SHARON HARTLEY: Looking forward to the end of Dry January? If you really want your life to change, here's the EXACT number of days you need to quit - and why...
SHARON HARTLEY: Looking forward to the end of Dry January? If you really want your life to change, here's the EXACT number of days you need to quit - and why...
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As January draws to a close, nine million Brits are this week thinking about pouring their first glass of wine of the year. If you're one of them, I'm here to ask you whether you really want to - or whether you'd rather hang on to the beautiful new life without alcohol you're just beginning to discover.
![[Sharon Hartley took 100 days off booze in 2018 - and has never looked back, now not having had a drink in seven years]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/26/13/94530775-14326743-image-a-2_1737898812904.jpg)
For, believe me, the calm, health-filled, bank-boosting no-booze world you've dipped your toe into only gets better the longer you're in it... It also gets easier. I did Dry January often, and Sober October too, and I well remember the feelings of boredom and self-denial in those early days. But the truth is, as the month ends, you're only just beginning to reap the benefits - and some take much longer to kick in, especially if you were drinking like I was before. In other words, a lot.
I started experimenting in my teenage years during the 1980s and '90s. Remember Castaway, the fruit-flavoured wine?. I had an off-switch in my twenties, however, and a lot of the time I could take it or leave it. But somewhere between 30 and 44 that switch got firmly stuck. Any excuse would do: drinks after work at the radio station where I was a producer. Prosecco on a Saturday shopping trip. A bottle of wine at the school fundraiser, the local village fete, a kid's birthday party. Or just Friday night in, starting with a couple of raspberry vodkas in the bath.
As January draws to a close, nine million Brits are this week thinking about pouring their first glass of wine of the year. I lost count of the number of times I read 'best night ever' in the group chat after a night out with the girls, but for me it felt hazy and anxiety-inducing. What had I done? Got drunk, yes, but had I also made a horrible fool of myself?.
