One of the challenges of detoxing one’s system from chemical agents, which is what I am doing this week, (I have not had a drink of coffee or an alcoholic beverage in four days), is how to deal with the empty spaces that suddenly appear when one is no longer preparing for, or indulging oneself in, the consumption of these things. No more coffee refills several times a day and no more glasses of wine or cans of beer before going to bed. I just want to feel what life was like before these things became so important and seemingly necessary to me. So far, so good. No headaches, no physiological disturbance that I’ve noticed. These addictions were only emotional, rather than chemical. Of course, the emotional addiction that I struggle with the most- my incessant drive to have the attention and praise of others, is much more difficult to disengage from. How do I even measure progress in this? One can count the cups of coffee or the alcoholic beverages, but how do I count the...