What are you addicted to?

Drugs, Food, and Alcohol are the common forms of addictions. We all know someone that is addicted to one of these things. I had a conversation with a friend the other day and we talked about the turning point of when we became addicted to things. See we didn’t grow up becoming addicted to something, something triggered the addiction. It could have been something that caused us to go that route and that is the root of the problem. What causes someone to get on drugs. Unless they are born addicted to crack how did they get on it. What happened for them to get to that point. Food is the same way if you were once skinny and then you start eating a lot of food what happened? In order to deal with the addiction as a therapist once told me…you have to figure out where it stemmed from and we need to go back to that point in our lives and find out how to fix it if we can. A lot of people can’t fix addiction it’s hard to change things and it’s hard to let go of that feel good moment. When we are addicted to something we feel good about it and we want to live in that moment of addiction because it makes us forget about why we are addicted in the first place. Let’s talk about some other addictions that aren’t as common and how to identify an addiction. We all are addicted to something. Some of us acknowledge it and others don’t. I will tell you what I’m addicted too at the end of this post but let’s talk about some common addictions.

How to identify an addiction

Sex/Porn – I use to believe that this wasn’t an addiction but some folks are starved for sex. It makes some people feel so good that they are willing to rape and take it in order to have that moment of pleasure. Some people look at porn as a way to help them with the sex problem because if they aren’t getting it at least they can watch it and in some way it’s helpful. I don’t know anyone addicted to porn but I do know someone addicted to sex. He talks about it day and night and it consumes him. He has a wife that he has sex with on a regular but it’s still not enough. Nothing is ever enough for him. How did he get there?

Anger – It’s an addiction. When someone is angry daily and always hates everything….it’s an addiction. Do you know some people can only function in anger and turmoil? They don’t know what it’s like to be happy because they never functioned in it before. Some people live in the past and they let that anger consume them to where they can’t see anything else. When things are going well they have to create a problem so that they can live normally. I call people like this addicted to turmoil but it stems from anger or something that happened to them that they can’t get over. A lot of these people turn to drinking later on because that makes them even angrier.

Gambling – This one is a doozy. Some people will spend their check on the lottery tickets in hopes that they will win. People gamble so much that they go into debt because the thrill of the win and the money excites them. I had an old friend who was addicted to gambling. She would always go to the casinos and gamble her entire paycheck. She said that she worked hard she could do what she wanted. Growing up she didn’t have a lot of money so I think in her case she thought it was a way to make money legally without selling drugs. Quick money. She was good at first and won lots of money…even enough to buy a car cash but she became so addicted I had to stop being her friend.

Food is what I’m addicted too. I love it. Makes me feel good and it tastes good. I grew up in Charleston,SC and we know our food. I grew up skinny. I was a stick but after my mom died the weight packed on and now I am over 200 pounds at 5’2. The triggering moment for my addiction was my mom dying. Eating made me feel good and it was a comfort to me when I had no one else to comfort me. Food did it and it has continued to do it.  If you watch This is Us you will see that Kate has this addiction too. She hides food and eats it because it makes her feel good. I know that my addiction isn’t good and it can cause me major health problems but I still want to eat well. For my sake, I have to get it together but I won’t be able to do it alone I have to get some professional help for this.

Never be afraid to get help for your addiction and please don’t be ashamed of it. If you are addicted to being perfect admit it, if you are addicted to being alone say that, if you are addicted to social media embrace that, if you are addicted to anything else get real with yourself in 2018 about it and try your best to fix it. You don’t have to do it all at once take baby steps like I have been doing.

What are you addicted to? Do you know someone who has an addiction?