436: The Hidden Script Keeping You Stuck with Alcohol
Take a Break from Drinking
Rachel Hart
4.8 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 2 September 2025
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Society has taught us a script about alcohol that keeps millions of people stuck. The story says you're either a normal drinker who can take it or leave it, or you're powerless and must quit forever.
This black-and-white narrative has been reinforced by treatment models and cultural messaging for nearly a century, leaving no room for the possibility of actually changing your relationship with alcohol.
Tune in this week to discover why the traditional all-or-nothing approach to drinking actually keeps you stuck, what happens when you shift from shame to curiosity, and a new playbook for sustainable change based on understanding and skill-building.
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/436
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ever wonder if it's really possible to just drink less or have an empowered, peaceful relationship |
| 0:05.7 | with alcohol? Most people assume the answer is no. You're either a normal drinker and you can take it |
| 0:10.6 | or leave it or you're powerless and you have to quit forever. That's the story we've all been told. |
| 0:16.8 | But what if that story isn't true? This is episode 436, and I'm breaking down why society has conditioned us to believe in an all-or-nothing approach, |
| 0:26.8 | why shame and fear don't actually create lasting change, and how a new playbook, based on curiosity and skill-building, |
| 0:34.3 | makes drinking less not only possible, but sustainable. |
| 0:38.7 | Whether you want to drink less or stop drinking, this podcast will help you change the |
| 0:43.7 | habit from the inside out. We're challenging conventional wisdom about why people drink |
| 0:49.2 | 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. |
| 1:00.4 | Now, here's your host, Rachel Hart. |
| 1:07.4 | Today I'm going to tackle a question that I hear people ask all the time. It is one of the most |
| 1:12.4 | common questions that people ask me when they start doing this work. Is it really possible |
| 1:18.8 | for me to just drink less or do I have to stop drinking forever? I wondered about this myself |
| 1:25.6 | for years and years because for the longest time, it certainly felt |
| 1:31.4 | impossible. Now, the short answer to this question is yes, it is totally possible. But here's the |
| 1:38.1 | thing. When I say that, what I have found is that it can really make a lot of people upset, even angry. |
| 1:46.4 | I've certainly heard my fair share over the years on social media and in my inbox about how |
| 1:52.4 | it's irresponsible of me to say that people can learn to change their drinking and drink less. |
| 1:59.4 | But I will tell you, that strong reaction got me thinking, |
| 2:04.7 | why is there so much disbelief when I say this? And why is there so much resistance to the idea |
| 2:12.3 | that it could be possible to truly change your relationship with alcohol and learn how to drink less. |
| 2:19.4 | The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this belief challenges a decades-old |
... |
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