Hey everyone, this episode is coming out the last full week of December, so I'm going to keep it short. For years, I felt so intensely alone when it came to my drinking and so confused about why I couldn't get a handle on it, because I was so successful in a lot of areas of my life. But all the grit and determination and smarts that I had everywhere else just seemed to evaporate when it came to drinking.

And because of that, I carried so much shame. I would go to therapy and I would talk about everything else in my life, but I would never broach the topic of my drinking.

I would rarely talk about it with friends. And the few times that I did,

I never found it all that helpful. And whenever I would ask Google questions, everything seemed to

point to AA and the idea that alcohol made some people powerless. And if you weren't able to moderate,

the only solution was to stop drinking forever. And all of that made me feel more alone.

So I know precisely how awful it is when it feels like no one understands and you have

no place to turn. This is why I wanted to create a resource for all of my listeners out there,

a place where you can feel comfortable sending in questions because you know it's not going to be

met by judgment or shame or scare tactics. And you're not going to be told that there's only

one solution for everyone. Starting now, you can submit questions for me to answer on the podcast

by going to rachelhart.com slash pod cue. That's P-O-D-Q. It's totally free,

and it's a way for you to start examining the habit and your patterns around drinking from a place

of non-judgment and curiosity. Because if you listen to me over the years, you know that I don't

think demonizing alcohol or

focusing on the harms of drinking is all that helpful when it comes to creating lasting change.

It certainly wasn't for me. Yes, I could temporarily shame or scare myself into not drinking

for short periods of time, but when I did start drinking again, I always just fell back

into the same patterns. So you can send me your questions, questions about cravings, urges,

excuses, worries that you have about other people, feeling like you're too old, or the habit is

too ingrained for you to actually create real change. Whatever keeps you up at night, whatever obstacle

feels insurmountable, I am here to help. And to help you see that there is an answer that

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