You are listening to the Take a Break podcast with Rachel Hart episode 276.

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 everyone. We are talking about anxiety today.

This is such an important topic. This is going to be a really powerful episode

for all of you out there who are feeling like I want to change my relationship

with alcohol. I want to drink less. Maybe I want to stop drinking entirely, but I have so much anxiety.

And when I have a drink, it makes me feel better. It helps me cope.

It is the thing that I can look forward to to have a little break from my anxiety.

So for all of you out there that are thinking as long as this anxiety is here

and as long as drinking helps me cope with it, I'm never going to be able to figure this out.

I'm never going to be able to either cut back or drink less or drink occasionally

or not drink at all. This episode really is for you.

And I will just tell you this. I get this. I really do understand this on a very deep level.

I talk a lot about how when I first started drinking,

it really was unconsciously a way for me to deal with social anxiety.

It was a way for me to stop feeling like I wanted to crawl out of my skin

and run out of the room and just go home from wherever I was

...