Understanding the meaning of addiction has helped me. My
paraphrased definition from Webster is that addiction is “The devotion or
surrender to something obsessively.“ The more we have surrendered and the longer we
have obsessed, the harder it is to turn around. We often in our culture believe that obsession is okay but
addiction is not. Alcoholism is in the
past for me and I work to keep it there. But now I see the other areas where I
have been in addiction; the first is sugar.
Sugar has been a bigger problem than I realized. When I tried to stop, I went through anger
and withdrawal. It was somewhat like
stopping drinking. Now that I’m off sugar completely, I have noticed three
things; I think clearly without confusion and memory loss. I am losing weight and desiring healthier
foods. Inflammation in my joints is much
lower. It took three weeks but the cravings
are finally gone. I have also been addicted
to pleasing others. Worrying about what people think has been a constant
obsession. I can’t just quit eating or
drinking this addiction of people pleasing though. I’ve been using affirmations
to keep my mind on truth. I hang up encouraging phrases and scripture around my
house. Here’s one; I believe in goodness
and kindness. These are more important than social opinion. Pride is a difficult thing to break. Pride was the original sin. It is more
important to please my personal convictions and core beliefs than it is to please other
people. Prayer works. God works.
