How to Look Into the Future

ON QUITTING ALCOHOL

When I quit drinking, I stopped enjoying the epic highs and the crippling lows that came along with it. Of course I still experience the pain and lows associated with being a fucking human on planet earth, which sucks. But I can tell you now, they aren’t nearly as bad as what they were.

When you stop drinking, everything sort of levels itself out. The peaks and troughs of the human disposition come closer together. You start to recover the equilibrium that us humans are supposed to exist on. That’s the trade off. You trade the thrill of the spikes for some actual stability. And with that stability comes the unintended consequence of a change in time preference.

When I talk about time preference, I’m referring to a person’s attitude towards delayed gratification or immediate satisfaction.

Someone who drinks excessively is usually a person living a high time preference existence. They prioritize immediate satisfaction over long-term goals and results. They also tend to indulge in impulsive behaviors, focusing on short-term gains and being a selfish cunt. Sound familiar?

Low time preference people think long-term. They are able to defer gratification and set long-term goals. They understand the unmatched benefits of controlling impulses, so they are willing to wait for the much better rewards that come in the future.

When I was a drinker, I never thought about the future at all. Part of it was believing I was going to die young. But another part of it was that I could only see as far as my next drink/party/bender. I really didn’t give a fuck beyond that.

With sobriety, my time preference has lowered. For the first time in my life, I can see the future ahead of me. I can finally imagine myself in the future and see all the possibilities that it may hold if I make better choices for myself today. We are the only known animal on the planet that can do that; imagine a distant future. It’s like magic: you think about something and you can see it in your fucking head, then you do the right things and it happens. That’s fucking magic. But you have to wait for it. You have to control your impulses and make the arduous choices that will lead to it.

Try it out. Lower your time preference and start looking into the future. It’s a gift. Don’t ignore it.

Ask Me Anything

Thanks for ya question, b.w.smythe, whatever the fuck that name is. Are you a real person? Anyway, here it is:

"Do you dabble in non-alcoholic beers? And what’s your take on them?"

In short, my answer is, fuck alcoholic beers. My long answer is in this video.

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On Day 16 of giving up alcohol, Boyle is irritable, angry and staring at walls to deal with his shit. In this episode he reflects on how he is starting to discover who he really as and there are some major personality flaws emerging.

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