Dry January Reflection Questions

It’s easy for someone like me to have mixed feelings about Dry January. On one hand, it’s a fantastic opportunity to test the waters of sobriety. On the other, it’s often treated as a brief recovery period for binging over the holidays and doesn’t truly make much of a sustained difference in your life.

After celebrating my third sober anniversary, I figured the best way to help you set the best intentions for YOU is to follow up on the month-long occasion with a few reflection questions.

How was your Energy?

If you haven’t heard the story of my Whoop Recovery story, I would advise giving it a read! Simply put alcohol and the environments you put yourself in majorly impact your energy levels, sleep, exercise routine, productivity, and ability to think well past the day of throwing back a celebratory beer. Note some specific moments you felt more energized and renewed without alcohol.

If you’ve been entertaining a comprehensive fitness tracker, I can’t recommend Whoop enough (enjoy one month on me via that link).

How did you use your time?

One of the most common things I hear when someone goes substance-free is how much free time they never realized they have. While it can feel boring at first, your time freedom and newly discovered energy levels typically lead to time spent in more wholesome and even productive activities. Never mind all the new creative ideas, relationships, and/or hobbies that come about… I gained all three after opting into sobriety for good.

How is your bank account feeling?

Let’s face it: alcohol is not only an opportunity cost on how you spend your time but it’s also EXPENSIVE the second you place your order. Spend some time backtracking through your credit or debit card statements, comparing your time sober to the previous period when you were drinking. Unless you replaced drinking with shopping, chances are your bank account is reaping the rewards of your decisions.

Hopefully, Dry January (or any time you entertain sobriety) was a refreshing wake-up call in one form or another. In the past three years, I have watched my life change in far more ways than I could have imagined and it was questions like these that kept me accountable.

Having a mentor working alongside me was also the catalyst for change and using my time more wisely to build the life I wanted. If you think that may support you in your journey,  let’s connect and see if we’re a good fit!

Until next time… Keep rockin’!

-Dave