4 ms·
I have always believed there must exist a reason I had addictions. Somehow after about 2 decades, a midlife crisis and starting all over again, and then some ye
by the-dude 5y ago
I have always believed there must exist a reason I had addictions. Somehow after about 2 decades, a midlife crisis and starting all over again, and then some years : I seem to have come to terms with these reasons. I seem to understand them, and accept them and therefore accept myself.
And then the urges just disappeared. I tapered off the substances and am clean for over a year now. Fingers crossed. YMMV.
- toyg 5y agoClarity of purpose makes all the difference for me. The periods where I know what I want and what to do, I have no need for any addiction. When that feeling of purpose and control goes away, I become a slave to them. In some perverse way, they make life endurable when my brain says it shouldn't be.
- rakejake 5y agoThis x1000. I wouldn't qualify as an "addict" by clinical definitions, but I have a set of bad habits. Over the last year or so I have been making journal entries . The journal entries made me realize exactly what you said - the odds of falling into bad habits multiply several fold during periods where I don't know what I should do. I realize now that maintaining a journal is a very important and fruitful habit. It is a valuable exercise to record your feelings and state of mind at regular intervals. It will help you figure out your failure modes and patterns (if any) to your successes and failures.
- vitabenes 5y agoCongrats! Hm, why do you think the urges disappeared? Does it coincide with getting your life in order or not?
- White_Wolf 5y agoI don't know about drugs as such but 15 years after quitting smoking I still dream I'm smoking and wake up in the morning with the urge to light one. If I get a whiff of one when walking down the street... It hurts. For me: I think I'm still addicted to it or at least I have the neural pathways of one.
- the-dude 5y agoActually this was one of the first 'signs' for me. When I started to really relax, say a 1-2 hour walk in one of our parks, embracing the void as I like to call it : I noticed I didn't smoke. After a while I stopped carrying the cigarettes.
- darkerside 5y agoPain is mandatory, suffering is optional. Have you read easy way to quit smoking?
- White_Wolf 5y agoFo me it was not exactly easy. I self imposed a limit, in the beginning, of 1/h (used to smoke around 2x20 packs/day-chaining 2-3 at a time). When I was confortable with 1/h I went cold turkey with shivers and the full monty. I wouldn't do that a second time tbh. On the other hand: My wife had 0 issues and quit overnight. She said she only wanted a smoke a few times/year (maybe 3-5 times or so)
- projektfu 5y agoI have a friend who has a similar experience to you. He quit years ago, around when I quit. I had been talking about the book, "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking", so I assumed when he quit he had read it. He had not. He continues to suffer when he thinks about cigarettes and when he smells it across the street or in a park. I recommended that he read it anyway, and that it is a really useful book for getting over that part of the addiction. He still has not read it. He reads 100 books a year and has not read this inexpensive little 240-page book. Well, some people choose to suffer.
- dcolkitt 5y agoThis is just an ancedata, but my 90 year old grandmother smoked like a chimney her whole life. Randomly woke up one morning and had zero desire for a cigarette. She’s been tobacco free for nearly a decade.