Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Obsession Market
The goal of not drinking isn't exactly to replace one addictive behavior with another, but to work on the quality of addictive behaviors, toward recognition (at least): triggers, stigma, shame, and compulsiveness. At first after getting sober, I found a tendency in myself to work really hard on whatever activity I had decided on--and here I'm referring to total dedication. Exercise might be one example, at least for a few days at a time. But then I realized that I was exercising compulsively and that there seems to be no activity imaginable that couldn't be done compulsively (nor is it hard to find groups trying to kick the habit). Can I get some exercise credits for some booze credits?
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2 comments:
Well, addictions aren't uniformly bad things. Anything that generates strong desires is a form of addiction. A long-term relationship is an addiction, for example.
Sometimes I actively seek to acquire new addictions like, say, pick a new sports team to become an avid fan of, and my life is better for it.
Perhaps addiction itself may be a good thing, so long as people can generally direct it toward beneficial activities. I'll try to explore this in the future.
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