You are listening to the Take a Break podcast with Rachel Hart episode 97.

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.

Well, hello, hello everybody. It is a couple days before Thanksgiving and I cannot believe that December is almost here.

Where did this year go? I've had so many crazy changes this year, but I am so excited for 2019.

I am launching a program called In Pursuit. It is a year long intensive coaching program that really is going to help people who have really been able to change their drinking but feel like something is missing.

They feel like they still are struggling with insecurity, anxiety, self doubt, and constantly feeling like you're heading into a new year, wondering again, okay, is this the year I'm going to fill it?

I'm going to fix myself. You don't need to fix yourself. That is what this program is all about. It is about helping you create a life that is way bigger and way better than what is ever in your glass.

So if you guys are interested, I'm still accepting applications. Just head on over to Rachel Hart.com slash in pursuit to apply.

Now, let's talk about today's topic, how to disprove the thoughts that you have about drinking.

Now, this follows on last week's episode, episode 96, where I was talking to you about how to really uncover your thoughts about drinking.

You know, I was working with someone recently and she was doing this exercise and she was saying, oh my gosh, I had no idea I had all these judgments about both drinking and not drinking.

I had no idea they were there, but now what do I do? And that's what I want to help you on today's episode, figure out once you're aware of these judgments, how do you start to change them?

Now remember, alcohol and drinking is neutral. It doesn't mean anything about you, but here's the thing. When you want to change the habit, alcohol and drinking do not feel neutral. They feel super charged.

You might be thinking to yourself, I'm always going to be missing out if I'm not drinking and then feeling deprived.

Or you'll be worried that people might think you're a killjoy and feel a little embarrassed. Or you might be telling yourself, and I told myself this one for a long time, I'll be the only one who's not drinking.

And I felt so much shame when I thought about that. So the reason why you have all these super charged feelings about alcohol and drinking and it doesn't feel neutral is because your brain has adopted so much story.

So much story about what alcohol means about you as a person. Now, here's a good news. It's just story. It's just thoughts that you unconsciously picked up. Maybe they were programmed by media or family or friends, but the story can change.

Drinking and alcohol really is neutral. And I'm going to tell you this. It means nothing about who you are as a person. It took me a long time to wrap my brain around this idea, but I'll tell you when I did it changed everything.

Because here's the thing. If you want to change the habit, you have to do more than just saying no over and over again. No is never going to help you actually change the story that you have about what drinking or not drinking means about you.

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