Just a Gen X girl in the world
Saturday May 19th 2012

Dry August, am I too late?

Last month was Dry July. People were asked to give up drinking to raise money for charity. I actually don’t know anyone who did it but there must have been quite a few because there’s a website and people’s names with fundraising efforts beside it.
 
Did you know Neil Perry from Rockpool raised nearly $27 000 and that NSW had over 5000 participants who raised almost one and half million dollars. Wow that’s impressive.  That was when he made all those narky comments about Masterchef wasn’t it?  Poor Neil–he can’t be held responsible for his actions, can he?  He was drying out.
 
Well I was not one of the 939 Queenslanders who took part. That’s pretty low numbers for Queensland isn’t it.  And it’s little wonder when people like me didn’t take part. I had a few reasons. The main one was that I got hammered on an international flight on July 1 and that pretty well buggered it up for me. So this month I decided to have a dry August. No fund raising involved. Just a personal challenge. And now that I’ve told you all about it I have to really commit, don’t I?
 
So here I am 12 days into Dry August, and surprisingly I’m doing well, though I was very annoyed when I realised that there were four and half weekends in Dry August. Should have picked a shorter month.
 
Anyway I got myself in the mood by taping all these really good shows off Foxtel like The Truth about Binge Drinking, Diet Doctors and Dr Drew Celebrity Rehab to frighten the living lights out of myself.

My husband has decided to support me by not drinking scotch through the week. He only drinks wine instead. Isn’t that supportive of him? I wouldn’t touch scotch with a bargepole, I drink sauvignon blanc (yes, I know everyone else has rediscovered chardonnay, not me OK), and guess who’s drinking my stockpile dry. I have reacted by saying things like, do you really think you need another glass of wine? or did you realise you drank a whole bottle last night? He just rolls his eyes at me and mutters something about reformed drinkers being worse than reformed smokers while pouring himself yet another glass.

So with 19 days to go I have decided to focus on the benefits of not drinking. Yeah, there are benefits much to my surprise.

  • I am sleeping better and more soundly
  • I’ve lost a teeny, tiny amount of weight (but I think I should have lost more considering how all the experts say that it makes you fat–I think they’re wrong)
  • I seem to have way more time on my hands
  • I am able to write more quickly and creatively (you may not agree with that)
  • I can drive anytime
  • I am saving heaps of money
  • My skin is clear and less dry
  • I am now a herbal tea aficionado
  • I feel virtuous
  • I sing songs from the Sound of Music all the time

That all said I’ve organised a big boozy lunch for the first Saturday in September. I hope I don’t fall over after my first two glasses. Image

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2 Responses to “Dry August, am I too late?”

  1. [...] weekend (except Dry August) I have a bottle of French champagne. It wasn’t till I had a look at my inspiration board that [...]

  2. [...] these were the benefits in 2010. I wonder if I’ll feel like this at the end of this [...]

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