We used to simply escape from ourselves. We used food, pornography, sex, relationships, shopping, and immersing ourselves in our phones as mood changers, as painkillers for deep pain we might not even realize we have. We fill an internal gap rooted in us early, soothing a trauma that fractured our language, which we could only heal by distracting ourselves with compulsive behavior. Addiction was our mute scream, our silent suffering, and our buried moan. This is a roadmap to stop running away from ourselves.