428: Change Feels Hard Because You’re Meant to Grow

Take a Break from Drinking

Rachel Hart

Alcohol, Lifecoach, Alcoholicsanonymous, Self-improvement, Hungover, Society & Culture, Smartrecovery, Drinking, Cognitivebehavioraltherapy, Education, Cbt, 12steps, Sobriety, Drunk, Recovery, Personal Journals

4.8 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When contemplating taking a break from drinking or cutting back, most people focus on how hard it will be. They anticipate struggle, discomfort, and missing out on fun.

Our brains are actually designed to avoid hard things. We’re wired to seek pleasure, avoid pain, and expend the least amount of energy possible. This motivational triad helped humans survive thousands of years ago when daily life required immense effort just to find food and shelter. But in today's world, where survival is relatively easy, this same wiring can keep you stuck in patterns that no longer serve you.

This week, you’ll hear how, whether it’s changing your relationship with alcohol or any other challenging goal, choosing to do hard things forces you to grow and stretch beyond what you think you're capable of.

Find a personalized approach that helps you change your habit in my new book, The Ultimate Guide to Drinking Less, here: https://rachelhart.com/guide/

Discover alternative approaches to drinking less inside our membership program, Take a Break: https://rachelhart.com/tab/

Get the full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://rachelhart.com/428

Transcript

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0:00.0	When it comes to drinking less and changing your relationship with alcohol, have you ever thought to
0:04.7	yourself, this shouldn't be so hard? Our brains are wired to avoid discomfort and seek out quick fixes,
0:11.9	which can make resisting temptation sometimes feel impossible. But what if the struggle to say no
0:17.4	isn't a sign that something has gone wrong? This is episode 428, and I'll show you why
0:23.2	choosing to do the hard thing, like taking a break from alcohol, learning to drink less, or even
0:28.5	setting it aside for good, might be the most powerful decision you'll ever make. And I'll explain
0:33.9	how an Arctic voyage, the author of Sherlock Holmes, and the habit of pouring a drink at the end of the day, all have something important in common.
0:43.1	Whether you want to drink less or stop drinking, this podcast will help you change the habit from the inside out.
0:50.2	We're challenging conventional wisdom about why people drink and why it can be hard to resist temptation.
0:56.8	No labels, no judgment, just practical tools to take control of your desire and stop worrying about your drinking.
1:04.6	Now here's your host, Rachel Hart.
1:16.7	Hey everyone, I am on vacation with my family this week. And so today we're going way back into the archives to revisit one of my favorite episodes. So much of my work with people is
1:22.6	helping them cross over from the place of deeply wanting to drink less or to stop drinking, but being really
1:32.9	afraid to take the leap. And I understand this on a very personal level. For starters,
1:38.9	I truly thought that there were certain things in my life that just wouldn't be possible if I didn't
1:45.8	drink anymore. Plus, I had tried and failed to change so many times. So sure, I had a lot of
1:53.0	desire to change my relationship with alcohol, but as time passed and as I collected more and
1:59.8	more failed attempts, I grew more fearful of taking the leap.
2:04.7	When you have a lot of failed attempts at change, it takes courage to try again.
2:08.9	But what I didn't realize back then is that all of my failed attempts to either drink less or
2:14.1	stop drinking, they all have the same thing in common. They were all versions of
2:19.3	the same premise. Just say no, don't be stupid and learn your lesson. I was convinced that I just
	...

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