Originally Posted by
daredevil 
GT,
It's taking longer than I'd like, but the endgame is permanent abstinence.
I still find reprieve in the bottle, sufficiently that I've been willing to bear the consequences.
The benefits aren't entirely illusory, but net-net, best I give it up-sooner than later.
I think “best I give it up - sooner than later” is the end-game, winner still unkown. To me, permanent abstinence is “game over”. (Neo stopping the bullets with his upheld hand in that apartment hallway. Or imagine Neo doing whack-a-mole mentally behind his back before the moles even make it out of the holes.)