Dry January

This year I opted to take the plunge and participate in the dreaded dry January. I would love to say that this was off my own volition, however the truth is slightly less altruistic than that; the origin of this blog goes back to December when in a committee meeting it was raised that maybe someone from the society should attempt dry January and before I knew it I had volunteered myself. It is at this point that I should like to say thank you to everyone that donated, we managed to raise £260 for Sheffield MIND.

To begin by answering a frequent question, I did drink on New Years Eve and fortunately managed to stop before the New Year was rung in, not at all due to the more unpleasant effects of excessive alcohol consumption… Anyway, it was safe to say that I was not struck by any hop-based quenches of thirst for a few days after that. And in truth, the month passed much quicker than expected, without too many moments of the holy nectar infiltrating my spare thoughts, even when I was despairing at West Ham on a weekly basis.

On a slightly more positive note, the real reason why I decided to do dry January was because I knew I had a mountain of work to do; a combination of essay hand-ins and a looming dissertation deadline required avoiding any drinking-related illness. In this respect, I would totally recommend ‘going dry’ in periods where it feels as if there is insurmountable pressure building on your workload. Doing dry January made managing this workload infinitely easier than would have been during the normal course of events.

Another benefit of dry January was that it enabled me some time to think about my future; the third year of University is a time when you ought to be trying to work out what it is you want to do with your degree. As such, taking some time to think about the future with a clear head was extremely beneficial for consolidating future plans. Once again, in this respect I would recommend easing off on drinking when finding oneself in a similar situation.

One issue which is encountered during this month is socialising. What is there to do when you don’t drink? I did still find myself at the pub on Wednesday evenings, however, this was easily manageable with a decent selection of soft drinks and good company. Although, dry January did push me to do other things during the month; mainly, sampling the vast array of coffee shops in Sheffield amongst other sociable activities, notably Treehouse boardgame café which was a highlight.

Overall, I would recommend going ‘dry’ or at least for many people reducing alcohol intake, just as a positive way of re-centring your own mind, setting yourself a goal such as this gives a sense of perspective about what matters. Without this prompt, I highly doubt I would have a strong idea about what to do when I graduate this summer and I am certain I would have done much less work.