The Must-Read Book Club
Tatum Fjerstad: I recently decided to quit drinking because I was using it to numb the pain and anger in my life. It was also preventing me from authentically connecting with the people I loved. I was getting in front of a class and teaching people to take care of themselves and then I would go to happy hour after and feel hungover the next day. That felt icky. I don't resonate with the AA model of recovery, which states that we are powerless to a disease. So I did some googling around and I found this book. It make a lot of sense. It's a pretty controversial in a lot of ways, but it's a viewpoint worth considering.
YCNYC: Favorite quote?
TF: "Desire has the power to propel us through life, to get us from now to later. The trick to overcoming addiction is thus the realignment of desire, so that it switches from the goal of immediate relief to the goal of long-term fulfillment."
YCNYC: What one person would you recommend this book to?
TF: Anyone who wants to quit ingesting a substance and wonders how addiction works on a neuroscientific level.
YCNC: What moment or part resonates with you the most?
TF: There's a lot of marketing language out there that says that certain things change your brain. Literally everything changes your brain. Your brain is always changing. Everything you repeat a habit or try to form a new one, your brain is changing. That's what it was made to do. So, in effect, most people who are in good health can take control and change their brains. It can be hard work if the habit is old and strong, but it can be done.
You can purchase The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease here.
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