If You’ve Tried and Failed Before, Start Here
Welcome to Journey to the Sunnyside, the podcast where we have thoughtful conversations to explore the science of habits, uncover the secrets to mindful living, and of course, your own mindful drinking journey. This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the number one alcohol moderation platform. And if you could benefit from drinking a bit less, head on over to sunnyside.co to get a free fifteen day trial. I'm your host, Mike Hardinbrook, published author, neuroscience enthusiast and habit change expert. Hey, everyone.
Mike:Welcome back to another one of these ten minute Mondays. And today, I wanna talk about something that really underpins this entire podcast and really everything that we do here at Sunnyside, even if we don't call it by name. And it's more of a modern approach to drinking that's getting more attention lately, even though it's often misunderstood or misrepresented. So what I'm actually talking about is something called reduction. Now I know that that phrase might not immediately resonate with everybody listening.
Mike:Some people hear harm reduction, and they might have an association to maybe something that they've read or heard in the news, and they might think that it only applies to extreme situations. Of course, it's been used with things like needle exchange programs or with people that have more severe substance use disorders. Others hear it and they assume maybe it's a way of saying, You know what? You're not ready to quit yet, So here's your watered down path and plan. But both those ideas actually miss the point because harm reduction isn't about severity.
Mike:It's more about support. It's not about giving up on change. It's more about making change possible. And in fact, it's probably one of the most practical, compassionate, which I identify with so much, and effective frameworks that we have for helping people reduce the negative impact of alcohol without requiring an all or nothing decision. It's more for the person who's drinking more than they want to, but doesn't really identify with traditional labels, which that's the entire reason I ended up writing my book, which led to this podcast.
Mike:It's more for the person who's curious about cutting back, maybe taking a break, or drinking with more intention, but also wants a flexible, shame free way to get started. And that's exactly what we built inside of Sunnyside. Now let's take a step back and talk about this new model. You know, for decades, there was more of a dominant narrative around alcohol and change that was binary. It was either you're fine or you're an alcoholic, and that was it.
Mike:Which means that unless your life was falling apart, you were told, you know what, you don't need to change anything, you're fine. But if things were falling apart, you didn't have your things together basically, the only option presented was basically lifelong abstinence, typically through a program like which in all honesty was built in the 1930s. There was not really any space for nuance. There was no middle ground. There was no flexibility.
Mike:It is a very rigid program that you must follow. And yet the vast majority of people, and I'm talking about millions and millions of people, actually fall somewhere in between. So they're what you could call gray area drinkers. I call them in between drinkers. In my book, it doesn't really matter.
Mike:You're kinda like in this middle ground. Maybe you're drinking every day or you're not drinking every day, but alcohol isn't totally controlling your life. But it is affecting things like your sleep, your mood, your focus, maybe your self respect. And you know that something really needs to shift in your life, but you don't wanna go with this rigid solution. You don't wanna be labeled.
Mike:You're not looking to be told what to do for the rest of your life. And this is where harm reduction comes in. And this is where mindful drinking does. It's the kind that we talk about here at Sunnyside, and it works. We see it every single day from our users.
Mike:And you might not hear the word harm reduction every time you open the Sunnyside app, but the philosophy is really built into everything we do. We focus on tracking. We focus on planning. We focus on taking more mindful days, not perfection. We celebrate wins, more awareness, and real life progress, not focus on the guilt.
Mike:And we let you decide your goals, whether you're wanting to cut back, change your patterns, maybe you want to quit altogether. It doesn't matter. You get to choose. It is a personalized, empowering experience instead of kind of rigid rules, labels with a diagnosis. And that's what makes it more modern.
Mike:And That's what makes it different. Now, I laid all these great things out, but let's talk for a second because sometimes harm reduction as a term, it gets pushed back, especially from people who do not believe that moderation is possible. And to be honest, I get it. Like some folks have tried moderation, it didn't work. And so they assume that it can't work for anybody else.
Mike:Or maybe they've been taught that total abstinence is the only safe option. But I think that belief is based on a different population. It comes from the treatment model built for people with more severe dependency, not for people maybe that are exploring change proactively. And the truth is that there is a wide spectrum of drinkers and a one size fits all doesn't really serve most of them. And there is solid evidence that's now showing that behavior change, even in small doses without full abstinence, leads to better health outcomes.
Mike:You have lower blood pressure, improved liver enzymes. Of course, you're sleeping better, your mental health, your mood feels better. And these are wins without the all or nothing approach. So the criticism usually comes from a misunderstanding, thinking that harm reduction means that we're all around here saying, you know what? Drinking is totally fine.
Mike:Don't even worry about it. That's not it at all. Harm reduction means let's reduce the harm that alcohol is causing starting now, no matter where you are in the spectrum, no matter what your goals are. What's the first step we can take? And I had the privilege of talking with some top experts in this field that have done lots of work in harm reduction.
Mike:One most recently was doctor Jason Kilmer, a clinical psychologist, an alcohol researcher at the University of Washington. And I pulled one of his quotes, and he said, sometimes we hear people say that they worry that the harm reduction message is too controversial, explaining that they think that it could give a mixed message or even solely imply moderation. However, in many ways, the most harm free or risk free outcome after harm reduction approach is in fact abstinence. But what a harm reduction approach acknowledges is that any step towards reducing the risk could be steps in the right direction for that person. For some, using less or using less often achieves that.
Mike:For others, it might be that their amount and their frequency stay the same, though they use more protective behavioral strategies in a way that reduces harm. And that's key. And I also pulled another quote, Doctor. Andrew Tatarsky, who pioneered integrative harm reduction psychotherapy, and he said, Let's really start where you are and create a safe space to support you in discovering what's true to you. And that's what we believe in too.
Mike:So moving back to why this works, it works because it meets you where you are, not where someone thinks that you should be. It really allows you to change your habits without being so fearful of failure. It allows you to build momentum instead of feeling shame around maybe where you are right now. It allows you to stay consistent, which you hear me say a lot, because you're not burning out trying to be perfect. It gives you room to experiment, room to grow, and most importantly, to decide what kind of relationship with alcohol actually works for you.
Mike:And to be honest, that's a lot of freedom. That's a lot of power. And for many people, it's the first time that they felt any of that. So swinging back to the term harm reduction, if it doesn't resonate with you, don't worry about it. You can call it mindful drinking.
Mike:You can call it building a better rhythm. You can call it drinking on your terms. The label, it really doesn't matter because we're not about labels. What actually matters is that you're moving towards a life that feels better. It feels more authentic.
Mike:It gives you more energy, more clarity, makes you feel good about yourself and more in control. And that's exactly what we're here to support. So I'm going to leave you today with the thought of the week. What if change didn't have to be perfect, to be life changing, to be powerful, to be impactful? What if this time it could feel doable?
Mike:What if this time you could feel like you're actually building, not something that you're being judged for, because you can't. So thanks for listening today. If you've been using the Sunnyside app or you're just listening to the show, you're already practicing harm reduction, even if you never called it that. I hope you have a beautiful week Until next time, cheers to your mindful drinking journey. This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the number one alcohol moderation platform.
Mike:And if you could benefit from drinking a bit less, head on over to sunnyside.co to get a free fifteen day trial.
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