You are listening to the Take a Break podcast with Rachel Hart, episode 151.

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's your host, Rachel Hart.

Hey guys, we are going to talk about urge fuel today. I've been thinking a lot about the concept

of fueling your urges, and I will tell you it is the exact opposite of what you want to do.

You don't want to fuel your urges. You don't want to stoke them. You don't want to make them

bigger. You want to extinguish them. I love thinking about the concept of urges and your desire

as if they are a fire inside of you. I think in part because I spent my summers growing up,

going to Girl Scout Camp, and I learned at a young age how to build a fire and how to go through

the woods and collect Tinder and Kindling and Firewood and how to keep the fire going.

And it's such a great analogy to think about how you are keeping the fire going

within yourself inadvertently and how that is getting in the way of success when it comes to

changing your drinking. Because fires need fuel. Without fuel, the fire is going to burn out.

And the same is true for your urges. But there is a slight understanding that you need to have,

a slight kind of mind set change that you need to have. Because most people think that the fuel

for your desire or the fuel for your urges comes from the substance itself. So that's what I really

want to dive into today. I'll tell you that the more you fuel the urge to drink, the more that it

will grow, and the more that it grows, the more desire you will have, the more urges you will have.

And if your desire is left unchecked, that's when your desire for the substance can

crowd out everything else in your life. Then suddenly drinking or eating or spending money,

...