Is Dry January on your mind, but you’re already feeling the weight of “new year, new me” expectations? In the first of this mini series, Anna welcomes the New Year with a gentle reality check for anyone considering a break from alcohol whether you’re looking to quit, cut down, or just get curious about your drinking habits.With compassion and clarity, she unpacks why pressure, grand declarations, and all-or-nothing thinking so often sabotages our best intentions in January. Instead, she offers a different way to embrace curiosi...
Is Dry January on your mind, but you’re already feeling the weight of “new year, new me” expectations? In the first of this mini series, Anna welcomes the New Year with a gentle reality check for anyone considering a break from alcohol whether you’re looking to quit, cut down, or just get curious about your drinking habits.
With compassion and clarity, she unpacks why pressure, grand declarations, and all-or-nothing thinking so often sabotages our best intentions in January. Instead, she offers a different way to embrace curiosity and exploration as you rethink your relationship with drinking.
Anna invites you to notice your patterns, get honest about your hopes, and see “wobbles” as part of real, lasting change, not failure. Start the year with self-kindness, realistic strategies, and a plan that supports you, rather than scares you.
Here are the Highlights:
00:00 Why taking a break from drinking is brilliant anytime
00:40 The cultural pressure of New Year’s resolutions
02:14 “Challenge mode” and the trap of all-or-nothing thinking
06:12 Why wobbles are proof of learning and progress
07:45 How to make January an exploration, not a test
08:11 The real question: What are you hoping to feel in your life this year?
09:09 The first step: Start noticing your habits with kindness, not judgment
09:20 Permission to be a beginner, and simple ways to support yourself
10:01 Anna’s Alcohol Experiment and how to get real, daily support.
Anna’s group coaching community ‘Unstuck!’ helps identify your alcohol ‘stories’ and beliefs, breaking the cycle of alcohol and all the shame that goes with it. For more information and to find out how to join, please follow this link: https://www.winetowatercoaching.com/unstuck-1
To further explore your relationship with alcohol, check out Anna’s self-guided programme, The Big Drink Rethink Experiment:
https://www.thebigdrinkrethink.com/the-big-drink-rethink-experiment
And apply the code POD99 to purchase for just £99 as a podcast listener.
If you’re loving the podcast and would like to give Anna a warm, fuzzy feeling of appreciation, then you can buy her a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/bigdrinkrethink
About the host Anna:
Anna is a certified Alcohol Mindset Coach, trained by Annie Grace of This Naked Mind. Drawing on her own journey out of alcohol addiction, she now helps others explore and control their drinking. With a career spanning 25 years as a Strategist in the Advertising industry, she combines her own lived experiences, with great insight into what makes us tick and what influences us to behave the way we do.
Connect with Anna:
Website: thebigdrinkrethink.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annadonaghey
Instagram: instagram.com/bigdrinkrethink
Produced by winteraudio.co.uk
Mentioned in this episode:
To pre-order my book, What Are You Thirsty For on Amazon select here: https://amzn.eu/d/3v3T6Mq
Or on Waterstones here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/what-are-you-thirsty-for/anna-donaghey/9781915780607
