It's dry as the Sahara up in here.

Actually... fun fact: The Sahara is wet compared to some places in the world! Source: Planet Earth/Blue Planet/7 Worlds 1 Planet documentary obsession.

It's January 21st and dry January is going swimmingly- all KINDS of water for swimming!

I don't have a drinking "problem," BUT I have learned that I do use drinking as a de-stressor and fun enhancer and that's something I'd like to work on a bit. A few months ago I listened to a podcast episode,"Augmenting Positive Emotions and it was all about how we use drinking (and eating), as emotion enhancers and I had never thought about that before. We feel a positive emotion and have trained our brains to immediately seek an additional dopamine hit from something like sugar or alcohol to augment and enhance that positive emotion. She used a great example of sitting on a porch on vacation watching a gorgeous sunset and thinking about how it would be even nicer with a glass of wine.

I chose to participate in Dry January because I finally took the plunge and joined the paid version of Phit n' Phat (THE TRIBE!) and I wanted to really dig into my brain and get some "thought work" done and get my money's worth. I did NOT want to focus on eating well only to find myself drinking more (or shopping more- hence my "no-buy January") as an alternative. I am working hard to step outside myself and observe my "automatic" thoughts that pop up and it's been really enlightening!

• Long, stressful, heartbreaking day of crisis work (What the FUCK is up with all the suicides lately and how can we stop the rapidly growing trend that suicide is the answer!?? --A blog for another day): "Wow I'd love a glass of wine (or 2) with dinner"
• Game night with Hubs: "Oooh! We should make some drinks to sip while we play!"
• $2000+ in car repairs: "Tonight I want to just want to crawl under a blanket on the couch with Lonnie, Law and Order ,and a glass of wine and escape the world."
• Plans for dinner with friends: "Aw man... I'm not drinking this month so it won't be as fun."

Thoughts are just thoughts; not reality. AND, not even something we need to believe! They are just our brain doing it's thing; like how our lungs do their "breathing thing." So this month I am acknowledging those thoughts, and then working to find alternative responses to just giving into them like I usually do. Stripping away the food, alcohol, and shopping has left me quite FEELINGSY- and while it's exactly what I wanted to happen, I can't yet say I'm a fan!! And I can for SURE say Lonnie is NOT a fan (LMAO)!