From longreads.com, I found this beautifully written short story, by William Torrey, about a man self-medicating his way through the pandemic, while attempting to keep his increasingly dysfunctional life intact.
All forms of addiction are about a struggle for control - the tension between the part of ourselves that knows what’s best, and the part that needs to be fed. We humans are blessed with a big brain than can do lots of impressive tricks, while being tethered to an engine of survival, which holds all the cards. We don’t usually think of it in these terms, but it’s a battle we’re all fighting, to lesser or greater extent, every day.