Hello, I’m a recovering heroin addict with almost 2 years clean. I’m 30 and I’ve been addicted to one drug or another since I was 16. I’m still in my rebuild phase and doing pretty good all things considered. However, I’m finding out it’s next to impossible for me to just feel happy day to day. I watch people that are serving tables just like I am and they seem to love their life. I don’t understand what they know and I don’t. I feel like most people’s advice is “look where you’ve come from, you should be very proud” and “it’s all about your outlook/ reaction to things”. The problem either is that I’m not capable of it or I just don’t know how. Since I’ve been chemically producing happiness for 15 years I’m willing to bet it’s the latter.
I do have a passion and I’m situating my life to be able to go back to school in order to pursue that. I just hope I can enjoy the way there.
Im really getting nervous that this is just going to be my life until I die. Just underwhelmed, bored, lonely, and disinterested in just about everything. Does anyone have a book that has helped them find happiness or fulfillment in life?
by EmployLost
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I wouldn’t say that one specific book has helped me find happiness, but books as a whole make me happy. But I can tell you which books (with characters that have a more or less bleak outlook on life and have trouble connecting to the people around them for some part of the story) have made me cry with how much they moved me.
– Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (found family, depressed outlook on life, implied abuse/neglect of children)
– Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg (short stories, centered around love, some are a bit weird in a good way)
– All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Sci-Fi, novella, emotional, protagonist has a hard time connecting)
– Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi (NA, dysfunctional family, eating disorder)