Most of us will be addicted to something or another in life, but all of us can beat addictions. Find out why we become addicted, why addiction can be bad, and ways anybody can beat any addiction.
Addiction is an ugly word, and while it is true that addictions can destroy lives- they don’t have to. You might think you don’t know any addicts, but you would be surprised how many people struggle with addictions, and don’t let anybody know it. Do you have an addiction you want to beat? You’re not alone, a lot of people do. Join SpiritualBlossom to learn all about addictions, what they are, why they happen, and who is most at risk of becoming addicted. Find out some surprising addictions, how addictions can be bad, and four different techniques to us to try to kick your addiction.
What is Addiction?
Healthline.com defines addiction as “ A chronic dysfunction of the brain system that involves reward, motivation, and memory. It's about the way your body craves a substance or behavior, especially when it causes a compulsive more obsessive pursuit of “reward” and lack of concern over consequences.” They say that someone who has an addiction will have a lack of self-control and inability to avoid the addictive behavior or substance that they're addicted to. Their desire for the behavior of substance will increase, and will refuse to admit that their behavior is causing problems. Read more from healthline here: What Is Addiction? Definition, Signs, Treatment, and More
You can be addicted to anything. A lot of times, addictions get worse over time unless you address them, that is. An inability to stop doing something or using a substance even though it's causing problems as a sure sign of addiction. Some people become very secretive about their addictions, and will become secretive about other things as well making the people who they love suspicious that they're into something bad. An unrealistic view of their addiction as well as heightened anxiety and more severe reactions to stress can indicate that someone has become addicted to something. Some of the top addictions are to caffeine, gambling, anger as a coping strategy, and of course substances. Addiction to tobacco, opioids, and alcohol are commonly known addictions however, those aren't the only forms of addiction that there are.
An addiction typically interferes with your quality of life, is very expensive, and can damage your relationships. Over dependence on whatever it is you're addicted to can cause you to neglect other areas of your life such as your hygiene, and you might stop getting enough sleep at night because you're overly dependent on whatever it is that you're addicted to. Some people have lost their jobs, their homes, their marriages, and relationships with their families because of addictions that they have. Addictions can also severely compromise your health and make you struggle with chronic illness for a long time before your addiction kills you. You can always say no to something that seems like it would cause problems before you have a chance to become addicted. Learn about the power of saying no here: How to Say No: Reclaim Your Power
How Does Addiction Happen?
Ever notice how some people can be exposed to something, even trying it, and not become addicted while other people are immediately addicted? There are multiple reasons why we become addicted to things beyond the fact that a substance is naturally addictive. It is believed that some people have a genetic predisposition to be addicted to certain things while others seem to have less vulnerability to said substance. Some things alter the brain's reward center and cause us to crave them more, and increase our dependency on them. Some people have pre-existing psychological conditions that make them more likely to rely on certain things as a way of self medicating.
Then there is the ugly truth that our environment can make us more prone to addiction. If you are raised in a family where addiction is a normal part of your family culture, you may be more likely to engage in that addiction because it's all you've ever known. If you are raised by people who use addictive substances to solve their emotional problems, you are more likely to engage in the same behavior. A lot of times addiction doesn't happen for just one reason, but for a combination of reasons. Do you have to become an addict just because you were raised by addicts? Absolutely not. You can always break cycles that your family has established, and you can even refuse peer pressure that your friends impose on you. Nobody has to become an addict. Read more about the psychology of addition from Psychreg here: The Psychology of Addiction: How We Become Addicted and How to Break the Cycle | Psychreg
What Are Common Addictions?
Some people think that drug and alcohol abuse are the only addictions people have to worry about, but eating the wrong foods can be an addiction also. Getting in and out of countless toxic relationships, having the wrong attitude in life, and specific routines you refuse to deviate from, and self- defeating behaviors account for plenty of addictions.
What You Take In
Our bodies can become addicted to what we eat or drink. Some substances such as opiate drugs, caffeine, sugar, and alcohol are naturally addictive substances. Yale Medicine explains that something called the reward system in the brain developed over time to help reinforce behaviors that help us to survive as a species. The reward center sends out a chemical called dopamine which gives us a feeling of satisfaction. However, some things like nicotine, cocaine, or opioids flood us with about 10 times the amount of reward chemicals. Unfortunately what happens with this is the brain wants that surge of reward feeling, but the brain becomes less sensitive to the dopamine. You built up a tolerance to the substance that you're addicted to and you need more and more of it to achieve that reward feeling. Read more from Yale Medicine here :How an Addicted Brain Works > News > Yale Medicine
Routines
Routines can become addictive as well, especially for people with psychological problems like depression and anxiety. You can become overly reliant on routines to help you feel a sense of control over your environment and if something changes in your routine it will upset you greatly. You may find yourself working overtime to maintain the routine that you're addicted to, and the comfort that it once gave you will pale in comparison to the anxiety that it causes you to maintain it.
Toxic Relationships
We can unconsciously become addicted to a cycle of being in toxic relationships. Do you find yourself getting in and out of relationships frequently, and they often end for exactly the same dramatic reasons? Do you find yourself constantly involved with new people who do all the same wrong things that the other people who you've been involved with did as well? Do you find yourself saying things like “Love is a lie” or “All men/women are exactly the same?” When these things start to happen, quite often you are trapped in a toxic cycle of having bad relationships. Why do toxic relationships happen? Find out here: Why Relationships That Are Toxic Happen
Attitudes
We can be addicted to the wrong attitude. Having a constant negative outlook, only seeing the negative side of things, and refusing to try and stay optimistic are a choice. Likewise toxic positivity, or pretending that everything is perfect and denying problems is also a bad attitude that a lot of people become addicted to. The attitude that everything will be perfect once you achieve one thing and you can't be happy until you do that is a negative attitude that you can become addicted to as well.
Self-Defeating Behaviors
Self-defeating behaviors become addictions for some people. For some people, gambling, or over spending money are addictive. People like the adrenaline rush that they get from things that excite them, like watching a sports game, or the excitement of going on carnival rides. However, the adrenaline rush of shoplifting to see if you get caught, picking fights just so you get the adrenaline rush of the drama, or deliberately driving too fast on the highway can all be very damaging if not fatal. Some people find it easier to engage in these self-defeating behaviors than to address the fact that they have problems that they need to fix in their lives. One behavior to embrace is emotional control and you can learn how to do that here: The Ten Best Ways to Control Emotions
Why Can Addiction Be Bad?
Addictions are just kinds of habits. They become a problem when you cannot or will not change your habits to improve your life. Addiction is bad when it negatively affects your life. Eating, drinking, or ingesting the wrong things or too much of good things can cause health problems or kill you. If you are so set into your habits, you cannot break them long enough to take your family on vacation, it’s a problem. If you abuse substances that you have become addicted to, you can create financial hardship, chronic health problems, or you could even die. When the things that we do negatively impact our lives instead of improving them, that's a bad thing.
Ways to Beat Addiction
Addiction has been recognized as acting as a disease by a lot of people, and not everybody can break out of their addictions easily. There are a few techniques that some people have used that have helped them to kick their addictions. You can either quit all at once or gradually quit. You can also replace your addictive habit with something that is more beneficial. Some people try for years to kick an addiction and just can't do it on their own. There is only one thing left to do in a situation like that. Reach out for help and support to overcome your addiction.
Quit Cold Turkey
One woman was raised by smokers. Both of her parents and multiple members of both sides of her family smoked heavily for years. Not only did she live at a home with smokers, inhaling their second hand smoke, but when she was an adult she started smoking too. She watched both of her parents and multiple family members struggle with lung disease and cardiovascular issues as well as complaining about the expense of the medical bills added to the cost of buying tobacco products. She decided to quit. She threw away all of her tobacco, and never smoked again. Saying yes to the right things like improved health can help you to break addictions. Learn all about the magic of saying yes here: The Magical Things That Happen When You Say Yes
Quit Gradually
The woman's cousin was raised in the same family. Her cousin smoked also, but quitting all at once didn't work out for her cousin. So, her cousin got the nicotine patch and nicotine gum and smoked less and less cigarettes over a number of months until she completely weaned herself off smoking or using any tobacco products at all. Not everybody can quit an addiction all at once, and need to gradually stop doing it a little bit at a time. Depending on what your addiction is, you may need a doctor to prescribe medication to help you while you gradually quit.
Replace the Habit
Some Alcoholics have found success with kicking their drinking habit by replacing it with something else. They always have a bottle of water, ice tea, juice, or soda with them. They also don't go out to bars with friends and they don't keep any alcohol in the house. Instead they will meet people at coffee houses, or have friends over for a pot of tea. Some people who want to break the habit of overeating we'll pack snacks to have with them so they don't get hungry enough to eat a big meal, and they will replace their eating rituals with a workout regimen at a gym. They may take classes or have a personal trainer help keep them motivated. Remember, addictions are habits, so if you can replace them with a healthy habit, it might help you to kick the addiction. Replacing habits can create transformation and that's a powerful form of magic. Learn how to make magic happen in your life here: Using Practical Magic in Everyday Life
Get Support
Not everybody can break an addiction all by themselves, and that's ok. Never be ashamed to reach out and ask for help with addiction. Support groups can be found, and your friends and family can help keep you on the track to becoming free of your addiction. Countless medical doctors and counselors are available to help you with prescriptions and counseling to give you the physical and moral support that you need to walk away from your addiction for good. Remember that addiction alters the brain and sometimes we need medical intervention to get our brains back to where they need to be. So, get the support you need and be patient with yourself while you are kicking that addiction.
No matter what you are addicted to, be it something like a routine, or a dangerous substance, you can beat your addiction, and there are multiple ways to do it. Some people swear that quitting all at once is the way to beat an addiction, but other people quit an addiction gradually and never look back. If you replace your habit with a beneficial one, that can help you beat an addiction. Not everybody can kick an addiction all on their own, though, so don’t be afraid to reach out to get the support from friends, family, or the professionals you need. You are greater than any addiction you will ever have, and you can defeat it!
A psychic advisor doesn’t replace a visit with an addiction specialist, but a psychic can offer the encouragement and moral support you need when you are working on beating addictions. Reach out any time to get support from us today.
About the Author: Lady Saoirse has studied magic and lore for most of her life but started walking her own Magical Path after being spiritually reborn in the desert. Today she is a High Priestess for The Temple of the Goddess, she is a psychic advisor and spiritual counselor, she shares her gifts as a Psychic and Content Writer for Mysticsense and SpiritualBlossom, and she writes for The Green Egg Magazine and PaganPages.Org emag.
