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Your Voice: Are you doing dry January?

We asked Richmondites if they're staying alcohol-free for the first month of the year
Dry January
Clockwise from top left: Charmaine Childs, Bob Hewitt, Melanie Ware, Boderico, Emily Reid.

Dry January is a New Year’s resolution of sorts where you go the entire month of January alcohol-free. Addiction experts have already weighed in, and this week the News asked people at Richmond Centre whether they’ve heard of dry January and whether they’re participating. 

Charmaine Childs

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Charmaine Childs

Richmond News: We’re talking about dry January this week. Have you heard of it?

Oh, where people don't drink

RN: Are you participating?

No, but I know friends who are and I'm actually considering doing, like, a dry year.

RN: Why?  

I feel like alcohol doesn't really add value to my life a lot of the time. Sometimes it makes more problems than it actually helps.

Melanie Ware

Paralegal

Melanie Ware

RN: Have you heard of dry January?

Is that like dry, like, not drinking?

RN: Yes. Are you participating this year?

I don't drink already, so…

RN: What do you think of people making it as their New Year’s resolution?

I think it's good. I think it's a positive change.

Because sometimes you don't realize what your habits … Drinking is one form of buffering, of putting something between you and your emotions or things that are happening in your life. Doing a dry January is definitely a step towards positive change

Bargarico 

Having lunch

Boderico

RN: Have you heard of something called dry january?

No

RN: It’s when people make a resolution not to drink for the whole month. What do you think of that?

That's good.

When I was in the Phillippines, I'd drink alcohol. But now I'm here, I don't have as many friends so I totally stopped.

Bob Hewitt

Automotive

Bob Hewitt

RN: Have you heard of dry January?

I'm contemplating starting it off tonight, actually. I was just thinking about that.

RN: Why do it?

Just overall health. It changes my routine. Just kind of challenges me to do stuff that I might not otherwise do.

RN: What do you think might be hard about it?

Just that, the routine. I don't want to hibernate. I still want to have a life. What encourages me about, though, it is finding different things to do and different experiences.

Emily Reid

Student

Emily

RN: What do you think of dry January?

I think it's a good idea but also not, in a sense. Because it's not really encouraging, like, if you actually have a drinking problem for you to really maintain it throughout the year.

I know people that have done that sort of thing and then when they go back to drinking it's, like, ten times harder.

RN: Will you be participating?

I drink sometimes, but I'm not a huge (drinker). So I feel like dry January wouldn't really be much of a difference for me because I don't drink that often.