I put down the booze — so pass the pie! And Red Bull! And video games!

I spent $35 for a sushi lunch the other day. That’s $35, just for one lunch, just for me, a guy who – very grateful for it, mind you – is making a non-profit agency salary.

And it occurred to me – sure, I’ve put down alcohol and drugs. But man, I sure do still love to cram my face with food. And I sure do still love to spend money.

Looks like I’m not alone in this. I called a bunch of folks in recovery, and they too, have done the ol’ addiction shuffle, especially early on.

“In early recovery, I was drinking probably five of those Five-Hour Energy shots a day, probably a gallon of unsweet tea,” says Diane W. of Hillsboro Village, a recovering alcoholic with  two years sober.

“I went from a half a pack a day to three packs a day,” she said. “I smoked really fast. But they were ultra lights. In my mind, that justified it.”

Woah! All that caffeine and all those smokes…. Dang girl, you was wired! But that really is so common for us.

Jonesing for a drink or a fix in early recovery? How ‘bout three Monster energy drinks instead? Or a few Starbucks? Or an extra pack (or two) of cigarettes a day? Or desserts at every meal and a few snacks in between?

And it’s not just substances. Heard about that new TV series on Netflix? How ‘bout watching the entire season in a night?

Anyone ever play video games from 8 at night until 8 the next morning? Have you seen guys hit the gym so hard that you don’t recognize their Hulk bodies three months later?

Let’s not even get started with sex and/or romantic relationships.

If we’re the least bit uncomfortable, we addicts/alcoholics LOVE to change the way we feel. And we’ve done that for years — or decades — with substances and/or unhealthy behaviors. So yeah, we get that drugs and alcohol don’t work for us anymore. But it’s really hard to break that habit of immediately looking outside ourselves for something, anything, to make us feel better.

• Mark H. of Bellevue, with a year clean, says he uses lots of retail therapy, mostly used CDs and trips to Costco. “I was there easily five or six days a week,” Mark says. “I figured out when they started giving out better samples.”
• Fellow Bellevue resident Tiffany C., with three years clean, says, “My early recovery obsession? Boys.”
• Oh, and one more thing for Tiffany: Binge TV watching, especially Gossip Girl, Games of Thronesand Dexter. “It took me outside of my own life,” she said. “It gave me other people’s lives to focus on.”
• Brett G., of West Nashville, who has 19 years sober, says he turned to sweets. “I never ate sweets before. I immediately found affection for sweets. The old-timers talked about replacing the sugar in the booze,” Brett said. “Lunch and dinner, I would always find a way to get a cake or a pie in there.”
• Amanda P. of Donelson, who has two years clean, did the caffeine-tobacco twosome. “I didn’t know what to do with myself; I feel stressed, I didn’t know what to do,” she said, “so I’d go to get a coffee and smoke cigarettes on the way there.”
• Ed M. of Franklin, with three years clean, turned to running, eventually started doing marathons. “It feeds into compulsive, obsessive behaviors and my need to take things to the limit,” he says.
• Rich V., of West Nashville, who has seven months clean, started going to the gym six or seven days a week, to the point where he would injure himself lifting weights. “It comes with some sense of validation from looking good and feeling good,” he said. “I also use it as an outlet to get rid of anger and anxiety.”
• Billy D. of Bellevue, with five years clean, turned to video games after a year and a half, playing up to eight hours a day at the peak of his new addiction. “It began to affect my meeting attendance, my step work, my relationship with others,” he said. “It caused me emotional pain, just not to the extent or gravity of the drug addiction.”

And there’s the rub. Few things will destroy our lives or kill us quicker than drugs and alcohol. So we justify and tell ourselves that our new obsessions are OK.

Truth is, these new obsessions ain’t that healthy either, and some will definitely kill us, just more slowly.

Let’s celebrate putting down the substances. And let’s acknowledge that the road to balance and serenity can be rocky.

Think I’ll have a smoke – and a grande coffee, five cinnamon rolls, a shopping spree and a Big Bang Theory marathon – to contemplate that.