Addiction is something that each and every one of us experience. Whether we want to admit it or not, we all are addicted to something. There are the obvious addictions that come to mind first, alcohol, drugs and cigarettes; and then there are the not so obvious. The ones we try to keep hidden like bulimia or anorexia. Sometimes people turn to eating disorders as a way of trying to gain control. They feel that they have lost control of everything around them. They try to control what they eat just to be able to have authority over something. Morbid obesity acts as more of a protective control. Sometimes people experience hardships in life, and the added comfort of food helps to sooth their pain; or at least that’s what they want to believe.
Obsessive- compulsive disorder is also a form of addiction. I believe we all suffer from this one in some way. Is there something you have to check multiple times? No matter how much you want to just check it once you can’t. For me, I have to check and recheck, to make sure my alarm clock is on, at least 5 times before bed. I try to just check it once and get into bed, but it never works. Sure enough, I get up and test it again and again! What about the lock on your front door? You turn the key, you hear it lock, yet you still have to pull the door knob back and forth until it’s about to break. Why?? All these little idiosyncrasies are forms of addictions or obsessions.
Although the alarm clock and door knob are nonsense repetitions, some addictions can truly take over your life. Unfortunately, in my opinion, most people become addicted to things because of some type of tragic disturbance that has occurred in their lives. They want to numb the pain somehow and just make the bad memories go away. These addictions can take over and swallow you up until you are controlled by them. You have to find the courage and defeat the addiction animal. Deal with the core of the problem and overcome it. Usually, people with severe addictions have so much buried pain, that they conceal it with whichever vice they choose. The addiction can never be overcome unless they fix the problem within themselves.
Make power and determination your new addictions; become addicted to resolving the problem. As the definition states, addiction is the state of being enslaved to a habit. Don’t let yourself be imprisoned by this animal. Rise above and conquer it. Make your new addiction an obsession with you. A strong you, that will let nothing stop or get in your way. Say to yourself, “I am addicted to me. A wonderful person that will not be influenced by anyone or anything. I control me.”
Kristen Rossi
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