Heres an illustration to help you understand.
Those who are or have been addicted will relate.
Imagine the worst you have ever had to pee in your entire life.
Maybe you peed your pants.
All the train stops were in residential areas for the next 15 minutes.
I asked the cashier if I could use the bathroom.
She said it was for customers only.
I declared, Its an emergency, and Im using your bathroom.
I charged to the back where I found the bathroom and peed furiously for what felt like several minutes.
In that moment when your bladder is screaming at you, are you thinking of anything else?
Is there any other priority that matters more at that moment?
You know that this is a temporary problem and soon it will be relieved you hope.
(Worst case scenario, you just pee your pants, right?)
That is how it feels to be in the grips of an addictive urge.
When that urge takes hold, logic flies out the window.
The urge cant be reasoned with.
It feels like a biological emergency.
Nothing matters more in that moment.
The fix feels like the unleashing of the pee into the toilet.Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh…llelujah.Every muscle relaxes.
it’s possible for you to breathe again.
And so the cycle continues.
This is why addiction is so overpowering and so incredibly challenging to overcome.
Unlike with the steady rhythm of our bladders filling and emptying throughout our lives, addiction progresses.
The alcoholic would down those four drinks a day and feel fine.
The sex addict would indulge for a few hours each night and carry on.
For the coke addict, a line each morning could function like a daily antidepressant.
Habitual, like a bladder emptying and filling, over and over.
But thats not how addiction works.
With addiction, a tolerance develops.
The amount of a given drug needed so that feel relief multiplies exponentially over the years.
The withdrawal becomes more severe, and the compulsion to use grows in power.
The negative consequences begin to pile up.
Addictive substances and behaviors are usually harmful to begin with but manageable when merely vices.
Remember, the dose makes the poison.
When addiction is underway, the amounts of these substances and behaviors are downright destructive.
But the addict cant stop becausethe brain is diseased at every level, from damaged neurotransmitters to conditioned responses.
The addicted brain now functions like a popping bladder, screaming for relief.
Fortunately, there is an answer.
Recovery is possible, and all over the world, people are recovering from addiction every day.
Thats the good news the brain does heal, if given the opportunity.
Nutrition can be another key piece.
The fact that addiction is a disease is not a euphemism its biology.
They are stuck in a hell of biological emergencies and progressive illness.
It takes a village.
It often takes a higher power.
Having the understanding of others can go a long way, too.
