Old 04-17-2012, 10:32 AM
  # 170 (permalink)  
Terminally Unique
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location:   « USA »                       Recovered with AVRT  (Rational Recovery)  ___________
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Originally Posted by soberlicious View Post
Many people hold this happiness =pleasure mindset. Personally, I think it's what leads to alot of suffering. What is "happy"? What is "pleasure"? To define (and redefine) these things for myself has been extremely important.
Addicted people, and people who haven't yet figured out that abstinence is its own reward, are quite often obsessed with 'being happy', when they likely don't even know the meaning of the word beyond a cheap buzz. Their AV pumps gloomy pictures of a boring life without drugs at them, which is somewhat accurate, because being addicted is kind of like living in the jungle, and nobody is every "bored" in the jungle. With so much attention spent on just staying alive, not getting eaten, or getting your next fix, there is simply no time to be bored. The luxury of boredom is one of the benefits of not living like that.

Originally Posted by soberlicious View Post
That said, it doesn't matter whether I'm "happy" or not...I don't drink. ever.
I do love when people in recovery say something like "if you're sober, and happy..." (they always seem to add the 'happy' part), which is pure addict talk. The idea that "happiness" is somehow bound up with abstinence, or that one needs to "get happy" in order to abstain, is the addiction talking. Addicted people get high regardless. Got laid off? Get drunk! Won the lottery? Get drunk on expensive booze! Happiness is good, but it is secure abstinence that will give you an opportunity at happiness, and not the other way around.
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