High vs. Happy
THE NEUROSCIENCE OF HIGHS VS. TRUE HAPPINESS
There’s a lie we tell ourselves every time the glass tilts back — that this feeling, this warmth in the veins, this sudden ease — is happiness. It’s not. It’s a hijacking. A chemical counterfeit. A brilliantly executed trick of the brain. And most of us, for a while, are willing participants in the con.
You want to feel better — not tomorrow, not eventually — now. So you reach. And for a moment, it works. That’s the problem.
THE BIOLOGY OF THE HIGH: WHEN THE BRAIN GETS PLAYED
Inside your skull lives the most sophisticated survival mechanism evolution ever built — the reward system. Its job is to keep you alive. To motivate you to eat, love, bond, and strive. It does this with dopamine — a molecule that says, “That felt good. Do it again.”
But drugs and alcohol don’t play by the rules. They flood the system. Not a gentle push — a damn burst.
Cocaine can spike dopamine by over a thousand percent. Meth? Even more. Alcohol rides in quietly, but it hits the same switch — numbing pain, heightening false confidence, seducing you with silence.
The brain, not built for this flood, starts to adapt. What once felt like euphoria now needs twice the dose. Then thrice. Then always.
THE AFTERMATH: WHEN HAPPINESS BECOMES A GHOST
After enough use, you don’t get high. You just get less miserable.
Why?
Because the brain, battered by chemical surges, stops producing dopamine naturally. The receptors numb. The joy circuits go dim. Now, even a sunset, a lover’s laugh, a good meal — nothing registers.
This is anhedonia — the inability to feel pleasure. You’re alive, but not really. Just coasting in emotional grayscale.
And still, the bottle calls. Not to make you feel good — but to make you feel something.
THE ILLUSION OF CONTROL: THE DEBT THAT KILLS SLOW
Using substances for pleasure is like taking out a payday loan on your soul.
You get the thrill now. The crash comes later. But by then, you’re too numb to care — and too hooked to stop.
What began as escape becomes a cage. What felt like control becomes compulsion. You aren’t chasing highs anymore. You’re chasing the memory of a high — a ghost that disappears every time you touch it.
THE BIOLOGY OF REAL HAPPINESS: NOTHING FLASHY, EVERYTHING TRUE
True happiness isn’t loud. It doesn’t crash through your system. It builds — slowly, quietly.
It comes from balanced chemistry:
Dopamine for motivation, in doses earned through effort and achievement.
Serotonin for mood, rising from gratitude, mindfulness, and meaning.
Oxytocin for connection, flowing from trust, touch, and shared presence.
Endorphins for relief, generated through movement, laughter, even tears.
These aren’t fireworks. They’re candles. They don’t blaze — they glow.
And they don’t demand a price.
WHY THE HIGH IS NEVER WORTH IT
Here’s the brutal truth: that high you chase is synthetic joy. Manufactured. Unsustainable. And every time you taste it, it steals your ability to recognize the real thing.
Natural happiness asks for patience. Presence. Vulnerability.
The high? It just wants your surrender.
THE PATH BACK: REWIRING THE SYSTEM
Reclaiming your brain is possible. But it takes war — silent, stubborn war.
Awareness is Ammunition: Understand what’s happening behind the scenes. Know that your cravings aren’t character flaws — they’re chemical puppeteers. And now you know the strings.
Reintroduce Natural Rewards: Walk. Create. Cry. Move. Laugh. Journal. Love. Repeat. These are not clichés. These are neural recalibrations. One repetition at a time.
Therapy as Reconstruction: CBT, mindfulness, EMDR — not tools, but chisels. They chip away at the architecture of addiction. They teach you to spot the lie before it becomes action.
Connection as Medicine: Group therapy. Family. Friendships. Not support — oxygen. Every hug, every “I see you,” drops oxytocin into your bloodstream. It heals.
THE COST OF ILLUSION
There’s a reason most addicts don’t quit until they’ve begged God to survive the night. Until the ER beeps louder than the brain’s justifications. Until the pain finally screams louder than the high whispers.
You don’t need to wait that long.
You can start today.
Not for fireworks. But for the quiet miracle of waking up — clear-eyed, steady-handed, and finally free from chasing ghosts.
True happiness doesn’t knock. You build it. Brick by bloody brick.
And one day, without warning, you’ll realize — you laughed. You really laughed.
Not because you were high.
Because you were home.