Has your Dry January experiment ended prematurely? Or perhaps you considered Dry January, but chose not to attempt it? Maybe you don’t have any intention to try to stay sober for 31 days, but you have thought about cutting back on your drinking… a “damp January” if you will.

Regardless of how you have arrived at this moment (no judgment — seriously), there are ways to approach your decision making around drinking to set you up for a good January and beyond. Here are a few strategies to incorporate to further explore or address your relationship with drinking.

Track your behaviors:

Begin to explore why you drink, when you drink, and how you drink. This will give you information that will help you make informed decisions about your drinking in the future. Keep a log or use an app to track your drinks each day. Take special note of what you consumed and how much you consume. Is the amount you drink the actual amount you intended or does it tend to creep up? Notice who the people you are drinking with are and does your drinking behavior change based on where you are or who you are with? Also track how you were feeling before consuming and after, including the day after. Begin to pay attention to any trends.

You may find that your drinking choices begin to shift and change just because you are paying attention to them. This doesn’t have to be the case, but there often is a natural shift that comes with paying attention. When you are conscious of what is happening, you are able to be more intentional moment to moment. There’s a lot of research in psychology revealing that what we monitor, we can change, and this is especially useful when it comes to goals.

Set intentions:

Just because you’re not committing to an experiment like Dry January, it’s still ok to set goals for yourself. You might want to track your drinking for a week or two and then set goals and intentions based on what you’ve noticed. Most of us are familiar with SMART goals, which addresses that ensuring goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed generally sets you up for success.

I often have clients coming into therapy saying “I want to drink less.” While that is a good place to start, it can help to add in some SMART details to this goal. For specific, you might want to say what kind of alcohol you will consume (no hard alcohol, just beer or wine). For measurable, you might want to say how many drinks you want to consume daily (no more than 2 drinks on weeknights) or how many days per week you want to consume (only on weekends). When it comes to achievable, I often have clients tell me that they plan on not drinking at all, but when we talk about the upcoming weekend, it doesn’t sound like they can follow through on that plan. I often ask someone to rank on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being absolutely confident), how likely they are to follow through on their goal. If you are less confident than a 3, then you need a different, more attainable goal. Checking to see if the goal is realistic is similar: look at your own data collection and your past history to see if the goal you are setting is realistic. Perhaps you are telling yourself you won’t drink around your family, but looking back on the past few years, that may be highly unrealistic. The final point to consider when it comes to SMART goals is the time frame. This is one benefit of Dry January — it only requires you to plan for the next 31 days. I generally encourage people to start out with just thinking about the next 7 days. That gives you enough room to try on a goal, but not too far for it to be overwhelming. Promise yourself that you will reassess at the end of the 7 days and if something is working, you can continue with it.

In addition to identifying smart goals, it is helpful to write your specific intention down somewhere you will consistently see it. And be sure to tell someone. There is all kind of evidence supporting the fact that we are more likely to follow through on our goals and intentions if we have someone holding us accountable. Whether it’s a roommate or loved one, a therapist, or a support group, find support and accountability with at least one person you trust.

Tell Yourself New Stories:

Examine the things you say to yourself and the stories you have been told throughout your life. Now is the perfect time to unlearn old family and cultural messages about what role alcohol plays in your life and will continue to do so. Perhaps you come from a family (or a culture) that sees alcohol as necessary to celebrate, to cope, to relax, etc.. Know that just because that is a story you have been told, it does not have to be true for you. Maybe you have been told that you have “an addictive personality” or that you “can’t handle alcohol” or that you’ll “always be a screw up”. Know that these are just stories (probably projections from someone else) and no longer have to define you. All humans have the capacity to change behavior and you are no exception.

So whether you decide to be completely sober for 31 days in January or try out any other goal, know that you are capable of change and growth and have the capacity to make new decisions and can begin again today or any day in the future.