Addictions. What are they and how do they affect us?

garybilbao (62)in Project HOPE • 2 months ago

"Guilty pleasure" = "Iguana"

"Addiction" = "Elephant"

“Alcohol drowns out sorrows,” “drugs transport you to another universe,” “sex makes you feel alive,” are common expressions that attempt to relativize harmful addictions and vices. "Pleasures make you forget," they say, and we have experienced it more than once, but what happens when a “guilty pleasure” becomes a destructive addiction?

Have you fallen into alcoholism, have you become addicted to drugs, have you been promiscuous or are you eating like there is no tomorrow and worse still, food that is harmful to your health? Maybe something is wrong with you, maybe there is a void and you haven't realized it.

Food tries to fill the void, sleep isolates us from our miserable reality, and even with the Internet we try to fill our lack of affection, our low esteem or the desire to be appreciated and important. That's why Facebook and other social networks are so successful.

There are many ways to satisfy our needs and anxieties, our voids and our insecurities. My experience as an addict has allowed me to understand that each of our addictions replaces what we are missing. We become dependent on something because we obtain from it what we are not capable of obtaining on our own or by other nobler, more praiseworthy and more edifying means. Dependency takes over the will and an attempt is made to compensate for the sadness and poverty of the soul and spirit. We do not realize, or we do not want to realize, that there is something better, that we can change our lives, that we are responsible for our condition and that no one forces us to be and be like this.

I don't know you, but I'm sure you have an addiction, just like me. It can be big and visibly harmful to your body, mind and/or emotions, or it can be small and seemingly harmless, almost an iguana-sized guilty pleasure, but trust me, it's not. If you don't commit to overcoming it, it can grow or evolve like a huge African elephant and cause you to do things you never imagined, or, your body can at some point resent you and the addiction can take control. Worse yet, unhappiness, poverty of spirit, unhappiness and anxiety will prevent you from living a full and satisfying life.