Before You Judge Addiction, Ask Addicted To What?

Addiction is one of those topics people love to sound deep about, but honestly, it is not that straightforward at all, anytime someone brings up addiction, the first thing that comes to mind is usually drugs, alcohol, or some other big scary thing, but if we are going to talk about addiction, then we need to talk about what exactly someone is addicted to, because not all addictions are automatically bad, that is the part people never pay attention to.

For example, someone can be addicted to reading their Bible every morning, and another person can be addicted to taking communion or praying every night before bed, so you won’t call that a disease, right? See some people even say that they are addicted to the gym, addicted to writing, addicted to eating certain food in certain ways, addicted to learning new things… and nobody is shouting up and down about it, so for me, the real question is this "what is the addiction feeding?" Is it building you or destroying you?

Now talking about so-called “bad addictions,” the truth is that everybody has the thing they struggle with, just that some people’s struggles are louder and more visible than others, someone might be addicted to gossip and won’t rest unless they know who broke up with who, another person is addicted to lying, another to overspending, another to social media, you see these things might not be as dramatic as drug addiction, but they are addictions too, and they affect the person’s life in their own way.

But the big question remains "Should addiction be seen as a choice or a disease?"

For me, it is somewhere in the middle. Because let’s be honest, nobody wakes up one morning and says, “Yes, today I want to be addicted to something that will scatter my life.” Noooo.... See It usually starts as a choice, something small, something harmless, something they think they can control, maybe it is drinking just to ease stress, or smoking just to relax, or watching something they shouldn’t just once, but over time, that small harmless choice starts to grow legs of its own, and before the person knows what’s happening, they can’t function without it.

At that point, is it still a choice? Not really, that’s where the disease angle comes in, because addiction affects the mind, It rewires the brain, It changes how you think, how you feel, and even how you make decisions, so when people say addiction is a disease, I actually understand what they mean, It doesn’t mean the person is helpless, it just means the thing has gone beyond ordinary willpower.

But even with that, I still believe there is responsibility attached, because knowing your weakness and not doing anything about it is another kind of choice on its own, If someone knows something is harming them and they still go back to it every single time, then at some point they have to be honest with themselves, Not everything is spiritual attack or village people, sometimes it is simply discipline, mindset, and the willingness to change.

And quitting? Hmm, Quitting addiction is not beans at all, It is not something you wake up and decide today and it magically disappears tomorrow, the way you see your addiction will even determine how you approach quitting it. If you see it as just something you do, then you won’t fight it seriously, But if you see it as something with the power to damage your life, break you, or take you away from the future you want, then you will treat it like war.

At the end of the day, addiction is personal, people experience it differently, what I always say is this, understand what you are addicted to, understand why, and understand what it is costing you, If it is a good addiction, keep it, If it is a bad one, work on letting it go before it swallows you whole.

_{This is my entry to the Hive Learners Prompt Week193 , Edition 3}

_{Image Is Generated Using Meta AI}