Jason Voorhees
๐ธ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ โข ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ
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- May 15, 2020
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I agree with a lot of points @illusion made in his thread but one thing I'd add is that it's not easy to quit habits, addictions when they become a coping mechanism. Like I was an alcoholic for a some time in college for me alcohol and porn wasn't just a vice. I knew what I was doing was wrong. I was fully aware that it would lead me destruction but I still did it was way to hide from the world, numb the pain, and escape reality.
When life gets heavy, your brain naturally runs to whatever guarantees a quick release and that was all it was. If you just take away the coping mechanism without replacing it with something you left standing in the storm. Most likely scenario is you'd relapse and in severe cases might even go through mental issues trying to do it. When addictions and habits get tied into the emotional feedback loop it's very hard to come out of them
What worked for me and works for a lot of people is swapping it with another addiction but this time a healthier or at the very least less harmful one. This could be anything like I started drinking kombucha which is still alcohol but much milder form and I swapped porn for gym and GitHub contributions. So on and so forth.
The goal shouldn't be a cure. You don't cure the craving for an escape overnight you just find a healthier place to run and overtime you swap with healthier habits and eventually the urge dies down. This is the best way to do it. I'm not saying cold turkey doesn't work my uncle did it but it's the hard way to do it. Small incremental wins add up to something much more substantial. You don't have to fix your whole life today you just to do one thing better than yesterday and find a safer place to run to while you heal.
When life gets heavy, your brain naturally runs to whatever guarantees a quick release and that was all it was. If you just take away the coping mechanism without replacing it with something you left standing in the storm. Most likely scenario is you'd relapse and in severe cases might even go through mental issues trying to do it. When addictions and habits get tied into the emotional feedback loop it's very hard to come out of them
What worked for me and works for a lot of people is swapping it with another addiction but this time a healthier or at the very least less harmful one. This could be anything like I started drinking kombucha which is still alcohol but much milder form and I swapped porn for gym and GitHub contributions. So on and so forth.
The goal shouldn't be a cure. You don't cure the craving for an escape overnight you just find a healthier place to run and overtime you swap with healthier habits and eventually the urge dies down. This is the best way to do it. I'm not saying cold turkey doesn't work my uncle did it but it's the hard way to do it. Small incremental wins add up to something much more substantial. You don't have to fix your whole life today you just to do one thing better than yesterday and find a safer place to run to while you heal.
