Other than the Bible, the two books I've found the most helpful in my (now) five weeks of continuous clarity are the AA Big Book and Chris Prentiss' The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure. Prevailing opinion today among most professionals is that alcoholism is an incurable disease. If true, that would be really depressing. But Prentiss' book takes a different approach: alcoholism or addiction to other substances aren't even the problems. Rather, our self-medication with these substances is a symptom of deeper problems. Solve those problems, and the addictions can be cured. Don't solve these problems, and the addictions really are incurable because they are symptoms, not diseases.
I don't know about you, but for me, this approach was transformative because it gave me hope. It's also what spawned the idea of this site because it means that I need to work through those deeper problems that have been causing me to self-medicate. Because this is one of the first posts I've done here, I obviously haven't gotten it all figured out yet, but I'm hopeful that I will.
Here's what I know so far: unlike so many people, none of my childhood scars came from my parents, as I said before. Quite the contrary - they were loving, kind, and wise. They were saints... no kidding. My problems began when I set foot outside my front door. I was a weird kid, scrawny and smart in the classroom, but a social imbecile. To this day, I have no filter for any of the higher forms of humor. They should have named me Ernest.
