Fighting Addictions: (Shake The Monkey)

PROLOGUE: From smoking, to drinking, to drugs, to shopping, to sex, to watching binge watching TV, to texting... at what point does casual indulgence becomes addiction?




WHO TO BLAME?

         There are many addictions and temptations within today's society. People are quick to criticize the next persons flaws, but you can become an addict with anything you do, it doesn't necessarily have to be nicotine, alcohol or drugs (legal or illegal). Rather it's lifting weights, making money, sex, surfing the internet, video games, anything that's an insatiably, unhealthy guilty pleasure that you can't let go off can be identified as an addiction. With drugs, booze and cigarettes, long term users know that they're addicts, especially if they have a desire to want to quit but is always one nic bag, bottle or cigarette away from they're last. They might be this way for months before they're able to stop. One good reason why they can't stop could be their enviornment and all the temptations from drug dealers and liquor stores that comes with it. Sometimes an addict can be full of determination to want to go cold turkey, then here comes the weed man, or a cigarette peddler and all will power dwindles away. In seconds, it's out the window. They may run into three of four more temptations for the remaining time they're outdoors. I heard some people say from time and time again that they can quit whenever they want to, or that they're a functional weedhead or crackhead, or that they function better drunk.


THE POWER OF ADDICTION

         I once had a neighbor (a middle-aged man) that once said he needs his 40oz to get him going in the morning. And every night, he'd make his rounds through the building, taking donations for his nightcap 40 (and he was a stone-crackhead among other things). Well, unfortunately when I moved from that building, he had became very ill, he had been slowly, but gradually complaining about health problems periodically for two years or so. A few days later, he was omitted into the hospital for about two months. His condition worsened while he was away, I almost thought he wasn't going to come out the hospital alive. But he finally came out sometime in December 09', but he has cancer in several different vital parts of his body, his livers are ruined too. Last I heard, he was in a nursing home. Where he's at today... I do not know.

         I've heard some of my friends say that they take breaks away from smoking weed each year (for a couple of months straight) saying that it's good to get away from it once in a while. They say it's so hard to stop, especially if there's no one around to encourage them. I ask why go back to something that you have such a hard time trying to balance. They usually say that they like the tranquility and piece of mind and the feel of the high they get from smoking weed. You know what I think... I think the devil has his hand in this. As much as we try to distance ourselves from our addictions, the more determined Satan becomes at making sure he takes us under. Cosmetic drugs are just as bad. I was a Carmex-addict for years. Carmex only relives your lips for about an hour, and over time it becomes more and more addictive as your lips become dryer and crustier. Soon you'll find yourself applying it every twenty minutes as your bottom lip develops a crease right down the middle that hurts if you stretch your lips too much, and don't let it be one of those dry-cold, mid-January winter days. If you start using petroleum jelly instead, it's not as addictive and you'll ween yourself away from the toxic lip balm products. Sometimes with Carmex, your lips don't even feel dry until the thought randomly enters you mind (especially if you hear someone mention a lip baum product) then you immediately reach into you pocket for it. With petroleum jelly, you can fight those cravings for much longer periods. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_jelly


OBSESSIONS AND FIXATIONS ARE JUST STRONGER LEVELS OF ADDICTION:

Whether it's that mallrat that's always at those pricey, high-end department stores running up their credit and are tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

Whether it's that overweight teenage girl who's reluctantly overeating to nurse her broken heart.

Whether it's that self-styled playa' around the school, campus, club, neighborhood, etc. who's been hooking up with new women
almost every weekend for the past several years, having wild, unprotected kinky sex six ways from Sunday.

Whether it's that self-serving, so-called businessman/hustla' who always blows off all his social contacts just to stay in the streets and chase clients and fast money.

Whether it's that gym stud who's obsessed with working out and spends eight hours a day, five days a week in the gym, only to look like Hercules 2016.

Whether it's those impressionable Robitussin, Sprite and Jolly Rancher syrup sipping dudes gone off that southern gangsta rap music that glorifies sipping cough syrup http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_drank

Whether it's that phone addict who's both a reckless driver and pedestrian because they always have their head down giving more attention to their phone (texting, reading messages, changing tracks, etc.) instead of looking straight ahead.

Whether it's a scorned former lover of friend who's angry over how they were casually neglected or blown-off by a self-involved individual and feels the need to make them regret the day they ever crossed paths.

Or, whether it's the lousy gambler who gambles away all his money with the blind optimism that one day he'll eventually win...

         It's one thing if someone indulges in some of these activities for fun, or recreation, or as a means to make a living. But anytime it's constantly on your mind 24/7, every hour of the day, starting from the second you wake up, til' the second you dose off to sleep at night and isn't as productive in your physical life as in your imaginary life, then it's good to recognize that as an unhealthy obsession. People are usually scared to own up to such mental flaws, whether it's to themselves or to other people (for fear of alienation), but acknowledging your problem is the first step to conquering it.


WHAT CAN I DO TO SAVE MYSELF

         People with obsessive or addictive mentalities are usually individuals that don't have constructive enviornments or outlets to help kick their addictions. As much as we'd like to, we can't rely on ourselves for everything, everyone needs a helping hand. There's no guaranteed one-method-fits-all solutions for overcoming obsessions and fighting addictions, but we all need to start from somewhere, so here are a few simple things you can try:

1. Addictions at all levels starts in the mind. The human mind can be trained to either dwell on, or blot out certain events throughout life's timespan. The younger we start taming the undisciplined imagination, the better we'll be at resisting such temptations.

2. Be involved in activities whether it's work, hobbies, or honing life-long skills (we should all be involved in such activities anyway), something to occupy the mind. An ideal mind is the devil's workshop. An activity-filled day will help push out unwanted, or overplayed memories.

3. Try to recognize lifestyles and products that have an addictive side-effect and go the other way (like all those dreaded lip baum products for instance).

4. With most addictions, the person puts themselves out there and indulges in whatever has their subconscious, and it's up to the individual to resolve it, we're all responsible for our own well-being. If there's no one in your immediate circle to confide...

5. We all need God in our lives. Build your relationship with the man above. God chastises those he loves.
With all that was said I want to close out this article by saying that none of us are perfect. We all have weaknesses in one form or another. One man's weakness may be another man's strength and vice versa. But if you're sick and tired of being sick and tired of whatever your addiction is, use the community resource centers in your area (such as a local church, a police station, or even your alderman's office) from there they should be able to point you in the right direction of where to go next. If you go to www.google.com and type addiction recovery, you'll see many different websites that deal with different addictions (mostly drugs and alcohol).

Here's few more websites that specializes in treating the aforementioned addictions:

Love Addicts Anonymous at www.loveaddicts.org

The Sexual Recovery Institute at www.sexualrecovery.com

for binge eating or anorexia try www.nationaleatingdisorders.org, or www.something-fishy.org

For shopping addiction treatment try www.myaddiction.com

And for gambling there's www.gamblersanonymous.org

I hope these website resources supplies some relief for whoever that needs it, in the meantime, until my next posting...




                   TIL' MY NEXT PIECE...
                             SHAKE THE MONKEY!