Many people define addiction as when someone has
a habit they can't stop engaging in. Some people think differently; they believe it's when one doesn't want to stop doing an act. Some believe it's a choice while some believe it's like a person is compelled.
One thing I have got to understand is that not all addictions can be labeled “bad"
These days, once the word addiction is uttered, people's minds go straight to a few common things: the first one is porn, the second is masturbation, which probably follows the first in most cases, and then we have the third one, which is drug addiction.
These three usually come to mind before other, less-known and less common ones come up, ones like sex addiction, locomotive addiction, alcohol, caffeine, food and even addiction to victory. And trust me, there are more bad ones, worse than any I have mentioned.
When it comes to addiction, many people don't know the amount of science that is behind the way it works and everything. They think it is simply what someone enjoys doing.
Addiction is triggered by a lot of chemical reactions in the brain.
For me, the way I see addiction, I don't see it as a disease; it's in no way close to the definition of a disease, at least not any I know of.
And still, I can't simply call it a choice because I know it is far more profound than that.
I wanted to start by saying that at first, addiction is a choice, but I remember that not everyone has a choice in the addiction they have. Some people were literally forced or tricked into the addiction.
But when we are talking about it as a choice, then sure, at first, it just has to do with the person's choice whether to enter whatever the addiction is.
But slowly, with time, the person doesn't have a 100 percent choice in engaging in the addiction.
It's a fact that humans don't have 100 percent control over 100 percent of their bodies. If there is anyone who can, I haven't heard of them. Can anyone prove that they can stop hearing at will, or stop seeing at will, or choose to stop growing whenever they choose? Or I want to imagine voluntarily stopping his heartbeat.
If all the parts of the body can be controlled 100 percent, the brain is the most prominent one I know of. The brain does so much work we aren't even aware of.
This is what I meant by after entering the addiction, it reaches a point where it is no longer just about a simple choice. Because by then it wouldn't be just you making the calls. The brain gets a taste of dopamine, and by itself and for itself it needs more (not the addiction but the chemical released). So even though one has made a choice to genuinely stop it gets harder to. And I think that is actually the reason to not only fight to come out of addiction but also to avoid getting into one.