Addiction
And you
So what?
ICYMI – It can be a scary thing, addiction that is. Addiction can ruin your life, break families apart, get you fired from your job and taint your future. It can make you feel like the whole world is against you when you live or deal with an addiction. Knowing what addiction allows you to know whether you’re addicted to something that is harmful or detrimental to your life and those around you and when to seek help. Take a look at our last post to read about the first two signs of addiction.
Dismissal
The dismissal we’re talking about is not related to your employment, although having an addiction to alcohol or controlled substances can certainly lead you to a dismissal. The type of dismissal that I want to bring to light is you ignoring, downplaying, denying or distorting reality. People who are addicted, more often than not, use dismissal to protect themselves from seeing, accepting and dealing with the truth about their addiction. Rather than dealing with your problems, you end up ignoring your addiction and the problems it is causing.
My experience
I’m addicted to sugar. There. I said it. I’ve been addicted to sugar since I was a teenager. In short of eating sugar by the spoon, I’ve been consuming sugar in various ways and lots of it. I denied it first and when I started to excessively gain weight, I would tell those around me that I wasn’t addicted to it anymore but turn around and consume it in secrecy. I did not have self-control (and I still don’t).
What I do now to manage my sugar addition is to limit myself to sweets to just after dinner. I pick three things from the pantry and eat them slowly to award myself for the hard work that I put in for the day. I don’t plan on quitting sugar completely as it’s one vice that I have in life.
What now?
- Do you have any addictions that you are in denial of?
- Are you ignoring problems in your life that may be stemming from an addiction you have?
- Have a think about your typical day and introspect yourself in detail. What you find out about yourself might surprise you.
- Remember, an addiction can appear as harmless as one that makes you do “good” things but can be as extreme as one that involves controlled substances. You CAN have too much of a good thing.