Randy Blythe

my first year of sobriety.

And when I got arrested, I was about a year and a half sober.

Reading some of Epictetus at that time, I hadn't gotten into Marcus Aurelius or Seneca yet, but reading Epictetus and trying to, I think I internalized some of like his external conditions did not define his emotional state.

Because he was a slave who was, we don't know to what degree, crippled, I suppose.

And thinking about that and thinking about the end of my drinking, where I was so miserable and just wanted to die when I was in prison.

I was like, this sucks, right?

There's no way around it.

This is not a good time.

And it's very scary and all that other stuff.

But I at least want to live.

I at least want to sort of make the best of this situation.

Whereas a year and a half ago, I didn't care if I lived or died.

But I actually, I wrote a friend of mine from prison where I was like, I would rather do another five or 10 years in here than drink again because I,

I think I can survive five or 10 years in here.

You never know, but I think I can do it.

But I'm pretty sure I would not survive another round with alcoholism.

How does it stand up?

It stands up 100%.

I'm not going to say that I was like this bodhisattva-like figure of calm in prison at all times, you know, because I just wasn't.

And I was facing a very uncertain future.