Ben Affleck Is Thankful for “Second Chances” After Getting Sober

GRATEFUL EVERY DAY –

Dec. 1, 2021 – He added that, though he wishes he “did not have to learn some lessons the hard way,” the “difficulties” of alcoholism helped him “learn those things in an authentic, meaningful way to really learn the lessons that I’ve really internalized, that have created the values that I have now even though most of them were born of failure.”

He continued, “The only real cure for alcoholism is suffering. You just hope that your threshold for suffering is met somewhere before it destroys your life.”

Personally, his attitude toward life’s hard lessons has evolved in the past few years. “I used to be irritated by people who would say, ‘Oh, I have these problems and I’m grateful for them.’ I used to think, ‘This is bulls—. You’re not grateful for disasters, creating pain and wreckage in your life. Say you feel s—– about it and you wish you were better!’” said the Oscar-winning actor. “Only within the last five years, I really felt increasingly grateful for the difficulties that I’ve had … It’s not insignificant, because a lot of that pain is rooted in pain caused to other people. And that turns out to be the most painful thing in life.”