Blog: Dry January – daily blogs

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be issuing people’s experiences about their Dry January Challenge. Today, Gavin Hogarth, Drugs and Alcohol Team officer, talks about his experience so far.

Well here we are, just over a week into Dry January 2015. Nine days down and 22 days to go.

For me, the hardest day was New Year’s Day. Putting away in the cupboard the very tempting bottle of single malt I’d received as a Christmas present and thinking to myself ‘will I really want to drink those left over bottles of ‘Snowball’ in February?’

But … I have to say, from that day onward it’s been plain sailing and I’m enjoying the challenge. It helps to have work colleagues also involved and I’m also receiving texts with tips and advice from Dry January:

‘If you’re going to the pub, order a drink that looks like an alcoholic one and people won’t bother you as much’

‘If you are out tonight, rehearse how you’ll say no if you’re offered an alcoholic drink, don’t make a big deal of it or hesitate’

– Gavin Hogarth, DAAT Partnership Officer