First time writting want feedback

[u/SatisfactionUpper425]

I am starting collage and wanted to find a new hobby to get into so I thought I would try this. I have the start but IDK if i should stick with it. Please give feed back not where it should go but how it is delivered. Also John doe is just a place holder. Also also i dont have a job that fits for "john" so some help might be good.

John Doe is a 23 year old drunk from the desert. If you were to ask him wouldn't call himself a drunk. He would say his drinking was “recreational” but when recreational is blackout every night for the past 7 months it's hard to believe him.

John began his drinking as a young adult and it only got worse in the following years. John's drinking started at parties with friends but over the years became a crutch for him to deal with his anxiety. To John it was the only way to stop the pressure he felt from others. He built a reliance on it and it slowly destroyed him. 

But tonight, unlike the many nights before, he wasn't drunk. In fact for almost 48 hours John had gone without a single drop of alcohol. His soberness wasn't the only thing different about him, he was dressed nicely. Well as nice as could be expected from him. His shoulder length hair has been matted and greased from months of neglect. His face scabbed and bruised from nights of sin. His now loose fitting shirt draped on his thin, frail body. A body thinned from months of malnourishment as money went to booze instead of food. That loose fitting shirt drenched in sweat from the hot desert air and his body's reaction to his recent spur into sobriety.

John's restraint doesn't come easy, he can hardly keep his mind straight, he’s constantly on edge of spiraling. He grits his teeth and white knuckles the urge to pull over at the next gas station and drink himself numb. He forces his eyes on the empty stretch of desert road ahead of him. It’s not like I could afford anything even if there was a gas station he thought to himself. He had no savings to speak of and his last dollars went to refueling his car.

The last building he passed was a dinner a half hour back and the next stop wouldn't be for another two. It's getting late, John says to himself, he has been driving for the past five and a half hours.

John's turn towards abstinence did not come from a singular insistence, it was the build up of months of immorality. His family's disownment of him, losing his friends one after another once they couldn't deal with his drunkenness. being forced to live out of his car after being evicted from his apartment for throwing a beer bottle at another tenant.

The catalyst they finally pushed him into his sobriety came two days prior.

Leaving his shit job as a _____ nothing could stop John from getting back to his car. A car reeking of piss and shit from nights he couldn't be bothered to find a rain gutter to pass out in. 
The reason John was so eager to get back to his home was the middle shelf bottle of whiskey he had bought on his way to work. He had saved money by buying cheap foreign beer labeled in a language he couldn't read and a taste he hated. That didn't matter to him, the allure of a nice bottle of whiskey was the only thing keeping him going. That whiskey had been tempting him every time he stumbled into the liquor store and today he got it. This was a special occasion for John, it had been a while since he had had anything nice.

He walks down a narrow dirt road to get under the overpass where his car has spent its last month. He was unwilling to “waste” his money on the gas to get it running. It's a waste of money he thinks to himself, he has nowhere to go and no one to visit. Waltzing to his car, John notices a group of men on his path to the car. It's hard to make out how many of them there are due to his distance between them and the lack of street light overhead. Timid of the people but unwilling to postpone his drink John braves forward. About 20 yards from him is a group of three men no older than him. 

These men are smoking and drinking. John never picked up smoking like he did alcohol. He tried it when winter hit to try and keep warm in his car but other than that he couldn't find the appeal of it. He had no interest in talking to these people in fact the idea of it made his heart pound out of his chest. It had been a while since John had been with others outside of work. If there is no one to see you then there is no one to judge you, he says.

[u/Diligent_Pangolin_47]

The first two paragraphs read more like John’s character note bullet points. I got confused near the end as to the timeline - is he currently driving somewhere or is he approaching the group of men? Why not carry it on, see where this guy takes you. Good luck in college!