When I began writing this book, I initially thought it was a story about me. I believed I was chronicling my personal journey, a solitary voyage through the trials and tribulations of life. I was driven by a desire to understand myself, to make sense of the tangled web of experiences, emotions, and decisions that had shaped me. However, as I started to see that my struggles with addiction and self-perception were not unique to me, I came to realize this wasn’t just a story about me; it was a story about us.