t want to go back to waking all the time. The weight loss is a big bonus (half a stone)

I was directed here from the sober October challenge that I started mid October. I just wanted to update.

Something must have clicked with me reading that thread, along with TicTok reading my mind and sending me sober curious/sobriety content.
I stopped drinking about the 17 October (didn’t note the date) and I have remained abstinent since. I didn’t actually consider at the time how long it would be for. I didn’t tell anyone, including DH but he obviously noticed. I haven’t discussed it with him or anyone and he continues mostly nightly drinking. I haven’t discussed however noticed that he now drinks less than previously.

it wasn’t too hard after the first couple of evenings, wandering around thinking something is missing!

I don’t think it would have been possible without alcohol free beer which I continue to have each night. I occasionally have Sentia (GABA spirit) or alc free ‘gin’. Also, at gigs, theatre etc, alcohol free beer is now widely available and I’m delighted if it is AF Guinness.

DH and I walk most evenings and depending on the weather, the walk may be 2km or 5km. We stop half way through at a pub and this hasn’t been problematic. I dislike fruit juice and coke etc so AF beer makes such a difference!

I sometimes think of having a drink but ask myself ‘do I need to decide that now?’ This is usually around a future event, my next one being a big wedding abroad in March. I’ll just put off dwelling on it until the time comes and see what happens. I thought this in the run up to Christmas but I didn’t drink in the end. I don’t know if a glass of dry white wine actually appeals anymore tbh.

I like waking in the mornings knowing that I haven’t spoilt the day with another hangover and I like the feeling of being able to drive whenever I want to. I may branch in to some evening exercise classes this year.

Good luck to all on here.

I am really not finding the easy obvious benefits of Dry Jan shining through this year. All the symptoms that alcohol has been blamed on are still there.
My sleep is still awful, I wake up at least 10 times a night - apple watch tells me my sleep was much better in Dec! I still have headaches on wakening. My joints are still achy. No change in skin. It's all likely to be menopause, but an alcohol free life won't solve it.

My clothes feel a bit looser (I don't weigh myself) and that's nice. The benefit of Dry Jan for me (apart from allowing my liver some time to recover from the over consumption in Dec) is that it helps me reset my relationship with alcohol and I generally stick to it, till the summer. So no mid week (Sun - Thurs) drinking at home.

I am planning a couple of glasses of wine at the pub on 1 Feb - it's a Sunday so no chance of us even slightly over doing it.

So overall it's been an easy challenge for me, I haven't felt tempted at all - but I'm disappointed it hasn't made my sleep and headaches even slightly better.

Still here and still dry 25 days completed and now onto day 26. I've decided to carry on and do dry February and March mainly because the benefits of dry January have been so good I want to continue them and build on them.

My skin is now such a lovely colour
My nails are a healthy colour
I've lost weight (still more to go)
I've lost bloating (still more to go)
Sleep is so deep and refreshing
I can drive anytime
My memory is so much better
I have a lot more energy
I am more productive

Nothing has been taking away but so much has been gained.

I listened to an interesting one on the Zoe podcast in early Jan, it was a Professor David Nutt talking about Dry Jan and how alcohol affects your health. I was surprised that he isn't completely anti-alcohol, and some of the points he raised made me think.

I'm going to see if I might continue with DJ after the end of the month as I feel fine about it so far and have enjoyed trying different drinks instead of wine. I've woken up with a headache a few times which is weird as I'm not prone to them usually, but my watch told me my sleep was 'excellent' last night.

I'm finding when I wake in the night as I inevitably do, getting back to sleep is no problem. When I'd had a large glass of wine, the anxious busy thoughts cut in, in the middle of the night and I had to distract myself (on MN usually) to get away from them. Now I just get comfy and go back to sleep - worth it for that alone!

I pleased with myself for getting through another weekend with having a drink. I’m finding the week days easy but the weekends more of a challenge. I’ve definitely been eating more chocolate since I’ve been doing this. I want to start cutting that out now as well and work on my fitness. Hopefully if I can get in better shape that will become a motivation to continue beyond January.

I haven’t had a drink in 4 months now and one thing I’ve realised is that some groups I still have fun at the pub with and others are now very very boring. You start to realise that some folk were only ever fun with alcohol in your blood.

Well day 27 done and dusted ! Good luck y'all

Like others, I'm definitely going to try to reset my relationship with alcohol following on from DJ. I've told myself that I 'only' drink at weekends but I manage to drink quite a lot during Friday-Sunday, and that really has to change as I need to lose weight for health reasons. I'm obese and pre-diabetic but my diet is generally pretty good - apart from the drink!

Day 28 and DS' birthday.4 adults round the table playing a board game and nobody drinking alcohol! Changed days.

Happy day 29!!! AF

Keep going y'all.

Happy day 29 everyone. I have found a new range of soft drinks that are helping me through - Rapscallion soda. They are low cal and very tasty. The apple pie has been my favourite so far

I slept like the dead last night. Really feeling the benefit in my mood too. I feel much more level, less anxious, more together. Maybe I should just accept that drinking doesn't agree with me

The difference in my sleep has been astonishing. Before doing dry January, I was waking up in the middle of the night not being able to get back to sleep again for hours and hours. I thought it was possibly perimenopause but now in hindsight I think because I’d got into the habit of having half a bottle of wine nearly every night (sometimes a whole bottle) that I was going into withdrawal in the middle of the night and it was waking me up. Now when I go to sleep, I’m out like a log within minutes and if I do happen to wake up, I just snuggle back down and I’m off to sleep again in no time. Is anyone else considering carrying on after the end of January? I’m wondering whether to try staying off the booze after January and going one week at a time and seeing how long I can go for. Really, I would love to have a long break - perhaps even a couple of months - perhaps a year, who knows? It’s had such a big effect on my life for the last couple of years, and the pull it’s had on me has been scary at times. I don’t want to end up like my dad who is a full-blown alcoholic.

I’m really undecided about carrying on. I’m like you @Nothungrycat in that I only drink at weekends and I don’t even drink that much but it would be very very unusual for me not to drink on a Friday and Saturday and I’d really like to reset that.

I wish I’d seen that level of benefit in my sleep! I think I need to give up screen time before bed to see that improve…and I think that would be harder to kick than the booze!!!

Happy day 30 :-) I cannot believe I've been AF this long. Amazing stuff and well done to the others too!