Happy New Year! My Twitter feed is full of diet ideas and people solemnly swearing to start lunging everyday but there is one recurring theme; donation pleas for #DryJanuary.
Dry January is a new initiative to raise money for Drink
Aware and Alcohol Concern by encouraging people to give up booze for the 31
days of January 2013. Now I am all for
raising money for charity and think only good can come from shining a light on
alcohol issues but these Twitter pleas fall flat with me.
It shouldn’t be that noteworthy to abstain from alcohol for
31 days; has society become so defined by the ‘binge drink’ that it is a struggle
to go without it for 8.3% of the year? An
impressive accomplishment for charity is running 26.2 miles, trekking a jungle
or growing a wispy moustache mid-puberty for male cancers. Should I be asking for sponsorship every time
I give up chocolate or biting my nails?This campaign reminded me of a sponsored 24 hour fast my sister and I did when at school in the Ethiopian Famine supporting 1980s. Like all campaigns it had the noble aim of educating us and raising funds. We awoke with the best intentions on the Saturday morning but then did 3 hours of dance classes and in a light-headed state of panic begged our Dad to take us to the nearest newsagents for a packet of Skips. We learnt more about the plight of the Ethiopians at that time by watching Newsround not by getting hungry. I think we still sent off our sponsorship money though.
Perhaps it is called “Dry” January because our bank balances
are arid deserts post Christmas and only dowsing will find an elusive £5 to
sponsor a mate to cleanse their liver.
Any oases of cash are sadly being put towards my tax but I will always
actively support anyone who wishes to cut down on or cut out alcohol.
I know many people whose lives are infinitely better sans
booze and they made that decision quietly and without asking us for cash. I am not against the ethos of Dry January
more the constant “Day 3, phewf this is hard I could murder a pint,” outbursts
through social media. I can only imagine
how emotional and desperate these tweets may become by day 20 – “Day 11, it’s
Friday, home alone whilst work colleagues are having the post work drink, I’m
eating the wallpaper,” “Day 20 one smiley Grandma for sale, 75% discount with a
bottle of Pinot.”
Judging by the photographs gracing the newspapers on New
Year’s Day to abstain from booze for a month should be a no-brainer. The mini-skirts laced with vomit and blood-stained
faces were like remnants of the Apocalypse where only football hooligans on a
free all-inclusive holiday in Falaraki survived.
I would compel anyone who wishes to raise awareness for
Alcohol Concern to attend an Al-Anon meeting and see the effects of alcohol
abuse on the families and loved ones of alcoholics. An alcoholic isn’t just someone who drinks as
soon as they wake up, alcoholism comes in many, surprising forms and one hour
of your time would be much more effective than jump starting your weight-loss
with a Media led campaign.
So yes, please do clean up for a month and take a moment to
consider alcohol consumption but don’t ask me to pat you on the back for surviving
31 days without a drink because I sure as hell won’t pat you on the back when
you down 31 glasses of wine on February 1st.
THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY FOR WWW.THEHUFFINGTONPOST.CO.UK
In case you want to do it - www.dryjanuary.org.uk
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