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Why You Drink Without Realizing It: A Psychologist Explains the One Habit That Runs Your Life | Ep 282 with Laura Elorza
18 Nov 2025
Chapter 1: Why is Gen Z drinking less alcohol?
So, Laura, there's a fascinating thing that's happening right now that I hear that Gen Z as a generation are actually drinking less. And I'm seeing this big push for alcohol free products, which I find fascinating. And I'm curious, you know, we can dive into this later around alcohol. Like what's the future? Will alcohol be, will people drink less alcohol or is this just a movement right now?
But I know what is going on at the unconscious moderation, what you're all trying to do, your mission. But what do you think that changed when you all realized that someone's drinking problem, it's not about the alcohol at all. It's about what you all call the unconscious mind.
Okay, so I do believe that like, what you're saying, the statistics show Gen Z are drinking way less than other generations. And I think we can attribute it to being conscious of the effects that alcohol has in your body, how you feel afterwards. And sometimes when you drink a little too much, you start acting to what you believe in and your principles and your main goals in life.
So I think it's attributed to that. And I do believe that we are getting into a point that it's so important to know about ourselves. And I do believe that all the other generations are catching up. to understand more about your unconscious patterns on why you do the things you're doing, because maybe those habits don't serve you anymore.
They used to, they don't anymore, or they've never served you, and they didn't align with your personal preferences. So that's why we think alcohol and alcohol moderation, it's a big thing coming up for a lot of people.
So when you talk about breaking habits, what do you find is something that people can do, maybe one, two, three things, if somebody wants to start breaking habits just in general? Because I imagine alcohol consumption can easily become a habit because of how it might make you perceive that you're feeling better, right?
I know there's a lot of reasons why we all would want to feel better in life, but what are things that people can do to break habits?
So, for example, we do believe the first thing is awareness, knowing about that habit that is not serving you anymore. Sometimes we try to mask it or try and say, like, oh, this is a one-time thing, but it keeps on happening. So, yeah. Awareness is the main thing.
Awareness that you have unconscious patterns that most like 95% of our behavior, including our drinking patterns, usually originates beneath the surface. So it's only 5% of it. It's like really conscious. So understanding. Your patterns, it's the main thing. I also believe to change habits, you gotta install habits that are aligned with you. In small increments.
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Chapter 2: What is the role of the unconscious mind in drinking habits?
That's how I kickstart my day. Just one glass of water right there. So little by little, like those micro wins give you that Rush and that oh like I can't do it. So that's a big thing another thing is I Also checking in with you because sometimes we are very tough and we want to like start a habit right away and be awesome the next day and just have it installed.
Or maybe we have like fit into the idea that a habit can change in 21 days. That's really not true. It takes a while. It takes conscious action and it takes you understanding yourself. So the main things are, Would be those awareness, micro wins and checking in with yourself.
Thank you for saying that. I was thinking about that as you're talking like the whole 21 days thing. And that's never worked for me in my life. So I thought maybe I was just different. But I can I like the idea of taking different habits in replace of habits versus like I'm only going to stop this. Instead of doing this, I'm going to do this other thing that's positive in my life.
Something that I personally have been a huge fan of is hypnotherapy. I've been doing it since I was around maybe 15 years old. Hypnosis has really changed my life. I know hypnosis, journaling, and movement are part of the tools in the app. What happens to someone when they do these three things together?
So for us, the main thing, like for example, hypnotherapy, a lot of people, and you've experienced it, but a lot of people think it's those like magic tricks that you see. But it's not. And it's not that you lose control of yourself and that someone else is taking the control. the controller of your life.
It's more about being in a relaxed state that you can, like your nervous system shifts and your brain receives suggestions. Suggestions into asking yourself deeper questions and learning more about yourself. And also what we see a lot about the internal dialogue. You can start during the hypnotherapy finding that internal dialogue that helps you.
Those I am statements, I am strong, I am powerful, I can do whatever I set my mind to, those can be done during hypnotherapy and it becomes your internal day-to-day dialogue. Also, journaling, it's so beautiful because it's not it speaks directly to the unconscious language because the unconscious mind is not rational. It's not like logical. It is.
It happens through symbols, and journaling is one of the ways that we can create that bridge between the unconscious mind and our conscious mind. So we understand the symbols through journaling. And your hand doesn't go as fast as your brain, so you gotta slow down, write it down, and understand that deeper meaning of those sentences that you're writing.
And the last thing that we do believe in a lot in unconscious moderation is movement. We believe the phrase that movement muscle change of thought because it is like a chemical reset to your brain. Your brain is being hit by all of this feel good neurotransmitters. So when you actually move, you are changing the brain chemistry and it helps you understand your life through a different perception.
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Chapter 3: How can awareness help in breaking habits?
Because I almost when I think of it, I'm like, well, isn't kind of isn't that kind of one in the same or do they go together and how that even relates to drinking? Can you walk me through that?
course. That's like one of our main topics. And the thing is, yeah, it's used as an interchangeable thing, shame and guilt, and they're very different. And our brain experiences so different. So for example, guilt is something that happens when your behavior doesn't align with your values and your principles. So it's behavior based. While shame, it's very internal. You identify with it.
So for example, guilt would be, I made a mistake. While shame is, I am the mistake. And that's a big eye opening insight for a lot of people. It's like, oh, I've been wired and I think that I am the mistake.
And
And maybe what I'm seeking for when I feel that shame is just connection. That's how I get out of that shame spiral. While with guilt, it's okay. How can I act differently? So that's a main thing that we talk about because sometimes it's used interchangeably and it's not.
How much of this do you think is tied into the traumas that we carry? Trauma seems to be like the word that people talk a lot about now, which I think, I don't know if that's good that we're recognizing that we go through things, like you said in the beginning around, we are consciously falling.
thinking now more about stuff, but how much do you think that our previous experiences or traumatic experiences or trauma play into maybe unconsciously how we react or do things now?
A lot. A lot because we are actually – we have different stages in life where we are very prone to like understand or signify things. And one of them could be like a traumatic event. And when I'm saying trauma, it's not like something very drastic. It's how you understood the situation that you went through. So everyone has traumas, right? And understanding that you –
put that event and that you live through that event and then that you put a meaning to that event, it's big. And that meaning could be unconscious. You could do this wiring completely unconscious. So it's like, oh, I don't know. I had a situation at a party. I was very anxious and I drank to feel comfortable. And you associated like anxiety, bad drinking can help me like get out of my anxiety.
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