I can't fathom why I had to scroll so far down to find a response like this.
Congratulations on your success.
The amount of posters in this thread who seem to mistake a superficial physical co-existence in a social setting for genuine connection is staggering. The Mate quote you've shared seems to address it directly, and better than I could have hoped (and tried) to articulate myself.
Maté's book "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts" helped me better understand my changed life — definitely fit more with my own struggles than Hari's also-good "Chasing the Scream" [which deals more with societal legalities].
The amount of posters in this thread who seem to mistake a superficial physical co-existence in a social setting for genuine connection is staggering. The Mate quote you've shared seems to address it directly, and better than I could have hoped (and tried) to articulate myself.