399: Why Counting Drinks Can Backfire

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

🗓️ 15 October 2024

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Counting drinks is a common strategy that many people use to try to drink less, but it can often backfire and leave you feeling frustrated and ashamed.

While it can be a useful awareness-raising tool in the beginning, relying on external rules and numbers disconnects you from your own inner authority and doesn't address the unconscious desires driving your drinking.

Instead of trying to become a perfect rule-follower, the key to lasting change is developing a strong sense of authority over yourself and your choices. In this episode, I share why this matters so much and how you can start to cultivate it. By the end, you'll have a new perspective on why counting drinks hasn't worked for you in the past and a roadmap for what to focus on instead.

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 and more information here: https://rachelhart.com/399

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You are listening to the Take a Break Podcast with Rachel Hart, episode 399.
0:05.0	Whether you want to drink less or stop drinking, this podcast will help you change the habit from the inside out.
0:14.0	We're challenging conventional wisdom about why people drink and why can be hard to resist temptation.
0:20.6	No labels, no judgment, just practical tools to take control of your desire and stop worrying about your drinking.
0:28.0	Now here's your host, Rachel Hart. heart.
0:35.0	Hello, hello everyone.
0:37.0	We are talking today about why counting drinks can backfire.
0:42.0	I want to talk about this because it is such a common
0:44.8	strategy. It is one that I used myself for a very, very long time and I suffered a lot because it was so hit or miss and I couldn't understand
0:57.8	why I couldn't just you know set a number and stick to that number when I was drinking and I had a lot of
1:06.2	shame and anxiety about the fact that this was a struggle for me I know a lot of you
1:11.2	out there do as well and I want to help you understand why this
1:15.8	strategy can backfire because I mean it makes a lot of sense right you have a
1:20.8	goal to drink less you've got plenty of good reasons why this goal matters to you,
1:26.0	but then when you try to implement a rule or a number, you try to count your drinks.
1:33.2	What you will find is that your success rate will be spotty.
1:37.8	And when something is hit or miss, or you have a spotty success rate, it can be really confusing and most people
1:45.3	immediately bring the blame inwards, right?
1:49.4	We start looking at ourselves as the problem. Is it me? What's wrong with me? Why is this hard for me?
1:55.4	What I want you to know is that you are not the problem, there is nothing wrong with you,
2:00.1	you're just missing a really important piece of the equation and I'm going to talk to you
2:05.0	today about what that is and what you can be doing instead. So again, you know, counting
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -168 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Rachel Hart, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Rachel Hart and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.