Use your addictive personality to your own benefit!

[Unregistered]

Well everyone reading this site most likely has an addiction to marijuana. I know when I personally took the addiction quiz I answered yes to everything. Today though I had an awesome revelation. Why not use our addictive personalities for our benefit? We all already have a built in advantage over those that don't have this type of personality. *

Here's what I am getting at.....I have personally decided there is no better high than a natural high after a good workout. In fact I am having one as I type this. Pushing your body to the limits (which is a heart rate of about 170 for me) for an extended time produces an unbelievably good high afterwards. It's really good a feeling of great accomplishment accompanied by a relaxed state of mind. It's a bit difficult to explain....*

Today is my 52nd day weed free but honestly I hardly think of it anymore. Yes I do come to this site every few days to reinforce my resolve to quit by reading others trials and tribulations, but in fact my addictive personality has whole heartedly taken over now and manifested itself in the form of physical fitness. Time I would have spent previously going through the rituals of smoking is now spent exercising, shopping for healthy foods, eating mostly salads, etc....I now find I want to go to the gym even on weekends. If I don't, I honestly feel I'm missing out....exactly the same as a pothead that runs out and cannot score a bag for a day or two.*

I am normally not a person to brag on anything regarding myself but hopefully by writing this I will inspire at least one person. Since I've started my journey of striving for better physical fitness and quitting I've lost about 25 pounds in 2 1/2 months. My running distances are gradually improving. My overall feeling is so much better than it was. I still have a goal of at least 15 more pounds lost and I know I'll get there eventually even though I have hit a bit of a wall the past few days.*

To sum this up, exercise and fitness is my new drug of choice. And now for once I am thankful for my addictive personality. My advice for a brand new quitter that wants to do as I am is start out slow! Cold turkey in anything I've ever quit has always been the best method for me. Any type of smoke is terrible for your body and of course especially your lungs. So if you want to truly treat your body as a temple I strongly recommend tossing the cigs as well if you smoke them. It will honestly take shear willpower the first couple of weeks or so after quitting until the side effects of quitting disappear. It all becomes mental after that. At that time it is an excellent time to substitute addictions and to begin exercising a little harder. *



Good luck to everyone trying to quit!! *

[BFB]

Hi Guest and welcome if you have not posted before.

Very interesting post and I have to say that when it comes to people who have addictive personalities on the whole I think I agree, now I know some people may be saying but you are just swapping one addiction for another and perhaps you are, but if you are somebody who does genuinely have what is known as the addictive personality then to be honest from what I have learnt on the matter it’s not something that can be cured, it’s something that is part of the way your brain is physically made, most probably as a result of the genes you have inherited, so if it’s down to the way your brain is made and something that can’t be changed then to be honest I think the best way to deal with it is to probably to adapt a strategy of how to best live with it, how to manage and control the condition in a way that steers and directs it away from drink and drugs, now what exactly it is can be different for everybody, for some it may be exercise or sport, for others it may be playing an instrument, for others it could be their religion or church/temple/mosque activities, or volunteering and helping others, there’s too many different things you can do to mention and like I say it can be different for everyone, but whatever it is for you it is my belief that it is focusing on these things that will keep you clean and sober, like I say if you have an obsessive/addictive personality then the chances are there is always going to be something that you are going to be really into, I think that may just be something that you may have to accept, but why not indeed channel this trait into a positive and creative activity, it’s the people who live and breathe things that can make the greatest achievements or failures in life depending on what they channel their energy into.

Anyway that’s just my personal take on it. Take care, thanks for posting and please keep us posted on how it goes.

All the best

[jb3]

Exercise is my new addiction/obsession now as well. In two weeks I'll be running a half-marathon, and then a full marathon in June. After that I'm going to sign up for CrossFit. I usually only keep at regular exercise for about 3 months, and then start slacking off. This time I've made it 4 months, and I'm hoping for a lot more. It really helps my mood (and I've lost 15 pounds).

[Unregistered]

Good to see I got a couple of replies! I'm happy to report I have not even thought about using since my post here and also seem to have finally broken through my weight plateau and am down 3-4 pounds. The real reason I'm coming back to post on my thread is I had another enlightened thought the other day and figured I would share when I got the time. So here goes...

When we are heavily using pot so often we use the argument or crutch if you will that it should be legal. Beer and cigs are legal, why not pot?? The government meddles way too much into our personal lives! This society is becoming like Orwell's book 1984...screw the government!

Why not mentally change your thought process and attitude. Feel like you are the one making the rules or the laws! Make pot (or anything else that's bad for your body) illegal for you. You become the president, prime minister, supreme court, or add in any entity you wish....of your own self. Nobody has more control over what happens to your body than you! So get in the mindset that you have made this law for yourself. Become pissed off if you walk by someone smoking cigs somewhere illegally and you are forced to breathe their nasty smoke.

You be the ultimate ruler of your body. You will feel in control and it might help your mindset. Good luck everybody!

[abiogenesis]

I liked this one And actually i did another role playing game for myself which was very helpful for me: I imagined myself being as a heroin addict and magined that it's heroin which is being sold in the coffeshop two minutes away. This really helped me a lot to irritate myself from the concept of using weed. And it wasn't that hard to believe in this since the consequence of my weed use on my life was no different than of heroin affecting the life of a heroin addict. As I always say, it's not the name of the drug that matters, it's the addiction that matters.

All the best,

[Unregistered]

Hi everyone....I'm 136 days weed free. Still exercising, though maybe not as intense as last time I posted. I've been drinking beer some lately. Maybe that's a bad thing I guess. My weight is still steadily going down. I recently tied my record distance in this little workout I challenge myself on the treadmill so my health is still good. My bmi is close to being considered not overweight. I don't miss weed for the most part. I guess that's the most important thing. I still haven't caved though I easily could have a few times. I wish everyone luck in this difficult endeavor. It does get easier for anyone reading this that has recently quit. Good luck to all.

[gabriella28]

Good luck to us all!!!! I think a person can quit only if he original levitra really want to and ready to..... if not everything is useless

[Unregistered]

My whole family runs with cherokee blood and addictive personalities. from pills to alcohol, everyone on my moms side are addicted to something. I vowed not to drink when I was young after I saw and experience what it had and is still doing to her. I was manipulated, beat and ignored as I grew up and turned to pain relievers thinking alcoholism was hereditary, not the trait of addicted personalities. While ive been off drugs for 14 months now I have been struggling with anorexia for 12. Excessive exercise, critical analysis and obsession over your diet are addictive habits that could (and have led me) to other disorders. It may seem like an okay thing now, but pace yourself and please be careful. Our minds are not like others... We always need something be it drinks, pills (a smoke in ur case), or perfection...

Well everyone reading this site most likely has an addiction to marijuana. I know when I personally took the addiction quiz I answered yes to everything. Today though I had an awesome revelation. Why not use our addictive personalities for our benefit? We all already have a built in advantage over those that don't have this type of personality. *

Here's what I am getting at.....I have personally decided there is no better high than a natural high after a good workout. In fact I am having one as I type this. Pushing your body to the limits (which is a heart rate of about 170 for me) for an extended time produces an unbelievably good high afterwards. It's really good a feeling of great accomplishment accompanied by a relaxed state of mind. It's a bit difficult to explain....*

Today is my 52nd day weed free but honestly I hardly think of it anymore. Yes I do come to this site every few days to reinforce my resolve to quit by reading others trials and tribulations, but in fact my addictive personality has whole heartedly taken over now and manifested itself in the form of physical fitness. Time I would have spent previously going through the rituals of smoking is now spent exercising, shopping for healthy foods, eating mostly salads, etc....I now find I want to go to the gym even on weekends. If I don't, I honestly feel I'm missing out....exactly the same as a pothead that runs out and cannot score a bag for a day or two.*

I am normally not a person to brag on anything regarding myself but hopefully by writing this I will inspire at least one person. Since I've started my journey of striving for better physical fitness and quitting I've lost about 25 pounds in 2 1/2 months. My running distances are gradually improving. My overall feeling is so much better than it was. I still have a goal of at least 15 more pounds lost and I know I'll get there eventually even though I have hit a bit of a wall the past few days.*

To sum this up, exercise and fitness is my new drug of choice. And now for once I am thankful for my addictive personality. My advice for a brand new quitter that wants to do as I am is start out slow! Cold turkey in anything I've ever quit has always been the best method for me. Any type of smoke is terrible for your body and of course especially your lungs. So if you want to truly treat your body as a temple I strongly recommend tossing the cigs as well if you smoke them. It will honestly take shear willpower the first couple of weeks or so after quitting until the side effects of quitting disappear. It all becomes mental after that. At that time it is an excellent time to substitute addictions and to begin exercising a little harder. *

Good luck to everyone trying to quit!! *

[The_Cigarrette_Monster]

I know exactly what you mean bro, there's nothing like a runners high! It's just so hard to motivate yourself when you smoke too much! I have every intention of replacing one addiction for another; weed for exercise. I've always enjoyed exercise (purely cos of the high it gives you afterwards), but I've not done much in the past 4 years... basically since I've been introduced to drugs! Get paid on Friday, so next wednesday (quit day) I intend to go and join a gym. I've written myself a fitness programme and I AM going to stick to it! I can't wait for that feeling of being healthy again, and for the constant mind fog to clear! I know it's gonna take time and not have dissappeared before my exams are finished, but oh well... I can always retake next year.
Here's to being healthy! Keep up the good work - you're an inspiration to us all!
C_M xx

[Unregistered]

I absolutely love this thread, and also wish there were more info out there on how to use an addictive personality to one's advantage. An addictive personality, in my opinion, is definitely a genetic trait. All humans seek routine, habit, ritual; whatever you want to call it, that repetition has been sought and practiced by humans since we have walked this earth. (If you haven't discovered this yet, just look around. You'll see it everywhere.) I also suppose everyone is addiction-prone to a certain extent, and that extent simply depends on how much they seek routine. I noticed from a young age that I would have certain "obsessions" that would captivate my thoughts for usually 2-3 months before I found another one. These weren't bad addictions for the most part at this age either. The addictions were things like playing computer games, listening to music, playing sports, teaching myself math, astronomy, psychology, or whatever subject interested me, especially if it wasn't taught in school. I would completely submerge myself, and become an expert on the topic or activity. For about 1.5-2 years, I went through a pyro stage in which I taught myself extensive amounts of information on chemistry, physics, explosives, and homemade pyrotechnics. At this point, I'm a senior in high school, and systematically practice numerous addictions, some new, some that I've done since I can remember.

I didn't know the phrase addictive personality until about 2-3 years ago, but when I first heard it, I instantly recognized that this was what I had. Not all of my addictions have been good though. I would say that I'm addicted to several drugs; however, I'd also say that what I'm really addicted to is the high. For me, the urge of psychological addiction is probably 10 times more powerful than any physical addiction, and I actually don't think I've had any (or at least any significant or lasting) physical addictions. It seems to me that an addictive personality is something that can either make or break you. The determining factor being what you are addicted to. I see some people that are completely addicted to school or work, and they could very easily have an addictive personality causing this, but others simply say they are hard working while those addicted to something destructive are said to have an addictive personality. The key is controlling what motivates your addiction. It's as simple and complex as finding a purpose to live. Whatever motivates you the most in life is what you will become addicted to. Pleasure is the effect of fulfilling an addictive behavior in every circumstance. We are motivated by pleasure. The difference is what brings you that pleasure. Drugs are such a common addiction because they are simple, accessible, and give us pleasure. However, someone with this personality who believes their life purpose is to provide safe food and drinking water for small villages in Kenya will pursue their cause just as much as a heroin addict will pursue their drug. And you can bet they will be one of the more successful people working towards this cause because they can become completely invested in it. Really, I don't think an addictive personality is a negative thing at all even though it carries a negative connotation. It's really just the way your mind works. Whether it be the key factor that ruins your life or makes it is really a matter of your motivation. If you can learn to control your motivations, you can control you addictions, and you will find that this personality is really an amazing gift.

Ridiculously long post, anyone have any thoughts or suggestions for sources on this topic?