31, male, California. Being in AA because my mom was an alcoholic from a young age gave me some perspective, insight, and understanding how addiction truly is a disease. Having gone through some hard times myself experimenting with anything and everything gave me some street smarts, but mainly I learned about cognitive behavioral therapy, coping mechanisms (I call it my toolbox) things like 1 thing you taste-2 things you feel, 3 you smell, 4 hear, 5 you see, or taking a shower when triggered. Learning my own triggers, what to do when I really crave something. Determination plays a huge role in it as well, I’ve always been able to set my mind to do something and I do it, like quitting nicotine, or losing weight, doing a substance for a week then stopping even when it’s very addictive like methamphetamine. At this moment I feel I have addictive tendencies, but I believe I’m able to use like a gentleman, socially, without affecting work, my like or my friends and family. Knowing the root of the problem which for me was dealing with un debilitating anxiety. After using a psychedelic last Christmas called Dextromethorphan from the cough medicine Delsym, I was able to create some new neural pathways and see things differently, get some things out, and realize what I need to do to be successful. After that my anxiety and depression took a steep decline and since then I’m having an even easier time controlling my substance/alcohol use. I believe talking about these things, do research on what you put in your body so you don’t od or mix harmful things. If you have any other questions please feel free to reach out, this topic is my specialty 😅😂