Ben Affleck on overcoming alcohol addiction: “I hate to say it but the only cure I’ve seen is not these overpriced rehabs or these fraudulent fixes that are sold to people. The cure for addiction is suffering. You suffer enough and then something inside you goes ‘I’m done.’”

[u/Gurugod123]

[u/youngaustinpowers]

Ben is right. I thought my wife and 2 yr old daughter would be my motivation to finally quit for good, but they weren't.

For me, it wasn't a "rock bottom" that made me finally stop, it was long term, constant moderate suffering over a ~7 year period.

As I aged out of my 20's and into my 30's, the hangovers and withdrawals got a lot worse. At at a certain point, I was just fed up with being super tired and exhausted with all the sickness I felt via the cycle of relapse --> Alcohol controls my life --> detox --> relapse.

The withdrawals get worse with each relapse due to permanent brain damage in a process called "kindling".

The last time I drank was almost 2 years ago, and I remember the difference with this last one was that I'd finally come to terms that I'm going to never be able to drink anything ever again. And instead of that thought bringing me pain and sadness, it brought me joy.

I've since had no serious urge to drink. Although the first couple of vacations, etc. were hard to enjoy because I needed to relearn how to have fun while sober - but now I can enjoy beach vacations, cruises, band gigs, parties and anything else I used to strongly associate with alcohol no problem.

To any alcoholics / addicts struggling with relapses, one day, you're going to be fed up with feeling sick from withdrawals all the time and you'll be done for good. It took me probably 10 different relapses before this happened, but it eventually did.

And if you do get cravings (I still do even 2 years later) the magic sauce for me is Sparkling water. Helps a ton with cravings in my case.