Eric Zimmer

All those little choices, none of which are monumental in and of themselves, though, are what makes the difference.

Yeah, I still take the bus everywhere.

I haven't owned a car since.

Oh, man.

Yeah, the story that we told about me driving to AutoZone opens up a chapter in the book.

And the last story in that chapter is exactly what you said.

I had been picking oxycodone at the pharmacy and driving it to my mom for several weeks before I even thought about it.

And yeah, I would have probably robbed you at gunpoint for those.

And now they had about as much emotional significance as a loaf of bread, which is incredible.

I don't tell that story to brag.

I tell the story because it shows that what often seems completely insurmountable to us can become second nature down the road.

I don't struggle not to do drugs anymore.

It's not there in that kind of day-to-day struggle.

Now there's things that I do that I think keep myself mentally and emotionally healthy enough that those cravings or those feelings don't come back.

But yeah, it's disappeared as a problem for me.

And for anybody that's dealing with a compulsion, that's part of what's hard is you think about life without it and you just imagine that you'll always want it.

Like, yeah, maybe I could give up whatever your thing is, gambling.

I don't know.

Maybe I could give up gambling, but life would always feel like I'd always miss it.

I'd always wish I could do it.