Addicted Addicts

What are you addicted to?

I smoke.

My hubby drinks beer and smokes.

My son plays video car racing games obsessively.

My daughter is addicted to texting.

Some of my friends are addicted to food.

some of my friends are addicted to exercise.

Television? Music? Drugs? Sex? Meditation?

What are you addicted to? Better yet, if you have no addictions at all, please tell me how you avoid them.

for an addiction to be an addiction i feel it has to be destructive.
if not beer, ats and i gave up smoking but i really want a cigarette the last week or so.

how could i forget....my beloved coffee, i'm so strung out for caffeine.

[edit on 18/8/09 by pieman]

reply to post by pieman


Just to be clear, do you think an addiction that is not destructive is more of a harmless obsession?

And I forgot to add my obessession with ATS.

Originally posted by Hazelnut
Just to be clear, do you think an addiction that is not destructive is more of a harmless obsession?

na, i think it's just what we do.

i drink, i like being a little drunk..sometimes a lot, but it doesn't have a negative effect on my life. smoking was the same for me, then i started to become short of breath so i gave up.

we all need pleasure in life, doing something that gives you pleasure is really important, it just not good if you start ignoring other stuff in your pursuit of it. then it becomes addiction.

Smoked for years. Quit for 5 year. Now I'm back at it.
I know its a bad habit.


Oh yeah and I'm addicted to ATS.

I think my addictions are more abstract, internet being an exception.
I'm addicted to my reason (working on it though) and I'm addicted to the unknown (which is driving me insane and I can't stop).

The worst part of being addicted to the unknown is that I get a tolerance. The known starts to lose its value and I need more unknown. It may sound productive at first, but its seriously messing with my social and emotional conditions.

reply to post by pieman


I agree with your statement. I started smoking when I was 12. I wanted to be cool and fit in with the crowd. They made me dizzy and nauseous but I persevered. I tried to quit a couple of times and it was agony. I've been trying to make myself quit for the last two years. I'm hooked and helpless.

Even though I want to quit, I can't seem to accomplish it.

Doesn't everyone have some kind of obsessive compulsive addiction?

reply to post by Hazelnut


yeah, i'm not good with the negatives so i used pills to give up. they worked well, god bless modern medicine...

[edit on 18/8/09 by pieman]

reply to post by havok


Oh no! How on earth did you manage to quit for 5 years? Thats an amazing accomplishment. congrats! You did it once, you should be able to do it again when you desire.

Originally posted by Geladinhu
I think my addictions are more abstract, internet being an exception.
I'm addicted to my reason (working on it though) and I'm addicted to the unknown (which is driving me insane and I can't stop).

The worst part of being addicted to the unknown is that I get a tolerance. The known starts to lose its value and I need more unknown. It may sound productive at first, but its seriously messing with my social and emotional conditions.

I know what you mean. I think I am losing my grip sometimes since I joined (became obsessed with) ATS. Its like my new and improved attention span works best in short blips. LOL

reply to post by pieman


You are funny.

reply to post by Hazelnut

reply to post by schrodingers dog


I can't watch that video, I know what it is and what it does to me. Despite extreme effort, my head starts to bob, then against my will, my legs starts thrumming up & down, then my hips get going and the rest of the day the tune replays in my head over & over.

I didn't even hear the song and its already started. Why oh why did you have to do that? Now I'm addicted to Addicted to Love .

My only addiction is not being bored.

Soon as I get bored I go cold turkey and have to find something to do.

Apart from that though from the plethora of things I've tried and done I have never had the craving where I absolutely need to do them and can happily live without.

I do not believe there is any product/item in the world that is addictive in itself, it's all down to the people who develop the addictions themselves whether they are weak minded & have no willpower to resist or do not have the right mindset to believe they can live without certain things

Originally posted by Discotech

I do not believe there is any product/item in the world that is addictive in itself, it's all down to the people who develop the addictions themselves whether they are weak minded & have no willpower to resist or do not have the right mindset to believe they can live without certain things

Are you serious? Its a thought worth consideration. However, I object strongly to the weak-minded & have no willpower to resist statement. Any how, thank you for presenting another point of view.

I think Discotech makes an interesting point, although I agree 'weak-minded' could be taken as a bit insulting.

I've spent my life giving things up, not necessarily because they were addictive but mainly for health reasons.

I was never much of a drinker - it makes me sick or tired (or both) so was it was easy to decide not to bother.

I was a complete chocoholic so had to give that up completely.

I gave up smoking a few years ago. I love menthol cigarettes and had a very demanding employer, so I wanted to smoke for enjoyment and because I was afraid that if I didn't have a fag to calm my nerves I wouldn't be able to cope with her. Then I had some trouble with my teeth and my dentist told me that smoking would aggravate it. I'd been in a lot of pain so I left the dentist's chair as a non-smoker.

I used to run on coffee but needed to take some homeopathic medicine and was told that the two don't mix. So I gave up coffee. I switched to tea and found it's a much gentler 'buzz'. Tea is the one thing I really would never give up.

I'm also vegan - giving up dairy produce was much harder than giving up meat and fish. I'd given up everything but a splash of milk in my tea - then I managed to do without that too.

I gave up fizzy drinks and replaced them with water - that took a bit of persuading but I was so glad that I did it.

It's really about making the decision and sticking to it once it's made. Fortunately, I've got a stubborn streak. But it can take time to get to the point where the decision is easy to make.

I've just given up things at my own pace, when I've felt ready or there's been a health issue. I didn't just wake up one morning and decide to give up the whole lot although I think it would have been better for me if I had

Originally posted by Hazelnut
reply to post by schrodingers dog

 

I can't watch that video, I know what it is and what it does to me. Despite extreme effort, my head starts to bob, then against my will, my legs starts thrumming up & down, then my hips get going and the rest of the day the tune replays in my head over & over.

reply to post by berenike


Yep I didn't mean it as insulting and perhaps I should have explained what I meant.

I'm a very stubborn person too so perhaps this is why I've never had an addictive personality but I truely believe it is the person responsible for the addiction due to their personality.

When I say weak minded I mean weak in the sense that they may want to quit something but the effort involved may require more than they think is worth and therefore take the easy option of saying "I tried at least", it's all down to motivation and how badly someone wants to give something up, if you have it then you'll quit. But if there's lingering doubts then chances are you'll fall if not at the first hurdle but definately later on and you finally you need to have the right mindset for it.

That's my view on it at least, but I've never been addicted to the point I can't go without something so I can't know what that feeling is like to have a more informed view on the whole pyschological effect of addiction

reply to post by Discotech


Your point about boredom struck a chord with me - I've always said I'd die of boredom before I'd die of misery

I've been giving this matter quite a lot of thought now and I think addictive past-times could be a harder addiction to break than any addiction to food or substances. I'm trying not to imagine having to give up my computer - that's actually painful.