Agony

How do you eliminate the agony of temptation?  You give into it.  You have a craving, an itch for something?  It won't go away.  It seems to be consuming your thoughts and feelings.  It is so easy to just give in.  The alcoholic knows this after the first drink, and even before the first drink.  To give in is temporary relief.  Then the suffering, the shame, the guilt, the ego deflation.  That becomes a pretty deep hole.  To try and wrestle with temptation by ourself is often a good path to giving in.  Rather, call someone, or get out of the space you are in, or try and be helpful to someone else.  I rarely have these temptations when I am being useful to someone else.  Temptation loves loneliness.