Annie P, 1/02/2015

And guess what I’m going to do tomorrow. Go on, I bet you can’t………. a big fat nothing.

Nothing is going to change.  Last year and the year before that, the first time I did Dry January specifically, (I’d taken time out in January before, before it was even a thing), I found it a bit tough.  But this year has been surprisingly simple.  I honestly think there might have been only one day, where I genuinely craved a glass of red.  On February the first, both the previous years, I immediately had a drink.  This year, I know for sure I won’t.

Teamed with a clean-eating plan, and an almost non-existent social life, a calm and quiet month ensued.  And it’s been rather delightful.  I lost a little weight, (those trousers I was holding together with a pin? The button and hole are friends again); and for the most part I’ve slept better.  So why leap back on the boozy pizza train, just for the sake of it?  Exactly.

I’ve been abstaining from all things bad, alcohol, sugar; men.  That last one, more by (un)luck, than judgement.  Remember, I’m going ‘organic’ in that department too.

No dating apps for this PANK, so in order to meet them, you have to actually venture outside. I haven’t.  Instead, I have gorged on movies, books, writing and art.  Slow, steady progress is in, excess/procrastination is out.  *Although having said that, I sit here, in this moment, writing this and listening to Laura Mvula (and the prostitute outside, shouting at her pimp for not paying her) – instead of writing exams…… but that’ll pass soon enough.

And as you probably know by now, I am rather fond of my own company; maybe a little too much.  No more beautifully explained, than here:

“……Being alone spares you from constant reminders of how difficult and strange you are. No one is there to hold a mirror up – record your antics and constantly make you accountable for them……” Alain de Botton

So the minimal social contact this month has served me well, as a perfect period for little introspection…….. lovely.  And as a result, I feel refreshed and ready to take on the year.  I very much look forward to seeing what the rest of this 2016 has in store for me.

Happy end of January folks.
♡

p.s. I am having the above for breakfast. On Sunday. I don’t recognise myself. Send help.