Addiction

“If you can quit for a day, you can quit for a lifetime.” -Benjamin Alire Saenz

What is addiction? Medically, it’s defined as a reward to the neurological part of your body that eventually becomes a dependency. In layman’s terms, it’s a want that eventually becomes a need. In previous posts, I have written about two key components that are significant factors when fighting an addiction. Mindfulness and self-respect. Allow me to expand on how the two specifically relate to addiction. Mindfulness helps admitting you have a problem which is universally recognized as the first step to conquer any addiction. Self-respect takes you one step forward and instill a desire to want to change. To take that train of thought even farther, according to the Stanton Peele Addiction website, the desire to change comes from establishing certain values to your life which will in turn, provide the motivation to take action. If you value your children, you try beat the addiction for them. If you value your career, you try to beat the addiction in fear that you will no longer be competent and lucid to perform any task. If you value your significant other, you try to beat the addiction to keep them close to you. Obviously, these are all just preliminary steps. A road to recovery can be relatively simple or a task and a half, depending on the circumstances and the individual combating the addiction. But most experts in this area of study agree that these steps provide a pretty solid springboard if completed properly. To sum up, admit you have a problem. Then think about your values and who and what you’re hurting with the addiction and how you can resolve that. Have you ever battled an addiction? Are you close to someone is currently doing so? Comment about it below.