The (Re-)Start: A Daunting Commitment to Go Dry

This is the start of my journey. Well, technically a post-holiday re-start with a scary twist. After going completely off the wagon with both eating and drinking and puffing up accordingly, I decided to get back to tracking my food with the Weight Watchers app. In addition to that, as torturous as it may be, I need a good clean break from booze. So that's happening. Ugh.Below is the post I wrote on Connect, the Weight Watchers social network, committing to Dry January. From here I will cross-post most of what I write on Connect (minus emojis and some personal details). Deep breath.Why am I doing this? A few reasons. First, the Connect platform kind of sucks. Which I understand. After all, if it were too easy and comprehensive a service, Weight Watchers members might be less motivated to attend meetings. I don't attend meetings, I just use the app to track my food. For me, Connect is a huge bonus because it is a nice, basic support network of wonderful people. But the platform can be frustratingly arcane. It takes a long time to load older posts and I would like to have a record of my Dry January that I can access readily and easily.Second, coming clean here: I am backdating this and all of my posts from January 2018 so that I have an accurate chronological blog record of my journey - but in fact I am writing this introduction to the post below on February 3, 2018. That's confusing. And you might not even care. (And no one may read this anyway! Ha!) But I decided to start blogging just in the last couple of days, after seeing multiple comments on my posts suggesting it might be a good thing. So here I am.Here I am. I am here for me. Laying off the booze for 31 days was incredibly scary and daunting and necessary for me. But [spoiler alert!] I did it. My eyes are open. My mind is clear. My heart is bursting. And I want to share all of that here, beyond just Connect. I want this creative outlet in my life. And maybe, just maybe, someone will stumble across this humble little particle of the interwebs and be inspired. Or comforted. Or feel like he or she is not alone. I'm here for me, but if you're reading this, I'm here for you too.December 29, 2017: Committing to Dry JanuaryThis is me a few days before Christmas, wearing a strapless jumpsuit that fit me like a glove and in which I felt fab. I totally fell off the wagon over the holiday and am embarrassed to say I don’t think I’d fit into this same jumpsuit today. So. I’m going to start tracking again on January 1, and am also committing to a dry January. Which scares me. But I’ve become that stay-at-home mom who can’t get through the witching hour without a glass of wine (which inevitably leads to more) and that needs to change. I look forward to tapping into the power of this community to help me through and to help keep me accountable. #sobersisters I’ll take any encouragement you can offer! My heart is pounding at the thought of posting this and appealing for help, but I need it. Thank you everyone and Happy New Year to you all!