Hidden Addictions Part 1 – What Is A Hidden Addiction?
This post is part 1 of the “Hidden Addiction” series. Be sure to read Hidden Addictions Part 2 – Identify Your Hidden Addictions.
Addictions. Big bad habits. Small bad habits. Vices. Everyone has them! The big ones can have a horrible effect on your life. Things like gambling, alcohol, drugs, porn, and illegal activity can all lead you down a bad road. Ridding your life of these addictions should be high on your priority list.
However, there is another kind of addiction that is much more common and can be just as dangerous. I call them “hidden addictions“. These are the small bad habits that you never seem to notice. They silently invade your life and before you know it, you have an entire colony of hidden addictions infesting your life! They are difficult to spot and even more difficult to quit. Having one or two hidden addictions in your life might be ok, but it becomes a real problem when there are a lot of them.
You see, there is one positive thing about the major addictions I mentioned in the first paragraph: They are easy to identify. Yea, some people will be in denial of their addiction for a long time, but eventually they will realize they have a negative addiction. And if they don’t, I am sure that their friends or family will express their concern. Breaking those addictions is incredibly difficult… but at least they can identify it.
On the other hand, hidden addictions can go unnoticed for your entire life, slowly eating away at you. Here are some examples of hidden addictions:
- Coffee (or other caffeinated drinks)
- Sugar
- Fast Food
- Blaming Others
- Blaming Yourself
- Jealousy
- Laziness
- Overeating
- Spending
- Shopping
- Video Games and Computer Games
- Television
- Internet
- Cracking Knuckles
- Smoking
- Bad Posture
- Worrying Too Much
- Oversleeping
- Allocation of Time (Too much work and not enough time with family)
- Lack of Exercise
- Anger
- Depression
- Settling (Not challenging yourself)
- Being a Pushover
- Lack of Balance
Do any of these sound familiar? This list is the tip of the iceberg. Hidden addictions will be different for everyone and can take on a multitude of forms.
Now that we have defined what a hidden addiction is, it is now time to identify what hidden addictions you have. Be sure to check back soon for part 2 of this series for information about identifying your hidden addictions.
Photo By nils.alsleben
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I think being that we are creatures of habit, any of our daily routines or activities could be considered a compulsion or an addiction.
I look forward to next post to see how you quantify these items. I think everyone has their own definitions of what can be construction as a hidden addiction and what level it must reach to be categorized as such, so it will be interesting…
We don’t realize that our daily routines can either crawl into or become an addiction. Most of the time, it’s not our minds that will tell us when to break free, but our bodies.
Interesting topic.
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@ Krissy – Thanks for your comment. Yea, defining and identifying things in life can be the trickiest part.
@ Julia – If only we could get our minds to respond before it becomes a problem for our bodies…
- Jack Rugile
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