What Are Your Addictions?

When we think of addictions, we usually think of drugs and alcohol.  My definition of an addiction is something that you do compulsively and that doing it negatively impacts your life.  Using this definition, there are a lot of things that qualify as addictive.  Gambling comes to mind.  Just like alcohol, some people can do it as recreation and others lose money they can't afford to lose and it becomes an addiction.  Here are some others:  food (that is one of mine), shopping, social media (very common these days), cell phone use (how many people do you know who are glued to their phones) and hoarding (collecting excess amounts of anything).
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As I mentioned, my number one addiction is food.  The first step in dealing with an addiction is to recognize that it is one and that it is damaging your life.  I've tried a lot of diets and they all work temporarily but eventually I gain the weight back.  I finally realized that I was exhibiting addictive behavior and am now in a program to deal with that.  It is working.  One of the things about addictions is that they take up a lot of your time and mental energy.  They keep you from doing things that are important to you.  Start noticing how you are spending your time.  Are you getting what you want out of life or is some sort of addictive behavior getting in your way?

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