The Truth About Addiction
The Surprising Ways We’re All Addicted (And How to Heal) with Ian Morgan Cron
“'The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety—it’s connection.“
?- Ian Morgan Cron, author of The Fix, How The Twelve Steps Offer A Surprising Path of Transformation For the Well-Adjusted, The Down-And-Out, and Everyone in Between
We are an addicted society.? You and I are addicts.??
We have two types of addicts in the world.? Those who are recovering addicts - the people who have admitted they are powerless to their addiction and those who say “ah, I don't drink or do drugs, I do not have an addiction.”?
So, in summary, we have people who accept their addictions and those who deny them.? That's it.? Good Talk!
That is 100% of the people in the world.
Because in some way, shape, or form, as Ian Cron, my guest on the Tyler Dickerhoof Show episode released this week, shared, “to be human is to be addicted. We all look for external solutions to internal problems.”
What
So often, we classify addiction based upon the what.? I am an alcoholic.? I am a heroin addict.? I’m addicted to painkillers.? I'm a smoker and can’t quit.
At the very mention of the word addict and i beleive 95% of people go to drugs and alcohol.
I did a Google search because I’m trying to conserve energy , and there were only drugs and alcohol listed in the top 10, accounting for about 25% of people with an addiction.
So the other 75% have an addiction to something not on the list because to be human is to be addicted.
I've had a few addictions in my life, and as Ian pointed out, the addictions never leave; they are just doing pushups in the dark.
I’m by no means being trite with addictions.? They wreck everything - people, lives, families, careers, businesses, and communities.? They are devastating and heartbreaking.
By definition, an addiction is a compulsive attachment to anything that we use to escape discomfort, to fill a void, to numb pain, to forget trauma, even at the cost of our well-being.
The most dangerous addictions are the quiet addictions.
Why
Quiet addictions are the socially acceptable addictions.
The kind of addictions that when someone acknowledges or accepts their powerlessness others skoff.? What, addicted to PEZ candy? Pfft, you have to be kidding!
Yet they are addictions.? Addictions are anything that we use to search for meaning.
Addictions are the human attempt to use what is at our disposal to fill the holes.
So while some may think being addicted to PEZ candy is laughable, its is entirely possible.
My Addiction(s)
My addiction hurt people.? It ruined relationships.? It hurt me.? It hurt some of the people closest to me.
My addiction made it hard for others to work with me or get close to me, and in most cases, they didn't want to.
My addiction was the armor I used to protect myself from the pain and hurt from fears, insecurities, and a traumatic experience.
My addiction damaged my well-being.
The day I understood that my addiction was my go-to in difficult situations was a spiritual moment for me.
I learned that addiction is a spiritual problem, and when I read Ian’s book, The Fix. I learned that the root of the 12-step program is giving ourselves over to a spiritual power bigger and stronger than us.
I've never been to a 12-step meeting.
But instantly, I saw a connection.? I saw a connection because the work I have done to overcome my most painful addiction aligns with the 12 Steps.
I describe it differently, and the framework makes us the Awaken the Leader Within course, yet it is rooted in the same foundational points.
Our addictions are manifestations of our fears and insecurities.? Our addictions hurt others and ourselves, even when we want to justify them as virtuous or not a big deal.
We must work on our addictions every day because, again, they are rooted in our fears and insecurities.?
My addiction is Intensity, and I am a recovering Intensity addict.
The Solution
The opposite of addiction is connection.? One of the most dangerous places anyone can be is alone.
Loneliness is the playground for addictions - all of them.
Many times, we create our isolation.? We maroon ourselves on the island, thinking others won't understand.
This is our problem to deal with.??
If people knew…
Want to learn more about?being Impact Driven? Here are 3 ways to get started:
?