THE MENTAL AFFLICTIONS OF ADDICTION
THE MENTAL AFFLICTIONS OF ADDICTION
We all have something in our lives that we would call an addiction depending on how excessively you actually did something and felt it be stifling your life and your progression. Many addictions are external addictions like; playing video games, biting your nails, working, cigarettes, alcohol, weed, drugs, junk food, excessive eating, porn, money...
Many are even addicted to specific mental gratification like; sex (pleasure of love), being right, being needed, work (addicted to success, achievement) money (filling your life with things), social media (addiction to instant gratification to boost self-image, and confidence.)
Some of these addictions are hard to differentiate as they take grip within both your need for physical external satisfaction, as well as your mental need for emotional satisfaction.
Since addiction stems from dealing and coping that led me to question... what would happen if we didn't cope? If we just sat there in the filth of our own mind's dark emotions of sorrow, fear, jealousy, hatred? If we actually faced what we are coping with head on?
Absolutely nothing. Our fears would fade, angst would dissipate, and we would realize that the monster living in our closet isn't actually as big and bad as we once thought...
Luckily my extent of addiction is that of mostly an outsider. I have been fortunate enough to only have to deal personally with the addictions of cigarettes, and occasionally smoking too much Marijuana. I have been exposed to extreme circumstances when addiction conquers the mental and physical being of a person within my very own family, friends, and town. I have seen the ways in which addiction can drastically affect those around you, and how deep the repercussions may impact your life.
Physical dependence is when one becomes so dependent on a drug that their cells actually require it. If the body doesn’t receive it, withdrawal effects can take place that includes nausea, headaches, extreme pain, or restlessness. This is a real issue, not only does a person become mentally dependent, but that is followed by a physiological response of dependency within that person's body (depending on how extreme the affliction) this can make it seem almost impossible to stop. But once the detox has taken place, the solution lies in digging up the seeds of addiction, which have been rooted in the mind. Easier said than done... But it can and has been done.
Since the basis of addictions begins with a mental addiction once that is handled, the physical addiction eventually evaporates. The mental addiction begins with a want, the enjoyment of it, an ease of relaxation and comfort, that eventually leads to your body physically and chemically, becomes addicted to the act of, feeling of, state of comfort in which their "need" may bring.
When a person may withhold the "addiction's wants" the mind will fidget uncontrollably until you are overcome with anger, frustration, anxiety, depression which plummets you deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.
Unfortunately this is a vicious cycle, due to the fact that these bad habits and addictions usually have negative repercussions, the mind goes on a mental guilt trip and continues to give a mental beatdown ultimately creating a self-loathing train of thought, which leads to more depression, which then must be coped with, hence turning back to their coping mechanism (addiction) and the process continues this merry go round cycle of insanity....
In order to break free of the shackles of addiction, there is obvious, yet not so obvious path to follow to get you down the road to recovery...
The first step is always ACCEPTANCE. Accepting where you are in your life, accept responsibility for your decisions, and actions and how they impact your thoughts, routines, and decisions. Surrender to what is, and leave room for the growth of where you can go. Accept WHERE you have been placing your energy, and question if that coincides with the life that you WANT to be living...
The next step is to ASPIRE...You cannot do better if you do not want to do better. There must be a want, a drive, a motivation, you must be in pursuit towards your aspirations of living the life that you want and rightfully deserve. This must be met with energy and action in order to fulfill your desired outcome.
The next step is EFFORT, in order for your dreams, plans, and recovery to come to full fruition you must put forth the effort. You must give all of your energy, and take action conquering your old ways of living day by day, and even put in place a new structure base for living in order to replace your void with positive habits. Instead of excessively eating, one can replace that with healthy eating, yoga, exercise. Instead of smoking cigarettes, one can begin using vapor cigarettes, maybe even a few puffs of marijuana. Instead of getting high, one can replace that elevated state of mind with that of meditation. These are examples of positive ways to replace your bad habits, with new healthy positive ones.
Addiction is a very hard subject, almost like sailing a ship on rough waters, during a thunderstorm. Leaving those aboard the ship confined in chaos, yet blinded while turbulent circumstances pour down upon them, unsure of which direction to sail...
Eventually, that storm passes, dawning a new day where sunlight replaces the clouds that were once so prominently obstructing their possibility to view the true beauty that was just behind those dark skies...
UNTIL NEXT TIME
NAMASTE
#STAYWOKE
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