“I WANT WHAT I WANT WHEN I WANT IT”

A common personality trait among alcoholics and addicts is the need for instant gratification.  For me, it became the drive to continue to abuse alcohol, even when I knew it was destroying my life.

I self-medicated, hoping that I would experience that instant feeling of escape and that my problems would go away.  In reality, I was not escaping from the world, I was escaping from myself.  I made all my problems worse and the need to escape them even stronger.

In order for me to live sober, I had to find other ways to get that instant sense of euphoria.  I knew I couldn’t find it sitting still, isolating or wishing things were different.  I had to take action.

It was important that I find things to do that would give me a sense of accomplishment in my life – doing something positive and getting creative.  I started doing hobbies that I had long put away because of alcohol.  I made a point of finding new outlets for my energy, and found a way to balance my life between work, recovery activities and quiet time.  I realize now that this has been a big step towards being happy and healthy in sobriety.

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