Habit or addiction?
Habit is something we think of as just something we do without thinking and everyone talks about ‘good’ or ‘bad’ habits.
Whether it’s something positive like always having a glass of water on waking.
To something not so positive like picking your nose in the car at traffic lights (we CAN see you!)
We do these things without CONSCIOUS through, in other words they have been automated – we have done the same thing at the same time, in the same environment so many times we just find ourselves doing it without any thought what-so-ever.
We all have these automatic habits, so can a habit become an addiction?
IN MY OPINION, as a recovered addict, YES!
See no-one sets out to become ‘an addict’ - it’s not up there on our wish list or 10-year goals!
So, how does that happen?
And how come habits are acceptable, yet we view addictions as something bad? As something that makes us ‘weak’ or ‘less than’.
Let’s explore…
First let’s look at what we mean by being an addicted to something, I am keeping it simple. There are manty definitions, but this is one I have written:
“it is constant, persistent and intense obsession and urge to do or use something to change how we feel that we find we cannot function well without”.
The tern Addiction actually comes from the Latin term for “enslaved by” or “bound to”.
So, how does a ‘habit’ become an addiction?
We know that to automate ANY behaviour we have to keep repeating it multiple times until we do it without any conscious thought.
Some prime examples of habits we have automated through repetition:
Dressing ourselves
Eating with a knife and fork
Brushing our teeth
Driving a car
Writing with a pen
If we had to re-learn how to do these every day we wouldn’t get very far. The sequence gets logged via our nervous system and stored in the limbic system a part of the brain that is linked to memory, emotional responses, and behaviour pattens needed to survive.
This is important:
Because when our ‘habits become automated’ our brain believes we NEED TO DO THEM TO SURVIVE’ - and this is why it feels so uncomfortable to ‘just stop!’.
Now, whether your ‘addiction’ is to substances i.e. bread, cigarettes, coffee, crisps, sweets or cocaine or to behaviours i.e. gambling, procrastinating, picking up your phone every five minutes, biting your nails, exercise or shopping.
You will know that if you ‘just stop’ it’s not that easy is it.
This is because your nervous system and your brain are screaming at you to keeping doing it, because your brain truly believes you need to do it to survive.
You un-knowingly programmed it that way, it wasn’t about choice, it was programmed thought, emotions and behaviour and then consistent repetition over time.
So when we tell ourselves ‘breaking addictions’ or long held habits is about using ‘will-power’ and talking about it, we couldn’t be more wrong.
When we talk about ‘addictions’ as personality trait, we need to remind ourselves that addictions are a HUMAN BEING TRAIT.
You may be asking: do ALL habits become addictions? No not all, but many of them do.
Here is the thing: many of our habits are helpful, so we want to keep doing them!
Certain substances are bio-neuro-physiologically addictive (caffeine, nicotine, sugar) but NOT in everybody (genetics and receptor function plays a role here).
How do you know if your ‘habit’ is an addiction?
You can ask yourself:
What attachments do I have to this habit?
Can I choose not to do it? Or do I have stories and beliefs that I “need it”?
Some common beliefs around our habits / addictions are:
I need it to relax
I need it to keep going
It’s my treat after a hard day
It helps me sleep
It’s the only way I feel less agitated and restless
If we believe we ‘need it’ then that must change.
To eliminate addictive habits we need to re-program the brain, the beliefs and nervous system and that is NOTHING to do with will power; it needs to be done in a strategic way which is NOT based on changing behaviour patterns.
My aim of this blog is to help you look at what addiction really is through a different lens.
By changing our view from ‘addictions’ to simply habits, we have conditioned our body and brain to believe we need to survive and take away the ‘label’ or stigma of it being anything other than that.
We can start to make addiction elimination even easier and more available to more people.
If you or someone you know is struggling with ‘habits’ they would rather be without, I’d love to have a chat about how I help you or them eliminate them for life.
Vicky xx