People around Louisville taking on 'Dry January' challenge to promote sober lifestyle

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Ringing in the new year may have been easy, but keeping resolutions or sticking to a goal can be a challenge.

Millions of people around the world are committed to Dry January this month. It's a challenge that calls for people to remove alcohol from their diet for 31 days, the entire month of January.

Dry January began in 2013 after a woman training for her first half-marathon, Emily Robinson in the U.K., decided to quit drinking for the month. She later went to work for an alcohol awareness organization that launched a national campaign. The event slowly went global.

Chuck Willis is working through recovery in Louisville.

"As a lot of teens, I dabbled in use of alcohol and kind of went down the path progressing into college," Willis said.

The holidays were an excuse for Willis to have a drink or two, or even more.

"I promise you, anything I could get my hands on," he said.

But years of alcohol abuse caused Willis to hit rock bottom.

"I went from owning my own business and doing pretty well and that seemed like some level of success to sleeping by the dumpster within a year," he said.

Being homeless was just the beginning.

"And I found myself in that disease hospital with a doctor of internal medicine telling me that I was terminally ill," said Willis. "And he gave me a year because my liver was completely shutting down."

The hospital stay was the wake up call Willis needed to make drastic changes.

"I came to the Morton Center for their intensive outpatient program," he said.

He received life-changing treatment.

Tiffany Hall is a clinical director at the Morton Center and said alcohol use and abuse rose during the pandemic.

"We can do an assessment on anybody in any given time," Hall said. "We've seen numbers rise since then, we really haven't seen a huge dip in those numbers since then."

Hall said a lot of people are using Dry January to remove alcohol form their diets and lots of local restaurants and bars are cashing in on the public health initiative.

"I have really been proud of Louisville for Bourbon and Beyond, saw that they had a lot of the mocktail food trucks or drink trucks," said Hall. "It's really become very popular."

Willis has been sober for nearly a year-and-a-half. He recommends Dry January for anyone who wants to make a change.

"I consider myself one of the lucky ones," he said.

A research study featured in the National Library of Medicine showed a monthlong break from alcohol can result in weight loss, better sleep, improved mood and energy levels, along with a reduction in liver fat and blood sugar.

If you need help or know someone who does, you can call the Morton Center at 502-451-1221 or the national Substance Abuse Hotline at 800-662-4357.