Beating Addiction And Negative Habits
If you find yourself falling into the same habits and addictions even though you’ve tried to stop, you need to read this.
Sometimes we as humans make life more complicated than it needs to be. There can be a sense of liberation when we break rules, and who doesn’t want to feel like a rebel every now-and-then but sometimes-a lot of times actually- rules are there to protect us, sometimes from what we could potentially do to our souls and our psyche. If you find yourself falling into the same traps, actions or addictions, even though you’ve tried to stop, you need to stop fighting at the “action level” and start fighting at the “thought level”. I have found that some of the simplest thoughts and actions have greater effect, both positively and negatively, than some of the more seemingly larger things. But there are tons of “small things” that happen, that we go through every day, and most times we only have the attention span to focus on the big things that cause immediate, drastic changes in our lives. Yes! but small things, if left unchecked become big things, really big things. It could start really innocently, a lingering look, a second glance, a lingering thought. Its effects are too weak to be felt in the moment, but it’s there, it festers, it nests until one day it comes all of a sudden as an idea, an urge -whatever “it” may be- and it seemingly takes you by surprise, but it was there all along.
The chains of addiction are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken -Samuel Jackson
A lot of people lose their battle against addiction when they unknowingly wait because they don’t feel the pull of their habits immediately. A lot of people unknowingly wait until they “feel” something or notice themselves doing something before kicking into action. That is fighting at the action level, and it doesn’t work. It’s like trying to cool an engine after it has already burnt out. Fighting, not just addictions, but also negative habits start at the thought level, if you wait till it grows to be an idea or anything else, you’ve already lost.
Capture ALL Thoughts And Make It Subject
That sounds tough. Thousands of thoughts go through our heads per day, we can’t monitor them all, we’d go crazy, and we have little to no control of the type of thoughts that come. All that is true and while you cannot control the type of thoughts that comes to the forefront of your mind, you can, however, control how long it stays there. If you dismiss a thought immediately it surfaces, your mind doesn’t have time to fester and ponder on it. If your mind does not fester upon it, it doesn’t become an idea or urge. We as humans need to check ourselves, our emotions, our thoughts every single day. Know what can easily tempt you. For example, I don’t have a problem with gambling, so I won’t get tempted by casinos or betting sites. If I did have a problem with gambling however, I would avoid casinos. I would avoid any place, virtual or real, that would put me in the way of gambling. My point is
AVOID ANY AND EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE A WEAKNESS FOR
Anything that could drag you back to where you don’t want to be needs to go. If you have a drinking problem, then its juice from hereon out. You need to put your ego aside, especially with the things that are seemingly “beneath” you.
You CANNOT beat addiction alone
You also have to be accountable, you can’t fight alone. Talk to someone, ask them to check up on you regularly, and be honest with them. Take stock of your life every day.
Your Fight Is For Life
You will need to battle until your last day, literally. It WILL be hard at first, you will have to unlearn everything you have previously learned, and then re-learn, but if you keep at it, it will one day become automatic.
