The hundreds of sober people I’ve spoken to all say that alcohol or drugs initially served a valuable purpose for them, too. It allowed them to feel and behave like the people they wanted to be. Or it killed boredom or helped them work harder. Or it numbed their anxiety and lowered their inhibitions. Or it allowed them to escape from some restless passenger inside them they couldn’t quite understand. And then the phrase is always “It worked until it didn’t.”
