Many moons ago when I was in my early twenties. There was this older friendly woman from Ghana. She was a cleaner at the health insurance company where I worked as administrative employee. We often had small talks about life in general. One day this woman came to me after I lighted up a cigarette in the smoking room. She told me about her smoking addiction. How she had overcome it after decades of battling to quit. I remember her saying, it was a spiritual fight. At that time I didn’t put much meaning to those words, because for me it was a “silly” habit I maintained for reasons not that deep.
I wasn’t even a heavy smoker, also not a steady one, but certainly not limited to party smoking only. I could switch the urge off and on. I could go hours, days, weeks and months without it. At the same time, I could dive back into it like an alcoholic tasting a drop of booze. Yeah, it could be that serious at times.
The routine I created for myself justified why I didn’t pull the plug out of my “unhealthy habit”. It was the nicotine rush, socializing, parties, work deadlines and not gaining weight, that kept me blowing the smoke in the air.
On one fateful day the nicotine urge dropped to zero. I was done and it was over! That is when I noticed another hidden habit. Or should I say addiction? Snacks and food. My chronic habit was now fully exposed. Usually starting in the afternoon and ending in the late midnight hours! Any time I am tired, bored, emotional or in the (monthly) cycle of PMS, it is snacks /food I am looking for.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “addiction is an inability to stop doing or using something, especially something harmful.” A habit is “something that you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing that you are doing it.” I see addiction as having little to no control over something. And a habit as an automatic pilot, that can be stopped or changed once there is a desire for it.
Maybe its comfort, fuel, pleasure or a distraction I am getting from food. Whatever the stimulation or label tag should be; it’s getting out of hand or has this been always the case? There is no answer yet, but it does bring me back to the wise words of that African woman. She said, “It is spiritual” and now I realize how deep it is.
Did you have a habit that was hard to break or something you have little to no control over? How are/did you deal(ing) with it? Feel free to share any thoughts about this topic. Let’s learn from each other.
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Nice read.
I love how the woman from Ghana descried addiction as a spiritual fight; and she’s almost right.
Habits are like the atoms of our lives. At first they seem to make little or no difference; but soon after accumulating up to a certain threshold, they start to run our life.
For addiction, strong discipline is needed. Fasting is an effective way one could develop discipline and take control of his cravings and emotion. Breaking free from addiction demands continuous work; and this is why discipline is always a requirement.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Happy New Month.
Thanks Ebube, for this powerful insightful response.
You have said it all! Habits can easily run a person’s life. Especially the ones we think is less harmful for our bodies and minds. Before you know, it becomes a new addiction.
As for the addiction part, I totally agree with you. I just want to add, acknowledging that there is a problem is the first step. Maybe labeling it addiction is the next step, before the other steps can follow. I will prepare my mind for the fasting period. This will be a difficult one to break, because it has been so long a part of my life without me even knowing that it was this bad. So yeah, it will demand continuous effort and focus to tackle it.
Thank you so much for this! Happy blessed month.
for the stopping of an addiction was with the power by the faith-I-carry within the spirit and mind-set.
With the smoking and in the thought of God, I couldn’t get it in my mind to neglect the Higher frequency, God. So i did away which is in lower function. putting the cigarette under my feet or in the ashtray depending on my indoor or outdoor position. This repeated through the days, and before I knew it, the smoking habit was no more. i’ve created a new custom.
I chose for God😉
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