You are listening to the Take a Break podcast with Rachel Hart, episode 5.

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.

Hello everyone, welcome back, welcome to the podcast.

We are talking about how to handle questions about not drinking from other people.

I love this topic and I love talking about this with my clients because I will tell you this was such a big issue for me.

And it held me back from changing for so long because I was so caught up on what people would think and I was so worried about how to answer these questions.

On the previous episodes, I've talked to you a lot about why we drink to unwind, why we drink to feel more confident, a different approach to how to even think about your struggle around drinking or challenges to changing how you drink.

And these were all things that I was really kind of excited to practice on my own.

I was excited to practice the skills of learning how to unwind without a glass in my hand. I was excited to practice the skill of learning how to feel more confident without a buzz.

I mean, I was at times daunted by it, but I was excited by trying it out.

Now, handling questions from other people, I did not feel excited about.

It felt so personal because it was really dealing with other people's opinion of my decision to take a break.

And I'll tell you that it really sent me in a tizzy.

And this was an area that I just found. I found it really challenging to make headway.

I've talked about this before on the podcast. And if you've read my book, why can't I drink like everyone else?

You'll know that the very first time that I took a break from drinking, I was actually only 22 years old.

I was a couple of weeks after my 22nd birthday.

And I got to a point where I was really, I was sick of the hangovers. I was sick of waking up and feeling embarrassed about what I had done the night before or not fully remembering everything.

And I really decided that alcohol kind of felt like a crutch in my life.

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