Take a Break from Drinking

The floodgates metaphor captures exactly how it feels when you reintroduce alcohol after a break - like you've lost all control and are being swept downstream. 

You watch your progress unravel, find yourself right back in old patterns, and wonder why you keep making the same mistakes. This experience leaves many people trapped in an exhausting o...

You've made the list. You have all the reasons why drinking less is a smart choice. You know all the benefits and you really do want to change. So why isn't that enough in the moment? Why does your motivation disappear the second a craving shows up or as soon as you've finished your first drink?

Many people spend years believing that their long list of good reasons should be enough to cha...

What’s the difference between having fun and chasing it? As kids, most people have a good 15 years of life when they knew how to have fun without a drink in their hand. Back then, your brain had no idea that the perception of fun could be outsourced to something external. You just went out and created your own enjoyment.

When you get in the habit of drinking to have fun, you start expecti...

When contemplating taking a break from drinking or cutting back, most people focus on how hard it will be. They anticipate struggle, discomfort, and missing out on fun. 

Our brains are actually designed to avoid hard things. We’re wired to seek pleasure, avoid pain, and expend the least amount of energy possible. This motivational triad helped hu...

Ever felt like you just need a drink to handle discomfort? In this episode, you’ll hear how a terrifying bus ride through Alaska’s Denali National Park helped me realize that discomfort isn’t the enemy – it’s the chaos we create around it that trips us up.

Through a narrow, winding road perched over sheer cliffs, fear consumed me. I reacted, resisted, and distracted myself, escalating the...

The hidden influence of "drinking the good stuff" is shaping your relationship with alcohol in surprising ways. As you upgrade your drink choices to fancy wines, craft beers, or top-shelf spirits, you might notice thought patterns around waste and value that are driving overconsumption.

Our beliefs about what constitutes "good" alcohol trace back to ancient times, when Greeks first establ...

When you’re out with friends and everyone orders drinks, you might have thoughts like, “Well, you only live once. I want to enjoy it!” Despite wanting to drink less (or not at all), you order yourself a drink too.

You might think that having more discipline in moments like these would help you resist, but I'm here to tell you that discipline, willpower, and scare tactics aren’t the solution.

In this episode, I break down two es...

When someone successfully moderates their drinking or says no to alcohol in situations where they previously would have reached for a drink, they tend to view it as a fluke and go back to worrying about when they'll slip up again. But was it a fluke?

As humans, we often attribute our wins to external factors - the circumstances, other people, or pure luck - rather than acknowledging our o...

Have you ever woken up after drinking too much and immediately thought either, “I f*cked up” or “I must be f*cked up?” These two seemingly similar thoughts actually reveal deep-rooted societal beliefs about drinking problems that might be keeping you stuck.

It doesn't matter your age, gender, education level, or socioeconomic status – these thoughts show up consistently and create major r...

Have you ever set a firm intention not to drink, only to find your good intentions fall apart later in the day? It's a frustrating cycle that can leave you wondering what's wrong with you. But here's the truth: your good intentions aren't failing because of some personal flaw. They're failing because they're missing a crucial element.

On last week’s show, you learned why good intentions a...

Do you start each morning with the best of intentions for your drinking only to watch them crumble by evening? That frustrating cycle isn't a sign of personal failure—it's evidence that you're missing a crucial element in your approach to change.

The truth is, those morning intentions aren't the problem. They're genuine and meaningful, but when you tell yourself "I won't drink tonight" or...

Do you set strict rules about when and how much you can drink, only to break them and feel worse than before? 

When most people try to change their drinking habits, they immediately look for external parameters—only drinking on weekends, limiting to two drinks, or never drinking before 6PM. But these arbitrary rules completely bypass the most imp...

Have you ever found yourself envious of people who seem to drink with ease?

If you’re changing your relationship with alcohol, envy toward “normal drinkers” might feel familiar—but it also holds surprising insight into how your habit formed, and how you can begin to change it.

In this episode, you’ll learn how understanding envy helps you uncover limiting bel...

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by your emotions that you'd do anything to forget what's bothering you? 

In those moments, reaching for a drink—and then another, and another—can feel like the only way to escape. But this pattern of using alcohol to numb difficult emotions creates a problematic cycle that actually decreases your emotional resil...

Have you ever set rules for yourself around drinking, only to find that they don't work? You have the best of intentions, but somehow you always end up right back where you started. What's going on here?

As it turns out, there's a very good reason why your drinking rules aren't effective - and it has nothing to do with a lack of willpower or discipline on your part.

If you're constantly rushing through your days, checking off endless to-do lists, and using alcohol as a reward, you might be living in a "pleasure desert.”

When you're constantly focused on getting things done and denying yourself small pleasures, it's no wonder you feel the need to fill your evenings with alcohol. But what if there was another way?

Listen i...

Have you ever taken a long break from drinking, only to find yourself eventually going back to it? 

So many people find themselves stuck in this frustrating cycle of stopping and starting again, wondering why they can't seem to make the change stick.

Listen in to hear one of our Take a Break coaches, Adriana Cloud, ...

How often do you declare to yourself, “I’m just someone who…” fill in the blank? Can’t moderate your drinking? Has an addictive personality? Is broken and has no willpower?

It's easy to turn your frustrations with drinking into sweeping declarations about who you are. But what if these thoughts aren’t as true as they feel, and there was an alternative explanation that had nothing to do wi...

Do you ever feel like you're stuck in a cycle of cravings and excuses when it comes to drinking? It's easy to believe that the only way out is through sheer willpower and discipline, but sometimes, all you need is a new thought to prevent yourself from pouring a drink.

In this episode, you’ll learn four powerful "breakthrough thoughts" that can help you quickly change your perspective on ...