7 Things I Know Are Worth Your Time And Money Because I Tried Them In January

After a vodka-induced decision late December to answer the call of someone I had intentionally cut off and ignored for three months, I decided that I was going to do a dry January. That slurred “hello?” prompted by cloudy judgement certainly inspired the decision, but wanting to start the new year practicing discipline is what really pumped me up to commit. In addition to New Years, my birthday is in January and the challenge of not drinking on what should be two of the main reasons to drink made me excited. It started out a little tough, but by the second week it was pretty easy. Maybe because I was so busy with work, but for whatever reason I wasn't that pressed to drink.

And then layoffs happened. My job announced that over 200 people company-wide would be let go the third week in the month, and the stress of losing my job and/or seeing my friends I've come to love over my four years here lose their jobs took a real toll on me. I made it through Wednesday, and then as the layoffs kicked off on Thursday, I had a nice paper Solo cup of wine. And I have absolutely zero regrets about it. My coworkers and I all sat around, talking, laughing, drinking and ultimately making the best of a really unfortunate situation. Having wine was less about coping than it was about bonding, living in the moment, and turning sour grapes into sweet wine. We repeated the same thing on Friday, as more people, including us, found out if we'd still be at the company the following week.

Now I know some of y'all are probably thinking, y'all can drink at work? And the answer is yes, we can. But others of you may be thinking, but you were so close! And yes, I was. Unforeseen circumstances happened, though, and in that moment, sticking to a rigid plan just wasn't what I needed. I'd already proven to myself that I could get through New Year's, my birthday and three weeks of a New York winter without drinking, and at that point I was just going through the motions of the challenge to say I did it. So I had my wine, given to me by a friend who was unfortunately laid off, and I reminisced, and laughed, and cried. It broadened my perspective about a lot of things, including the fact that if I want to change my mind or break a commitment, I can do that and wake up the next day feeling completely at peace with my decision and why I made it.

from As/Is https://bzfd.it/2Wzyagq