Growing up I was know stranger to witnessing addiction along with the negative and positive impacts it can have on peoples lives, however recently I have been thinking that everyone needs an addiction in their life to be happy. Addiction is often talked about as if it's something that is inherently bad however I think this is far from the case, in fact I would argue the opposite, that we need addiction but people only discuss and notice the bad aspects of addiction.
I would say that addiction is seen as inherently bad because if you tell someone you are an addict you can see a shift in their face and if you are to search google for words such as addiction the first links that come up for me at least are pages detailing how to deal with addiction and the word is often synonyms with drugs. Although addictions can be bad I think it's something we need to change the way we look at and talk about so that people don't so easily fall into negative addictions and excessive use of harmful products.
I don't know if there is really one solid definition for addiction as it is something we don't entirely understand because the brain is so complex we always have something more to find out, although I would class it somewhere along the lines of "a need or strong desire to do or have something" which is the American English definition from dictionary.cambridge. There are other definitions that go along the lines of something that someone is unable to give up but people regularly give up addictions so I don't quite see that as a fit definition.
Addiction in the brain:
Addiction is synonymous with a form of 'high' or some sort of euphoric feeling someone gets after completing a task, in the case of drugs it would be once the drug sets in, gambling when you get a win, work when you complete a task and so on. The second part of addiction is the low after a high wares of making people seek that high again and continuing that cycle perpetually.
Addiction plays on the reward system in our brains, when we complete something or are in the process of doing something the brain releases dopamine making us happy but soon after the task the dopamine fades leaving us seeking another hit. That is part of the reasons drugs are so addictive because not only do they make the brain have chemical reactions it likes, but they also have chemicals in them that at a base are highly addictive. This is also why people find it so hard to give up drugs once they become addicted because it is a double-whammy not only does the brain miss the feeling created the body also craves more of the addictive substance, so when giving up people have to sit through the physical withdrawals whilst dealing with an onslaught of negative emotion. This is also why many ex-addicts have to find a positive or less negative addiction to replace what used to do.
This is also why I think everyone has an addiction, we all have something we do or try to do on a daily basis that releases dopamine in the brain and makes us feel happy, personally I have an addictive personality but I always have one addiction that trumps all, gaming. I have smoked cannabis on and off for probably close to four years, always in joints with some tobacco, however I have never found it hard to stop smoking, currently I haven't smoked for only a few days but I don't feel any cravings and I never seem to even during times I have gone from smoking daily to not smoking for six months. I put this down to the fact that at the end of the day once I have done what I need to do I will play a few games, release some dopamine and not crave a joint or cigarette. I always say if I had the choice of never gaming and smoking or never smoking and gaming I would always choose gaming. But then again if I had to give up gaming I wouldn't enjoy it but I would probably just exercise more or write more.
Finding a good addiction first:
In many cases you hear people become addicts because they are bored, they don't know what to do with their time or there isn't anything around them that excites them in their day to day life so they end up filling that boredom with a negative addiction, be it gambling, drinking, smoking or any other drug taking, just some form of activity that when addicted negatively impacts their life.
Recently I was watching a video where the retired UFC fighter B.J. Penn was discussing if he would fight again, which he wasn't sure of, and he said he has started training again after nearly a year break because without it he was feeling a low and depressed. To me this can't be classed as anything else other than an addiction, at the gym working out would release dopamine in the brain making him happy and making his body feel better, a high, and then once he stopped working out he would feel down or depressed, a low making him feel the need to regularly work out. However I doubt anyone would say going to the gym daily or most days is a bad thing because it is healthy for the mind and body, yet it still is an addiction.
This is why I think in some ways we should change the way we look at addiction and not always make it such an inherently negative word because it isn't inherently negative, many people have things they are addicted to, things they do daily and can't wait to do daily that make them a bit happier.
I think that telling people to avoid addiction can make it easier to slip into an addiction, rather I think people should be taught to find a positive addiction before a negative one finds them. Being an addict isn't a bad thing but being addicted to certain things can be bad. We all need something that we do on a regular basis that makes us happy, that we look forward to doing and that we regularly think about.