Kick Bad Habits and Distractions to do Something Meaningful in Your Life

Introduction
Little Distractions Become Big Life Goals
Recognize Common Behaviorals Addiction
Significant Consequences of Bad Habits and Addictions
Name and Claim Your Bad Habit
Time to Look Towards Getting Some Meaning in Your Life
Caring Is The Way Out
Heal Your Inner Relationship with Yourself
Professional Guidance to Keep You on Your Path to Change
Conclusion
Is Wasting Time Keeping You From Success?

Little Distractions Become Big Life Goals
Behavioral addictions are subtle and insidious because unlike substance additions they are generally accepted in society. And, the activity may have started with making you feel good, but now you do it without joy.
There are some behavioral addictions that are perfectly healthy, normal activities that some people fail to balance with equally important activities.
When an addiction takes over your life, you may not realize that you are cutting yourself off from life.
Recognize Common Behaviorals Addiction
- Sexual addiction – The majority of people enjoy sex, whether they are single, married, partnered, or polyamorous. Those who spend too many hours each day focused on sexual matters neglect other vital aspects of life. A person’s compulsive sexual behavior is often related to mental health issues (loss or insecurity).
- Gambling addiction – For participants, gambling triggers a dopamine rush since the end goal is money. The gamblers often continue to gamble in hopes of winning more, only to lose everything and go into debt. Gambling can be dangerous, especially at casinos run by the mafia.
- Internet addiction – As the internet has become commonplace, it has been common since the late ’90s and early ’00s. There are many resources available on the internet (music, videos, information, pictures, people). For people obsessed with a given topic, this can make the internet addictive.
- Social media addiction – In the late 2010s, when social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram began popping up, social media addiction became an extension of internet addiction. Those who regularly follow Twitter flame talks or ponder whether they like “likes” on Instagram spend a lot of time engaged. On Facebook, others go down endless rabbit holes.
- Food addiction – We eat every day, but some people continue eating on a full stomach. For some, it’s about pleasing their taste buds. Others eat for psychological reasons (grief, depression). Your body has limits, and fullness exists for a reason. Food addiction is particularly harmful when it involves junk food and sugary, fatty foods.
- Porn addiction – Pornography will always be debated as to whether it is healthy. In general, all of us agree that porn consumption should not be a round-the-clock routine. For some people, porn compensates for shyness, isolation, and difficulty finding a partner. When self-improvement is the answer to their problem, they neglect hygiene and responsibilities.
- Exercise addiction – An exercise program is healthy, but some people overdo it for the wrong reasons. Human bodies aren’t designed to be extremely ripped, veiny, and rock hard. Many gym workers are motivated by vanity, insecurity, and an obsession with looking like a superhero, thinking anything less makes them inferior.
- Shopping addiction – Many people find shopping thrilling because it represents abundance and ownership: having something you want whenever you want it. People shop beyond their means and grab items they don’t have time to use or appreciate, all for the dopamine rush.
- Kleptomania – The fact that everyone loves freebies partially explains the problem with internet addiction. Freebies can be acquired in the wild by some who violate the law. Shoplifting is partly motivated by the thrill of escaping with illegal activities. Later or later, the perpetrators are caught. They often have severe and lasting consequences.

Significant Consequences of Bad Habits and Addictions
- Depression – Depression is often interrelated with loneliness and lethargy. A 12-hour binge might seem like an endless process for the porn addict, but at the end of the day, he knows he’s not done anything substantial. Over-eaters are often tired and sedentary, yet struggle to maintain body consciousness and to improve their habits.
- Isolation – Addictions to computers and smartphones keep people busy, reducing social interaction. This trap is easy for shy people. Computer addictions (such as online platforms and social media) keep many people isolated and socially inept. You can have a negative mental health effect after years of this behavior.
- Unfulfillment – Generally people want to accomplish something in life. With age, people want to feel like their lives have been fulfilling a certain purpose. People with little other than overeating and utilizing social media rarely leave behind significant memories. It’s sad to let time pass by unfulfilled.
- Anti-social behavior- Isolation becomes very dangerous when the individual harbors misanthropic thoughts of violence at the outside world. In recent years, mass shootings have increased due to greater social isolation.
- Debt – Those who max out their credit cards with things they cannot afford are heading for financial ruin. The result of shopping addiction can be bankruptcy, poverty, foreclosure, and repossession.
- Incarceration – The addicts to illegal behavior (shoplifting, speeding) can end up behind bars, possibly for years.

Name and Claim Your Bad Habit
- How often the activity is being done
- The nature of joy that’s being received by the activity
Time to Look Towards Getting Some Meaning in Your Life

Caring Is The Way Out
Bruce K. Alexander who conducted the revolutionary Rat Park studies on socialization and addiction said, “Addicts are not bad people.”
The answer is in socialization. Caring for yourself and feeling cared for provides balance that eliminates the need for behavior addiction as well as substance addiction.
- Give up.
- Keep doing what you are doing. That will still keep you from a meaningful life.
- Shift the paradigm to caring. That means changing your assumptions about yourself.
Heal Your Inner Relationship with Yourself
- Support groups – You can join a public support group or work with a treatment facility. When you enter a treatment facility you meet individually with a counselor and attend group meetings with other patients. In this shared setting, everyone shares their struggles, insights, and progress.
- Family therapy sessions – An addict who seeks treatment has a hard time communicating with family members. Families are modered by a counselor while the patient and his/her family members mend their gaps and learn better understandings.
Professional Guidance to Keep You on Your Path to Change
- Dual diagnosis therapy – Addiction to drugs, alcohol, and behavioral disorders is often linked to deep-rooted mental health disorders. This method isolates the underlying issue (childhood trauma, loss) that causes addiction to compensate for or fill a certain emptiness. Once your are familiar with the underlying cause of behavioral addiction, it becomes easier to treat.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This is due to the idea that most behavior is dictated by subconscious beliefs. Self-destructive behavior stems from a deep-seated negative view that nothing else is possible. The subconscious process of CBT is used to reverse a person’s negative, ingrained belief system to change their minds and actions.

Mentoring for Positive Changes
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