Raises hand, PTSD sufferer, well CPTSD.

I only drink on occasion, more for the flavour of the cordials I make and spirits I buy. Otherwise, I have no desire to get drunk or forget anything. I like having my mind clear to creative work. Besides, alcohol has sugar and I need to cut down on sugars where I can right now, cuz candida and stuff. But I drink so rarely, it doesn't really affect me in that way.

I once dated an alcoholic and he wanted to forget his reality. Reality can be difficult sometimes, but I can't take drugs, they make me sick, and I can't drink caffeine, it induces panic in my body. But I am aware of that programming of wanting to forget. Now I want to remember every little detail of dark hurt and abuse so that I can heal it and I want my mind clear so I can be creative. But once upon a time my drug was 7 hours of gaming every single day, so I get it. We're not given the tools to find that path that allows us to feel content in our lives. We are programmed to sacrifice ourselves and please other people all the time, work in slave jobs and never to our true life purpose.

I know people who stopped all drugs and all alcohol and found clarity and then found their true life purpose and went out to get it. These things can help us at times, but taken to excess they become a hinderence to our lives and prevent us from becoming our "greatest version".