GRWM for Dry (& Damp) January
Our tips, tricks, and takes on the month that some call "the worst one" of the year.
Let’s go, Dry Run buds! Thanks for listening to our Dry Jan podcast featuring our first guest, Meg —and reading our new companion stacky-stack. This week Kristina and I talked prepping for Dry January, or maybe you need to orient it as a damp Jan, a misty Jan, a semi-arid Jan, or the age of a Capricorn Rising. Wherever you fall on the sobriety spectrum, here are our our tips for crushing January 2025.
Buddy Up
If your goal is to dry out this January, we highly recommend buddying up for success and accountability. We’ve concluded that asking someone to do Dry January with you is also the safest (from an insult perspective) way to send a hint that a loved one in your life needs to pump the brakes on the booze intake.
Mentally Prepare to be around Booze
If you find yourself sober among those imbibing at an event or party, this New York Times story, How to Get a Party Buzz Even When You’re Not Drinking is a pocket map for remembering that:
a) people realllllly don’t care that you’re not drinking
b) you can envision the party not sucking before you walk in
c) making small talk can be fun with low-stakes and high-drama questions*
*Some examples of low-stakes and high-drama small talk questions:
Who do you dread seeing most when you walk into your office?
What’s the most obnoxious brag you’ve heard lately?
Where do you never want to travel to again?
Do you agree that your rising sign is more important than your sun sign?
What decade will you travel back to when time machines become available to the public?
Did you know that after Neil Armstrong planted the American flag on the moon, it was violently blown over by the engine output when launching back to Earth?
Stock up on Dry Run-Approved Bevs
Casamara Club Superclasico Aperitivo ($60 for 12 cans)
Hella Cocktail Co. Bitters & Soda ($16 for four)
St. Agrestis Phony Mezcal Negroni ($60 for 12 bottles)
Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Sparking Reisling ($7 per can, $22 per bottle)
The Athletic Upside Dawn ($14 for six pack)
Ghia Ginger Le Sprtiz ($22 for a 4 pack)
Lovely Bunch Sparkling Apple Juice ($38.99 for a 6 pack)
All the juice **cans** at Trader Joe’s, especially the mango juice , sparkling strawberry juice, sparkling black tea juice (all $3.99)
Diet Dr. Pepper ($7 for 12 cans)
A note on items 7-9: As Alison Roman says on Solicited Advice, “If I can’t have dairy, I’m not going to have a dairy substitute.” ) We agree, cashew cheese is not an ideal stand-in for your favorite triple cream and we feel that way sometimes about NA bevs, too.
Muddle Some Peppers
This three ingredient, zero-calorie, simple, low maintenance mocktail is as good as anything you can purchase and it gives spicy margarita:
Dice, slice, or muddle some jalapeño in a rocks glass, add ice, seltzer, and a vigorous squeeze of lime.
Enjoy.
Quit Lit Real Quick
Three books that we reference, love, and talk about a lot:
This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life by Annie Grace.
Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol by Holly Whitaker.
Sober Curious: The Blissful Sleep, Greater Focus, and Deep Connection Awaiting Us All on the Other Side of Alcohol By Ruby Warrington.
Listen to our sober song of the week
Lou Reed’s New Sensation
Things that are in for 2025
Drinking a phony Negroni before running a 5K.
Not using the HaHa reaction button on a text, but still laughing really hard alone in a room.
Autocorrect finally learning that mocktail is a word.
Taking Waymo out at night.
Socks.
Lifting weights.
Bitters.
Prioritizing yourself.
Domino’s Hand Made Pan Pizza.
Maximalism.
Weekly phone calls.
Drinking an NA beer while driving to preschool pickup.
Normalizing liking your spouse in public.
Saying “this is she” when answering the phone.
Irish goodbyes.
Toblerone as meal.
Dairy.
Things that are out for 2025
Saying AF, in either context.
Fawning over wallpaper.
Beige and cream tones.
Spelling weed like this: oui’d.
Voice memos.
Overemphasizing astrology.
P.R.
Being late.
Micro-dosing as personality.
Doing the bare minimum for other people.
Knowing where “things feel in your body” during a therapy session.
Thinking outside the box.
Overly polite group chats.
Midwest Goodbyes.
Flexing.
Alcohol, obviously.