You are listening to the Take a Break Podcast with Rachel Hart, episode 141.

Whether you want to drink less or stop drinking, this podcast will help you change the habit from the inside out.

We're challenging conventional wisdom about why people drink and why it can be hard to resist temptation.

No labels, no judgment, just practical tools to take control of your desire and stop worrying about your drinking.

Now here is your host, Rachel Hart.

Well, hello everybody. I'm going to tell you something. I am so excited for October.

This is one of my very favorite months of the year. You know, you guys have probably heard me talk about how I grew up in Connecticut.

And I just think that New England is made for fall. I love changing leaves. I love apple cider. I love pumpkin picking, which by the way I had this funny conversation with my husband the other day.

We live in California now. And I was talking about going to get a pumpkin. And he said, oh yeah, you go to like a pumpkin patch.

And then he started describing a pumpkin patch to me. And it was not a pumpkin patch. It was like a tent in a parking lot with pumpkins, but also bouncy castles.

And I was like, wait, what? That's not a pumpkin patch. A pumpkin patch is when you go to a patch in the ground.

And you get a pumpkin. So we had very different understandings of what a pumpkin patch meant. But I will tell you, even though I live in California now,

I am starting to love what October means here. So I still haven't totally figured out the weather, but September is usually one of our warmest months. And November is often when the rainy season starts, if it decides to rain at all this year.

And so October is kind of like a shoulder month. And you don't know, is it going to be warm? Are we going to get rain? Who knows? But I still love October.

And I still think a pumpkin patch. So when you go to an actual farm and get a pumpkin from the ground. Sorry, honey.

Anyway, I decided to do today's podcast, which is all about health avoidance in the month of October in honor of my aunt Sue.

So my aunt Sue, she was kind of like a fairy godmother. To me, I was so lucky growing up in Connecticut that I was surrounded by family. And she and her husband lived about 10 minutes down the road.

And she was just a really amazing presence in my life. My aunt Sue never had any kids of her own. And she really was kind of like a fairy godmother to me.

She was also one of these women that's just so good at everything she does. So she knew how to throw the perfect party. And she was amazing in the kitchen.

She was a fabulous gardener and a fabulous quilter and seamstress. And she was also incredibly worldly. She was always traveling. And she loved to travel and study languages and try new things.

She read all the time and loved music and loved art. And I was so lucky because she really was determined to share all of this with me and my sister.

She was always taking us on trips. She was always taking us to museums and performances. And when I was 16, she actually took me on my very first trip to Europe. We went to Paris, which was still like the most amazing gift that I could have gotten as a 16 year old.

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