You are listening to the Take-A-Break podcast with Rachel Hart episode 345.

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.

All right, everybody. Today we are talking about a question that I know a lot of you think about.

That question is, how do I know if I can change?

Am I ever going to figure this out? Will I ever be able to drink less? Will I ever be able to keep my

commitments? Will I ever be able to stop? Will I ever have a different relationship with alcohol?

These questions can be as painful, if not more so, than some of the physical effects

of drinking too much. Because not knowing if you can change,

ruminating on these questions can bring up so much shame and so much fear. Certainly,

these questions, they were all questions that I struggled with and they were incredibly,

incredibly painful for me for the longest time. I spent a lot of time kind of spinning in my head,

wondering, doubting that I could ever change. But more than that, I spent a lot of time secretly

fearing that the answer was no. I was never going to figure this out. My drinking was always

going to be a problem. I was always going to have a messed up relationship with alcohol.

I was always going to feel like something was wrong with me. And if I said no,

I would always feel like I was missing out. Why was I in that place? Well, because I had so much

evidence that I couldn't change. I had failed so many times, so many more times that I can count.

I would say, you know what Rachel, I'm never doing this again. I'm just not drinking anymore.

...