Habits die hard; it is a fact that habits do die hard. Habits are easy to form but difficult to break. I can decide to drink a glass of alcoholic wine today and then maybe I love the taste and what it does to my senses and take two more glasses tomorrow and then four another day. It won’t be long and my day will not be complete without a glass of an alcoholic beverage. Addiction has set in. First let me define the word addiction. Addiction is when a person does not have control over what they are using or doing.
So that is how addiction starts. From one glass, one biscuit, one whiff or sniff and it becomes a habit. A day will not go by without me taking a glass of alcoholic wine or without me taking a sniff of cocaine and so on.
These habits become destructive. Addictions can be destructive. Drinking excessive alcohol we are told can destroy the liver, sniffing cocaine or shisha will destroy you completely, it will give you a temporary high. That feeling of being on top of the world will not last. It will make you feel good for a while but it will not last long. What happens next is that you will be really depressed, edgy and crave for more. It is a known fact that those who take cocaine don’t eat or sleep properly, they experience increased heart rate, muscle spasms and convulsions. You wouldn’t want that, would you? You felt high momentarily, after a few whiffs you are left angry, hostile and anxious. I can go on and on,it damages the heart, liver and kidneys. Did you know that users are more likely to have infectious disease? That is a bad addiction.
Alcoholism can make you lose your relationship. If you are an addict, your partner is likely to be unhappy and critical of your drinking behaviour. There will be communication breakdown. Your relationship will suffer from poor communication, lack of intimacy, frequent criticism and increased anger and the list goes on. Marital abuse is really common where one party is an addict.
We are animals of habits, what we do everyday is habitual. 70 percent of what we do is habitual; like eating, sleeping and so on. Addiction means that it does not serve you positively. Addiction does not have to be drugs. People are addicted to giving excuses over everything and this stops them from growing and taking responsibility. If you are already struggling with an addiction, the fact is everyone is struggling with one addiction or the other. It just may be different from yours, for example procrastinating, lying, soft drinks, food and so on. At a point people become very self aware and try to stop it. There are various ways of avoiding addictions;
5 ways of avoiding addictions are:
5 ways of avoiding addictions are:
1)Avoid tempting situations: if you know you are addicted to biscuits, avoid storing them in your refrigerator. It is dangerous to do so. You may be able to avoid it one moment but what happens next? Steer clear of any situations that may place you in the way of temptation.
2) Develop a positive support network: surround yourself with people who do not engage in smoking, if you know you are addicted to smoking. It is really important to have healthy people who will be able to support you in challenging periods. You have to sever relationships and ties to unhealthy people.
3) Create a healthy schedule: Do not give room to boredom. Get busy so as not to get entangled with that negative habit.
4) Don’t get complacent: As you get out of a destructive habit, do not get complacent. If you find out what can keep you away from that destructive habit, you need to follow through.
5) Don’t view relapse as a failure: If you relapse, do not think you have failed. It will make you feel sick. If you were able to stay clean and sober before, believe you can still do it again. Process the events and emotions that led to relapse, so that they will not be repeated. By so doing you will learn from your mistakes and this will help in your journey to recovery.
So it is quite clear that habits die hard and habits are easy to form but difficult to break. Your best bet is to abstain from addictive substances and destructive habits.
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