Take a Break from Drinking
Episodes
265: When Drinking Is a Form of Self-Care
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Find out why you might be using drinking as a form of self-care, why this isn’t right or wrong, and a process for slowing down the habit. Get ...
264: What to Do When You Have Competing Desires
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I share why having competing desires isn’t a problem, how you can better understand your urges, and then respond to them with inten...
263: What to Do When You Feel Defeated
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I share how feeling defeated impacts your ability to say no to a drink, and how you can use this feeling to learn more about your hab...
262: When Drinking Is What You Have in Common
25 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in this week to find out what really creates connection in relationships and how to change your habit while maintaining strong connections with...
261: When Drinking Is Reliable
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You might think it’s the most reliable way to feel the way you want to, but it’s not. Find out why you keep turning to drinking to feel better and...
260: Transforming Failure
11 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I show you why failure is part of the process of changing your habit and how to stop viewing having a drink as a bad thing. Get...
259: Willpower vs. Powerfully Living
04 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I share why choosing to live powerfully can make saying no to a drink feel good, and why willpower alone isn’t enough to change you...
258: When Not Drinking Feels Like Punishment
28 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, find out why feeling virtuous won’t help you change your relationship with your habit and neither will feeling punished when you sa...
257: Fading Affect Bias + Drinking
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, learn what fading affect bias is and how it affects your drinking, why trying to focus on the shame and regret drinking brings you won’t ...
256: Advance Certification on Numbing + Buffering
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Learn how to change your relationship with drinking by going to the source. Find out how to handle the discomfort of saying no to your desire and, if ...
255: Why Humans Avoid Feelings
07 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Discover what the real cause of your drinking habit is, why you’ve been conditioned to have this problem, and where to start if you want to change y...
254: Are You Writing Off Change?
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You might think that there’s no point in trying to drink less over the holidays. Or, you might think that even if you do make a change, there’s no...
253: The Purpose of Overdoing It
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, I invite you to reconsider what you’re making your overdrinking mean. There is a purpose for it, and once you understand what it is, your...
252: Alcohol as Neutral 2.0
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, find out why labeling yourself as bad when you say yes to a drink does not make you a bad person, and why indulging in judgmental lab...
251: Worrying About Your Drinking is Not Your Life's Purpose
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, learn why the purpose of taking a break isn’t to get better at following rules or to get healthier, and how to stop constantly worrying a...
250: Unpacking Permission-Giving Thoughts
02 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What I offer you in today’s episode is to dig a little deeper into your permission-giving thoughts. Learn how to examine your desire to drink and th...
249: When One Isn’t Enough
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
No matter your reason for taking a break, asking yourself “what is enough?” is important. In this episode, learn how to explore your habit through...
248: Why You Shouldn’t Take a Break from Drinking Too Seriously
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you take your drinking habit and your break from drinking really seriously, I invite you to stop. In this episode, you'll discover what happens whe...
247: Urge Worry
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I have great news: you don’t have to worry about future drinking urges anymore. In this episode, find out why urges aren’t a problem or something ...
246: Why You Shouldn’t Surround Yourself with Sober People
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, find out why avoiding people who drink won’t make changing your habit any easier and what to do when you are around people who are ...
245: Practicing Habit Change
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You need to understand your urges so you can respond to them differently, and this takes time and practice. In this episode, you’ll learn about the ...
244: Responsible Drinking
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The fine print on a bottle of beer usually says something like “drink responsibly” or “enjoy in moderation.” But most of us have no idea what ...
243: What’s in Your Glass?
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you want to understand what you’re getting out of your drinking habit, listen in. I’m sharing the desires that uncorking a bottle might be sati...
242: Unproductive Optimism
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tune in today to find out if you’ve been sabotaging yourself with unproductive optimism and what to do instead to actually change your relationship ...
241: Feeling Behind with Your Drinking
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The thought “I feel behind” is common when trying to change your relationship with drinking. You might see the peers you used to party with growin...
240: Old Urges
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I share what it means when an old urge to drink shows up and how to handle it. Find out why old urges can help you understand your ha...
239: Drinking Amnesia
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After a night of drinking, it’s normal to have some physical and/or mental side effects. But a few days later, you decide to imbibe again, forgetti...
238: When Drinking is Just a Habit
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, find out how to take ownership of your drinking habit, drop the self-abuse, and slow down the process so you can make a conscious dec...
237: When People Want You to Keep Drinking
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you decide to take a break from drinking, the people around you will have opinions about it. But only one person’s opinion matters when it come...
236: Why You Should Imagine Not Drinking (Even if You Want to Drink)
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, you’ll learn about an exercise that reveals your unconscious thinking about drinking, some of the obstacles you might experience, a...
235: Why Stopping Drinking Won’t Change the Habit
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There are deeper factors that impact your desire to drink and your relationship with alcohol, and these factors aren’t addressed by saying no. In th...
234: The Hidden Drawbacks of Drinking the “Good Stuff”
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you believe the drink in front of you is superior to other drinks, your desire for it changes. In this episode, find out if the “good stuff” ...
233: Drinking Because of Unexpected News
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, learn how to navigate the urge to drink that comes after getting unexpected news, and find out how to handle uncertainty without runn...
232: How Long it Takes to Change Your Drinking
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes down to it, the answer to the question of how long it will take to change your relationship with alcohol is very simple. Tune in this we...
Bonus: Reframing Habit Change
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
2021 is halfway over and it’s the perfect time to evaluate your progress with changing your drinking habits. In this bonus episode, I’m sharing a ...
231: What You Don’t Know About Hangovers
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alcohol can lead to physical and mental aftereffects the next day, but viewing it as a punishment could actually be making it harder for you to change...
230: What You Need to Know about Mocktails + Non-Alcoholic Drinks
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You can decide to drink non-alcoholic drinks and mocktails during your break or decide not to. There’s no right or wrong decision because both can t...
229: Alcohol as a Teacher
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Discover all the ways alcohol can teach you about your habit and how to allow it to become your teacher. Learn how getting curious about your drinking...
228: When the Urge to Drink Won’t Go Away
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Find out why your urges to drink seem to go on and on, and how you can make them super easy to deal with. Learn three tools that put an end to these n...
227: Taking Credit for Not Drinking
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you’re on a break from alcohol, it’s easy to dismiss all the times you make the decision not to drink. Find out why giving yourself credit fo...
226: Drinking Intuition
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Find out what your drinking intuition is trying to tell you, why you should listen to it, and what happens if you don’t. Learn how your intuition gu...
225: A Songwriter’s Journey with Take a Break
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hear Pippa’s story of taking a break from alcohol multiple times over the past few years and what these breaks have taught her about her songwriting...
224: Why You Shouldn’t Focus on Counting Days
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us have a deep-seated belief that progress is marked by the number of days we’ve gone without drinking, but this idea causes more harm than ...
223: Why You Don’t Need to Decide You’re Never Drinking Again
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, find out why there is so much pressure to declare that you’re never drinking again and why you don’t have to make that decision (...
222: Alcohol as a Boundary
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
So often, people find that the habit of pouring a drink at the end of the day is less about alcohol, and more about establishing that they’re off th...
221: Drinking at a Young Age
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You might wish that you could go back in time and stop yourself from taking that first sip, but you can’t. And the truth is, you don’t need to. Tu...
220: Chain of Events
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Find out why the days, weeks, and months leading up to your decision to drink are critical to changing your relationship with alcohol. Get full show n...
219: Learning to Trust Yourself Again
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Listening to others getting coached can benefit your progress. Tune in today to hear part of a live coaching call with three of the participants in th...
218: What About My Family Tree?
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you over-identify with family members who also have the habit of drinking, you lose sight of your ability to change your habit. Listen in today t...
217: Regret About Drinking
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tune in today to find out why your brain is so committed to regretting past drinking behaviors and how this pattern of thinking is preventing you from...
216: When Your Brain Is the Enemy
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in today to learn how to identify what kind of relationship you have with your brain and how that affects your relationship with alcohol. Find ...
215: Absent Urges
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tune in today to find out why your urges are absent, how to learn about your habit without the desire to drink, and how to use absent urges to your ad...
214: Handling Grief Without a Drink
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While it might seem like using alcohol to escape is serving you, drowning your sorrows won’t make the pain go away. Listen in today to understand h...
213: How a Sommelier Changed Her Desire
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Molly shares her journey of changing her relationship with alcohol and learning to have fun drink-free. You’ll learn why changing t...
212: Alcohol and Sex
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, you’ll discover the real effects alcohol has on your sex life, and learn how to question your reasons for drinking before getting i...
211: Knowledge vs. Know-How
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Beating yourself up over having a drink won’t help you say no next time. Learn why you need both knowledge and know-how to change your relationship ...
210: Dreaming about Drinking
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What experiencing unsettling dreams about drinking alcohol means and how they can actually help you change your habit. Get full show notes and more in...
209: Why You Struggle to Moderate
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tune in to learn the real reason you’re drinking more than you might be comfortable with and why taking a break from drinking in the right way will ...
208: Talking to People About Your Break
12 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tune in to learn why we tend to care about what other people think and what you can do to change this. Discover how the brain works so that you can ch...
207: Resolutions that Stick
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why not sticking to your resolutions doesn’t make you a bad person, it simply means that your attention is in the wrong place. Get full show notes a...
206: Loving Your Company
29 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This New Year, I’m inviting you to gift yourself the skill of learning to love your company. Your companionship with yourself is the most important ...
205: Writing Out the Habit
22 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me on the podcast this week to discover how to really analyze how the habit of drinking is playing out in your brain, and what you can do about i...
204: Habit Mindset
15 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If you believe right now that alcohol is fueling your habit and that getting rid of it is the solution to your desire, I urge you to listen closely th...
203: Allowing Urges
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in this week as I show you the wealth of information that urges can provide when you’re willing to examine them, and how doing this work will...
202: Commitment Misunderstanding
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tune in this week as I show you what commitment truly means, and how so many of you are inadvertently teaching your brains the wrong solution to the h...
201: Holiday Ritual
24 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me on the podcast this week as I show you the role that rituals play in our lives, and why our brains don’t like changes to our norm. I believe...
200: Celebrating You 2.0
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How often do you speak to yourself with language that celebrates you? Does saying you’re amazing, talented, beautiful, or successful out loud make y...
199: I Feel Fine Saying No
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tune in this week as I show you where people get tripped up when it comes to changing their relationship with alcohol. If things feel fine or flat to ...
198: I Can't Handle Not Knowing
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
2020 has been a year of people wanting to hit fast-forward on life, to the end of the pandemic, or to the end of this election season. You might be re...
197: Desire Confusion
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We tell ourselves that we want a drink to feel normal, or that we deserve it after the day we’ve had, but all of these thoughts that might be coming...
196: Why We Need Cocktail Hour
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in this week to discover how the advent of happy hour or cocktail hour came about, and why humans came to need this as a relief from their toil...
195: Can I Trust Myself to Drink?
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in today as I show you why the question of trust comes up so often when it comes to drinking, and how your thoughts about why you can’t trust...
194: I Have Nothing to Complain About
06 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why the belief that you shouldn’t feel the way you do is so problematic. The tendency to spiral into judgment over how you feel is never useful, and...
193: Why Do I Have a Habit?
29 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in this week as I outline 3 reasons why you have developed a habit around drinking, while someone else who drinks might not. This question of w...
192: Drinking to Enjoy Who You’re With
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me this week as I show you why we drink to like people and one simple practice that will help you evaluate your relationships. There is so much f...
191: Why Do I Keep Sabotaging My Success?
15 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me this week to discover what self-sabotage means and why mislabeling it is so problematic. Beating yourself up for making decisions that are at ...
190: What It Takes to Say No
08 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You do not need to wrestle the habit of drinking into submission with force! Listen in today as I show you what it takes to say no and follow throug...
189: Everyone Drinks
01 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in this week to discover why the thought, “Everyone drinks,” is problematic, and why we need to reframe the way we think about alcohol. It’...
188: Milestones
25 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in this week to discover what milestone you should be focusing on when changing your relationship with alcohol. You don’t need anything outsi...
187: Change vs Control
18 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me this week to discover why the key to unwinding the habit and shifting your relationship with alcohol is all about embracing change. You have t...
186: Editing Your Drinking Mindset
11 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in today as I show you that you have the power to edit and change the thoughts in your mind. Understanding that you have the skills within you ...
185: Why Do I Keep Flip Flopping?
04 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tune in this week to discover how to let go of the constant flip flopping you might be doing with your drinking. I’ll be diving into why you are doi...
184: Why You Need to Depersonalize Suffering
28 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me this week as I show you why suffering feels so personal and what the work of depersonalizing suffering looks like. Doing this deep work makes ...
183: Upside Denial
21 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me this week as I show you why I don’t think fixating on the downsides of drinking is helpful, and why the myth of hitting rock bottom to chang...
182: Abstinence vs. Moderation
14 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me today as I share my viewpoint on abstinence and moderation when it comes to changing the habit. The premise and focus of both of these approac...
181: Purposeful Discomfort
07 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me today as I show you the importance of learning how to embrace discomfort. I’ll be sharing why I don’t buy into the myth that hitting rock ...
180: The Halfway Point
30 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tune in this week as I show you what might be going on if you’re not where you want to be with the habit, and how removing blame and shame are so im...
179: I Can Stop Whenever I Want To
23 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in this week as I highlight how you might be engaging in a power struggle when you hold onto three thoughts about drinking, and why the real st...
178: Unexpected Discoveries
16 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me today as I share the four most important and unexpected discoveries that you’ll experience when you apply the tools I teach here to your lif...
177: How My Approach Is Different
09 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me today as I show you how the work I teach is dramatically different from common approaches out there, such as AA, and why, as a society, we’v...
176: Will This Work for Me?
02 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in this week as I share some of the most common excuses and reasons people give me for why their situation is different or unique, and why your...
175: Why Not Drinking Is Easy
26 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me on the podcast this week as I highlight why believing that changing habits is hard stands in your way and slows down your progress, and how yo...
174: Urge Work
19 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me on the podcast this week as I show you what the real urge work entails, and why the ability to feel restless when you have the desire to drink...
173: Thought Curiosity
12 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me on the podcast this week as I show you what getting curious about your thoughts means and why most people aren’t in the habit of doing this....
172: The Reason You Drink Too Much
05 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me on the podcast this week as I outline the four most common reasons you think you drink too much and the real reasons why. Choosing to believe ...
171: Why Alcohol Is an Acquired Taste
28 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As humans, we haven’t evolved to innately enjoy the taste of alcohol. If you were honest with yourself, you might remember your first experience of ...
170: Are You Drinking to Cope?
21 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me this week as I outline what coping really means and why I chose to come up with a definition for it myself. I’m offering a couple of key que...
169: Why Positive Thinking Backfires
14 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me this week as I show you why positive thinking backfires, how to redirect your brain in a way that will help you move forward, and the true pow...
168: When Will This Be Over?
07 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me this week as I show you how to come out stronger on the other side of this pandemic, and how you can find moments of peace and joy once you le...
Special Episode: Believe in You
01 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
People will tell you that “all bets are off,” liquor stores are “essential” services, and alcohol is “needed” to cope with this crisis. Th...