You are listening to the Take a Break podcast with Rachel Hart episode 161.

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.

Hello my friends, how are you?

This is going to be a two-part podcast series.

I'm going to be covering in this episode, shame, and then in next week's episode, self forgiveness.

And I'm doing it because Lent is actually coming up at the end of this month.

It's on Wednesday, February 26th.

And I'm going to tell you this.

I am not an expert on Lent.

I am not an authority on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday or Easter at any of it.

But I am an expert in taking a break from drinking and doing so in a way where you actually change your desire, you change your relationship with alcohol.

And I'm also an expert in the role that shame and a lack of self forgiveness actually plays in fueling the habit.

And I'm going to tell you this. Here's what I've discovered.

So many of my clients use Lent as a reason to take a break from drinking.

Some of you have grown up giving up something for Lent.

That's a long-standing practice and observance for you.

Some of you never go to church and you aren't particularly religious and maybe you're not even Christian.

But you like having Lent as an easy excuse for why you're taking a break.

You just get to say, oh yeah, I gave up alcohol for Lent and be done with it.

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