Addiction

What Is Your Addiction?

The purpose of this paper is to delineate the evaded term “addiction”. In the mind of every human there is a desire to want something that may satisfy them. Do you believe that people are capable to live addiction free? When one looks at the broad picture of addiction, one must conclude that no one is immune to what some say is a disease. If the topic of addiction were to arise in group of college students, their first thought would either be drug addiction or alcohol addiction. Let’s say if the same topic were to come up in an office, that group may tend to view caffeine as an addiction. There is a full spectrum when it comes to addiction, since it occurs in everyone’s life at some point. The way I see it is that if it is enjoyable, it has the potential to be addictive. The problem with addiction in this century is that the opportunity to be introduced to something addictive is immensely great. In addition, people that have an addiction overlook it and instead of fixing it, they continue to add more and more fuel to their fire.

It is difficult to differentiate the difference between addiction and habit. It is hard to define a term such as addiction or habit because the line between them is quite thin. One must first analyze their actions. According to popular belief, a habit is something where the person can sustain conscious control over their habitual actions. Habits tend to be automatic. For example, getting up in the morning and without thinking, going directly to the bathroom and begin brushing their teeth. To alter a habit that is routed in an emotion or feeling the unconscious mind has to be reprogrammed. For some people that can be done very simply on their own. For others it may be a very hard task that requires help. The main point about habitual behavior is that the effect in the long run is mostly beneficial and positive to the individual.

On the contrary, addiction is much more serious and is based on dependency rather then habitual actions. The important contrast about addiction is that in the long run there is a high probability that it will negatively affect the person. For instance, if the addiction were to be smoking, in the long run if the addiction were carried out it could result in cancer or some kind of lung disease. In the case of drugs it is can have an even bigger effect on the person’s future. A very close friend of mine began smoking marijuana at the age of 13. Through his teenage years drugs began to take a harsh toll on his life. By the age of 16 he was sent to boarding school in Colorado for the use of heroin. Since he had no control over his addiction, which is the main reason why the term addiction is used negatively, he was forced to seek help from an institution. As of now, he continues to feed his addiction of marijuana at the age of 21. However, he does plan on having an addiction free future. The boarding school helped in the long run to give him the power of control. Most people do not realize how serious an addiction can be until it is too late. In the case of my friend, he was able to be set free of his heroin addiction; but there are thousands of cases similar to his plight that have ended tragically.

There are many types of addiction that reach beyond drugs and alcohol. It is interesting to analyze the job of a parent. When a child is young or in his young adult stage he or she is faced with many decisions. The job of the parent is to guide their child and to urge their children