453: Afraid You'll Lose Friends If You Stop Drinking? Listen to This. [Listener Q&A]
Take a Break from Drinking: Practical Tools to Drink Less & Change Your Relationship with AlcoholShow Notes
If you've ever worried that not drinking will make you boring, wondered whether your friendships can survive without alcohol, or if part of you thinks maybe you should just have one drink to keep things normal, this episode is for you.
In this week's listener Q&A, you'll hear a question from Sean, who fears losing his friendships if he stops joining in with drinking.
Tune in to learn why you believe you need alcohol to be your "best self," what's really happening when you drink to feel comfortable socially, and how to access the ease and connection you want without needing a chemical mute button.
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, transcript, and more information here: https://rachelhart.com/453
More from Take a Break from Drinking: Practical Tools to Drink Less & Change Your Relationship with Alcohol
When your drinking isn't causing problems in your life, it can be hard to know whether there's any reason to change. Maybe your relationships are good, you're doing well at work, and alcohol genuinely helps you relax, have fun, or feel less bored. If nothing seems to be going wrong, are you just creating a problem where there isn't one?
Have you ever felt pressured to drink even when no one was actually pressuring you? Maybe you order a glass of wine because everyone else is drinking, or you say yes to another round because you don't want to deal with questions about why you're stopping. No one is telling you what to do, and yet saying no still feels surprisingly difficult.
Setting a goal to have just one drink can feel simple enough when you make the decision ahead of time. But then you finish that drink, you want another, everyone around you is still drinking, and suddenly all the reasons you had for stopping at one don't feel nearly as convincing.
It can be incredibly confusing to keep reaching for a drink when you're not even enjoying it that much. Maybe it doesn't taste as good as you expected, the buzz isn't delivering what you imagined, or you find yourself pouring another while wondering why you're doing it at all.
Being surrounded by alcohol can make drinking less feel almost impossible. When your partner drinks, your friends want another round, or so much of your social life revolves around alcohol, it's easy to believe you'd have more success if you could just get rid of the temptation.