Addiction... Not Always A Dirty Word!

ad·dic·tion [uh-dik-shuhn]

noun

the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.

I'm just going to throw it out there, that contrary to popular belief, many addictions can actually be very healthy. Surprised? Shocked?

They can definitely be healthy when you take a broader view of addictions like I do. I sometimes start a speech by warning everyone in the room that I am about to make a public confession - I'm a woman with an addiction. I can't stop, and I don't want to stop, because I'm a smile-aholic/hug-aholic/enthusiasm-aholic/<insert other appropriately positive addiction here-aholic>.

Everyone I know has both good and bad addictions, and at this very moment, I would like to challenge everyone to kick at least one bad addiction out of their lives and to put in place at least one new good one.

I'll give you examples from my own experiences. Remember not to judge. What is good or bad is in the eye of the beholder, and though I am often referred to as superwoman, I am also a living, breathing human with many foibles, and I am about to give you a window into several of them!

ADDICTIONS I AM WORKING ON KICKING

• Procrastination (Am culling back my use of Facebook)
• Being the Queen of Mess (I have already successfully deep-cleaned my room last month, but I don't consider the addiction completely broken yet. I still have more habits to break before I can declare myself cured.)
• Use of 'The Snooze Button' (Hitting the snooze button every three minutes for 30+ minutes is simply ridiculous)
• Some slightly OCD habits (I can only microwave things in time increments that are multiples of 21, I always use my towel with my name embroidered on it with my name facing away from me and to the right, when going to sleep I start on my back, then roll to my right side, then left side, then onto my stomach, then curl up with my left arm dangling off the bed before I can doze off, and many more absurdities)

ADDICTIONS I HAVE ALREADY BEATEN

• Computer card game FreeCell (1500 wins in a row means it was time to stop playing)
• Slurpees (other people have coffee or caffeine addictions, I had Slurpee issues!)
• Facebook game Bejewelled Blitz (widely known as the cause of a year of insomnia)
• Insomnia (alot of my issues with getting to sleep were self-inflicted - I perpetuated the problem constantly for years and years)

GREAT ADDICTIONS I CULTIVATE

(and would be thoroughly traumatising without them in my life)

• Smiling (my goal in life is to make the whole world smile)
• Hugging (my brother would describe this as a bad addiction though)
• Helping people grow (nothing feels better than assisting someone to step up to a new challenge)
• Laughing (if you cannot find humour in your everyday life, just give up now)
• Rotaract (love having an outlet for making a difference in the world)
• LIFE - the best addiction of all! I have a never ending passion for wanting more out of my life.

So take a moment to reflect on your addictions - good, bad and ugly - and see what changes you might like to make. Feel free to share your addictions by posting a comment below. Admitting these things to yourself outloud (or in a written online forum) is the first step to instigating the changes you want.

In the very least, my suggestion - get addicted to life - it is marvellous!