What temporary things are you using as happiness substitutes for the eternal God?

I wrote this question for today. Then I wrote my post. Not this post though, another one, one from a less personal perspective. But, then I felt like God was saying, “What about you? What are your happiness substitutes?” And, I hated my answers: TV, my phone, affirmation from others… the list goes on. You see, I’m right here in it with you, wanting God to be my focus, but looking to temporary things instead of him. We all have these intense situations in our lives that weigh us down, and we don’t always want to deal. We want to shut them off and turn on 5 hours of Netflix, even though we know it’s not helpful. But, God wants more than that for us. He wants to expose us (me included), not to shame us, but to heal us like a good doctor opening us up for surgery. We all use temporary things to numb our problems and to numb ourselves, but to actually fix them and ourselves, we need to look to the eternal God of all things. He is good, and capable, and willing to walk us through life in gracious terms.

So, what about you? What are you using as a substitute for the hope and healing that only the eternal God can provide?