addicts are bored or frustrated problem-solvers who instinctively contrive Houdini-like situations from which to disentangle themselves when no other challenge happens to present itself. The drug becomes the reward when they succeed and the consolation prize when they fail.

loneliness goes beyond physical isolation; it's also the profound sense of emotional disconnection we feel from those around us. those surface-level conversations that leave you craving something deeper, the feeling of not being truly seen or heard, and the sting of having your heartfelt bids for connection dismissed or rejected.

The artist and the addict both wrestle with this experience of exile. They share an acute, even excruciating sensitivity to the state of separation and isolation, and both actively seek a way to overcome it, to transcend it, or at least to make the pain go away.