Your Brain Under Addiction
The power addictions have over your life.
Addictions are pleasures in disguise.
There is a variety of deadly addictions on the planet. They are all around us, but we don't notice their trap until it's too late.
Society and the market make them part of our daily lives due to the fortune they generate; they quietly inject it into us as something normal. As children, we watch TV commercials that show us adults smoking and drinking. Psychologically they are educating our brains to think that this is part of adulthood.
When I was young, I played video games, drank, and smoked after work with friends. But gradually, we increased the volume wanting to achieve a more vital pleasure by using drugs.
It's not that there's something wrong with playing video games or getting together with friends to chat. It is that everyone brought their bad habits to the table.
Addictions begin as a curiosity to experiment with the sensations of our body, but then they set us on fire, difficult to put out.
Our human body has a way of feeling its surroundings through hearing, sight, and smell. Still, since ancient times we have discovered substances or plants that alter our sensory senses, giving us an altered experience.
Chemicals are released in our brains that give us pleasure, but we are always looking for a way to increase sensations. When we reach it, we want to repeat the experience expanding the amount of fun. That's where addictions come into play.
Over time, addictions lead to increased cravings, weakened willpower, and hyperreactivity to cues that make you want the altered experience again and decrease your sensitivity and tolerance to reward.
Addiction experts consider this a stress disorder, where chronic use induces multiple changes in the brain's stress systems.
You become more likely to rely on addictions for relief in stressful situations. All while you lose the ability to resist.
But now, as we plunge into the boiling cauldron and recognize the deadly effects of addiction, what can we do to keep our brains safe from its harmful effects?
Dear friend, I, who went through the experience of being an addict on the verge of death, can share that after I found sobriety, I have not let go, and I cannot compare it to anything more satisfying than living a healthy, productive life.
All the things I do today, from deconstructing my bad experiences with addictions and looking for solutions to avoid their destructive consequences, have made me a better person.
Like many addictions, there are different ways to avoid and cure them. And if the phase is chronic, other recovery programs are available.
But isn't having a real partner better than watching porn? Or show up to work every day without a headache and the smell of alcohol?
Or, isn't it better to navigate this stormy life sober than to make bad decisions under the shackles of addictions?
I want to motivate you to think about what is holding you to live a mediocre life.
Meditate on your daily habits and think about what is hindering you. Sometimes all it takes is being very honest and telling yourself the truth.
Thanks for reading, and I hope this piece helps you free your life.
If you know someone going through emotional problems who lacks control over addictive substances, that person may be on the brink of losing their home and falling into the abyss of homelessness and addictions. Please call a helpline.
We are still in time to redirect our path as humanity.
Your contributions are the foundation that can bring this to reality.
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