http://thisisnthappiness.com/post/3926904033/habitual-drunkenness-is-usually-psychologists
Habitual drunkenness is usually, psychologists inform us, the result of the inability to accommodate oneself wholly to reality. It is often a vice in that unfortunate class of people who have imperfectly coordinated artistic facilities. They yearn vaguely for something other than the world they know but they lack the capacity to create a world nearer to their hearts’ desire. Still more, do they lack the capacity to attain a comprehensive vision of the beauty emanate in this world. Neither the art of escape nor the art of revelation is possible to them. Nevertheless they have perceptions they cannot use and impulses that never come to fruition. Drink, or some other drug, by relieving their sense of impotence and by blurring the unfriendly outlines of the real world brings them solace and becomes a necessity.
I buy it as well.
As someone who now has more than 5 years of sobriety, I admit that one of the first things I had to learn was that the drink was not the causative factor, but rather my discomfort in my own skin, my distaste for my place in the world, and my inability to construct a life in which I felt at ease. Once found, alcohol along with other numbing drugs heightened my ability to ignore my reality and soldier on.
Essential to long term abstinence, I have found, is mostly relearned perspective. Lowering my self-perceived level of importance, coping with criticisms both real and imagined in a non destructive way, and shifting my view of my progression through life from the long view to the here and now; these have all been key in my learning how to live my life on terms that simply exist, are real and verifiable, and are presented to me in life through no action of my own.
I try to do the right thing, pay attention to signs, remain flexible, work hard, and don’t squander opportunities. I don’t take anything for granted, and maintain a heightened level of gratitude.
Interesting timing on this comment because last night I watched Limitless, the ultimate “drugs can fix all your problems” film.