Remember my idea to pen a letter to your younger self? Well, just call me Johnny-Come-Lately again. Turns out you can buy an entire book of such letters, which includes one by Stephen King. His advice to himself: Don’t do recreational drugs. King had in fact become dependent on drugs and alcohol, although he admitted in his book on writing (more a memoir really which I very much enjoyed reading), that his dependency coincided with some of his most prolific writing. Some of the commenters at that link evidently agree. A good outcome that involves high personal costs I believe is referred to as a Pyrrhic victory.