Free your mind and the rest will follow
I was born addicted and now I am Free
The best customer is the customer that can't stop buying ie someone who is addicted. I was born addicted. Ever since I can remember, as a little kid I would spend all day watching TV or playing videos games. I ate sugary cereals always looking for next fix of sugar, candy bars when I could scrape up enough money,to buy processed food. Short term rewords for my brain but long term unhealthy. Now as a middle-aged lady adult I find this disgusting! Why didn’t my parents feed us vegetables?. Or warn me of the dangers of television and what garbage it is. As a consequence of all these micro addictions I always felt anxious and did not know how to regulate my emotions. You don’t have to be a raging alcoholic or a full blown addict, but I’m sure all of us can relate to having all these products so readily available and pushed in our hands before we even have mentally or emotionally matured. These are things that we looked for fun and connection to each other, and because it’s so normalized we might not be aware of how it’s affected our brain chemistry and our relationships to ourselves and each other.
Now the last couple of years I've been trying to get un-addicted. What am I addicted to? Everything; social media, television, caffeine sugar and coffee. Constantly on a chase for right next high either more caffeine more sugar or I can't just stand in line somewhere and not look at my phone. Can I just hold space with myself. Do I constantly have to fill it with more sugar more food more media. I know I can quit I smoked for 20 yrs and it took me yrs but i did it. It was not easy at all but I did it!.
How Childhood Trauma Leads to Addiction - Gabor Maté Link down below
The best customer is one that can’t stop buying
In capitalism there so many things to be addicted to. Chances are you are addicted to something right now. Maybe you feel you can’t stop or maybe you don’t want to right now. Maybe you don’t see a problem but keep reading. Here is a list of products that want your money and want you to stay addicted. Porn, sugar, caffeine, processed foods, social media, cigarettes, alcohol video games. The best costumer is one that cant stop buying.
Call to Action : Sober Curious?
Instead of it being a black and white issue, either you’re an alcoholic or your not, maybe your just curious to see how you feel if you just take of these products temporarily out of your life. Try going to a bar with your friends. Maybe you don’t drink that night and you just have a soda. Did you have more or less fun, or did it not make a difference? Sometimes I feel when I drink nowadays, I have less fun. Alcohol can act as a depressant. The point is, find out how you respond to the product, and experiment.
Suggested Reading: The Age of Addiction: How Bad Habits Became Big Business (2019)
by David T. Courtwright (Author) Links below
From a leading expert on addiction, a provocative, singularly authoritative history of how sophisticated global businesses have targeted the human brain’s reward centers, driving us to addictions ranging from oxycodone to Big Macs to Assassin’s Creed to Snapchat―with alarming social consequences.
We live in an age of addiction, from compulsive gaming and shopping to binge eating and opioid abuse. Sugar can be as habit-forming as cocaine, researchers tell us, and social media apps are hooking our kids. But what can we do to resist temptations that insidiously and deliberately rewire our brains? Nothing, David Courtwright says, unless we understand the history and character of the global enterprises that create and cater to our bad habits.
The Age of Addiction chronicles the triumph of what Courtwright calls “limbic capitalism,” the growing network of competitive businesses targeting the brain pathways responsible for feeling, motivation, and long-term memory. We see its success in Purdue Pharma’s pain pills, in McDonald’s engineered burgers, and in Tencent video games from China. All capitalize on the ancient quest to discover, cultivate, and refine new and habituating pleasures. The business of satisfying desire assumed a more sinister aspect with the rise of long-distance trade, plantation slavery, anonymous cities, large corporations, and sophisticated marketing. Multinational industries, often with the help of complicit governments and criminal organizations, have multiplied and cheapened seductive forms of brain reward, from junk food to pornography. The internet has brought new addictions.
Preprocessed foods have Increased Risks of mental health issues:
Studies suggest a link between schizophrenia and dietary patterns, with individuals with schizophrenia often having diets high in saturated fats and sugar, and low in fiber, fruits, and vegetables, potentially impacting cognitive function and increasing the risk of metabolic abnormalities. Who are the most vulnerable to get addicted? Young people and people with trauma. Dr. Gobor Mate Has Some great book on Trauma and addiction. links below
Sugar
Reseaach scientists say that sugar produces similar addictive affects as cocaine. Processed foods, but especially sugar, is refined from the plant material just like cocaine or opium to yield pure white crystals, adding significantly to the addictive properties. Anything processed just makes it easier for our bodies to absorb what we want, it gets us a faster hit.
Here's a more detailed look at the research:
Individuals with schizophrenia are often found to have less healthy diets compared to the general population, characterized by:
High intake of saturated fats, sugar, and alcohol
Low intake of fish, vegetables, and fruits
Reduced intake of dietary fiber
1.) You need a secure space to get un-addicted
For me the way I got un-addicted to a lot of these products was first I needed to have an emotional secure space. When I had a lot of unstable relationships and a lot of anxiety it was difficult to quit smoking. Or to quit Social Media or sugar for that matter. For me I wasn't able to successfully do it until I found my current long-term partner who is extremely supportive and was committed to lead a healthy lifestyle. When I got that base of support I was then able to quit one by one each one of these addictions. That may not be the situation for other people but that's what happened with me. Once you're at that stable place where you're not in the middle of a divorce or fighting for custody or working a job where you have an un-told amount of stress and little time it may be difficult to break addiction. So again making sure you have an emotionally supportive life with healthy relationships helps make space to quit addiction.
2.) Support groups like Smart recovery
Online there are alot support groups or systems to chose from. But ironically enough if media is your problem, it's hard to find it in person. There is a Buddhist focused support group that helps a lot of people called Smart recovery. I like them they have inperson and online support. Free I believe. The organization's program emphasizes four areas, called the 4-Point Program, in the process of recovery: Building Motivation, Coping with Urges, Problem Solving, and Lifestyle Balance. The "SMART Toolbox" is a collection of various MET, CBT, and REBT methods, or "tools," which address the 4 Points throughout.
So for a lot of people you can't just go cold turkey on something you got to find something to replace it. So if you are giving up sugar then maybe you suck on sugar free hard candy. If you're trying to give up social media, what I did was I started writing a blog. If you're quitting smoking you know it's tough to do it if you're dating a smoker. If you're quitting drinking you can't work at a bar. I knew one guy who quit drinking by taking Aikido classes so he put something in the place of the drink. Find creative and engaging activities.
This is your time to shine
Exercise classes, comedy improv, creative writing, comic books, singing circles, goddess circles, sports, weight lifting, writing classes performance classes. Find something to put it in it place. And of course listening to smart recovery meetings and doing some mindfulness meditation is always a good idea. There are medications that may help consult your doctor.
The best customer is the customer that can't stop buying ie someone who is addicted. One of my best friends could not stop drinking and he died from Alcoholism. He quit drinking 10 days before he died but it was too late. but he did not think he could or want to. Addiction doesn’t always have to be so black and white or extreme, maybe you’re just curious. To see how you are on and off all of these products, to see what it is like to replace them. Maybe you just want a new morning routine of yoga and mediation instead of scrolling on your phone. I write this article for me, family, friends that have suffered from addiction and or just control over your own life. It.s possible to change. If you think you can’t, well you can .. it’s always possible. Every knew day is a new being. Maybe we can’t change the capitalist system not yet but we can work on ourselves to get off it’s products. It may take a day, it maybe take yrs . It all starts with a thought it possible!! I feel so much better now that I am free of these chemicals .. clam, relaxed at peace. I have a clear mind and healthier body.
2024 Estes Lecture - Limbic Capitalism and Mass Addiction Before and After the Digital Revolution https://youtu.be/obHfYHh6syo?si=mNSK0tH0F0Py3WGv
How Childhood Trauma Leads to Addiction - Gabor Maté https://youtu.be/BVg2bfqblGI?si=EVyeHGyQUUr0lPRQhttps://youtu.be/obHfYHh6syo?si=mNSK0tH0F0Py3WGvTh T