When we set ourselves goals and want to make changes, particularly at this time of year in early January, it can be tempting to go "all in" and throw ourselves into whatever it is we're trying to achieve. It's not a bad thing to take massive action towards our goals (I'd go so far as to encourage it!) but it can also set us up to feel like we've failed when we can't live up to the ambitions we've set ourselves.
Dry January is a wonderful example of a great goal that we start all motivated as we're fed up of all the partying from the festive season, but that becomes suddenly much more difficult when the weekend rolls around and you're already feeling better for the brief detox. And if you slip up and have a glass of wine, you feel like a failure, because you didn't achieve what you set out to do.
I've done dry January before and I actually do enjoy the challenge (and it was a great help in my preparation for running the London Marathon a few years ago!) but this year I'm all about moderation and balance in all things. My plan is a damp January, which I might decide to keep completely dry, or I might decide to have a glass of wine or two occasionally. I have my long term goals in mind and a boost at the start of the year will help me move towards them and I want to feel good about myself.
The moral of the story is set yourself up to win, because you'll feel so much better for making progress towards a goal than feeling like you've failed to meet expectations that might not have been realistic for you. Think about why you want to do something. What is achieving that goal going to give you? And are you setting yourself up to win? Achieving our small goals builds momentum towards achieving our big goals, so celebrate progress and be kind to yourself, always.