Thanks for responding with that extra background information. I feel like I have a lot in common with you - high empathy and awareness of systemic economic dis

Thanks for responding with that extra background information. I feel like I have a lot in common with you - high empathy and awareness of systemic economic disadvantage. I have worked from home for decades in sw dev and pub, so I had the choice to smoke pot and I found it insulated me from what I didn't like about how society is organised. Like you, I found pot helped me to concentrate on work, and liberated me with creative endeavours, although managing it isn't so simple as flicking a switch by any means. I don't have a family history of alcohol use - the opposite. But I ran into endless legal problems 6 years ago when a major customer stiffed us for a lot of money, then 3 lawyers in a row exploited us while I was off caring full time for a relative. All the money we were owed went to lawyers fees. I ended up drinking just to get away from this awful feeling of being subjugated to injustice by the legal system. Then 2 years ago, we sorted out the legal problems and I no longer had to dwell on it. I stopped drinking for a while, but so much of my old life had disappeared, I was left with a void. I was happier, but I started drinking again, happily. After another year I just wanted to stop, but that was difficult. It is hard to change habits, but not impossible. I read about this subject, and learned some techniques, but my experiences taught me about the role that underlying stressors can play in the need for habits, which is why I asked you the question which you kindly responded to. I actually quit everything 7 months ago, and soon noticed how much I love the clarity. The sobriety is like a new drug. I really dig it. I do wonder how much the ayahuasca I imbibed in South America a few years ago has contributed to my newfound ability to appreciate sobriety, and to move on from my bad feelings about exploitative lawyers and my economic losses. I don't have any bitterness left. It's all reframed, by looking from outside myself. My empathic abilities can be applied to the lawyers who cheated us in a way that enabled me to move on. I can just see them as actors who did what they did in a way that isn't personal to me, and let it go.