Addictions are the most serious problem in the modern world, we can see that in many different forms, like Smoking, Drinking, Drugs, Pornography, Gambling, Gaming, even Anime, and more. But all habits share some common things, it’s very easy to get in and hard to get out of that.
There are many reasons people fall into addiction, including environmental influences, experimentation, stress, depression, boredom, and loneliness. Whatever the reason, we must overcome it before it’s too late.
If you continue practicing bad habits over time, you will have to pay the price eventually. It will cost your mental and physical health, it will also make an irreversible negative impact on your body and the future of your life.
If you practice any of the addictions over time, it will cause mental health issues like Anxiety, mood swings, cognitive Impairment, Social Isolation, bipolar disorder, and so on. And serious physical health issues like organ failure, and loss of strength, it is depend upon the addiction you’re in.
Addiction is associated with Dopamine it is a feel-good hormone, and we will feel happiness and pleasure when the hormone is secreted. Addiction first affects the ‘Baseline Dopamine’ and it makes you dependent on the addiction, to get pleasure. In this stage except for the substance (addiction), Nothing can’t make you feel good.
At the peak, the brain reduces its sensitivity to dopamine due to constant overstimulation, leading to diminished pleasure from normal activities. This stage will lead you toward suicidal thoughts because you can’t find anything that makes you happy in the world.
The first step to quitting an addiction is to acknowledge our addiction, most people are not aware of their addictions. And trying to escape from the reality, they are trying to find some fantasy world through the addiction. It is a common reason that people get into addiction.
But the truth is, we cannot escape reality forever; at some point, we must confront it. Facing reality helps us build a better life without unnecessary consequences.
Then you plan to quit your addiction, you have to mentally prepare yourself to fight with the devil, Yeah you heard right. Because it will never let you quit, it will follow until you overcome it. I heard most people say that addictions are the devil and it is true as well.
Quitting an addiction is entirely up to your willpower (determination) and perseverance. Also, your subconscious mind should know about two things, “I am going to quit the Addiction” and “I am never going to repeat that anymore”. It is your battle, you have to do everything by yourself. I know it is hard but it is not unachievable. Once you win the battle you will be a new human, you can achieve anything in the world.
The strategy is very simple, you have to quit the habit for the next 90 days. You don’t need to plan for 90 days in the initial period, start with 7 days and extend into 21, 30, 60, and 90. If you fall in any of these days, it is ok and continue the plan.
Here how many times you’re falling does not matter, the matter is how many times you wake up from the fall. Setbacks are unavoidable, you will never fail until you give up.
Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Then you have to closely watch your thoughts, if you never think about your addiction you will never fall for it. You have to remove the thing from your presence that remembers or leads to your addiction.
If you have more than one addiction try to deal with one at a time. If you are in any stage of the addiction you can quit it, If you want to quit. Develop some good habits like meditation and workouts. Meditation will help you control your thoughts and the workout make you disciplined.
You need some patience and don’t get angry with yourself if anything goes wrong. And, try to build a good relationship with yourself. Try to make yourself engaged with good things by scheduling activities like don’t have time to think about the addiction.
The first 30 days will be hard, but after that, you can feel some positive changes. It will help you to move further in your 90-day plan. I am remembering you again, there is no one to help you.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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