Comments on: How to handle obsessions and addictions http://sprinkleofginger.com/how-to-handle-obsessions-and-addictions/ A head for adventures Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:57:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Matt King http://sprinkleofginger.com/how-to-handle-obsessions-and-addictions/comment-page-1/#comment-429 Matt King Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:43:19 +0000 http://sprinkleofginger.com/?p=422#comment-429 When I first read this it was as if it was written about myself. 'Love is elusive, and yet I ache for it....Life is exquisitely wonderful and terrible at the same time.' Those parts and in between rung very deep inside me, it's exactly as if I had written it. When I look back at some things I have written they too seem melodramatic but in reality it's an endless hope to find true love and happiness, some of us are just made this way. It's a defence mechanism to put yourself down and for me a way of dealing with an endless and lifelong rejection from everyone, the disappointments from the high expectations of people. It calls into question your very existence in this world. I can never understand why I judge myself so much on my moral actions and how I treat others. Sometimes to have such a high level of internal guilt for any wrongdoing means that you feel out of place in what seems a very harsh and cruel world. For the likes of us we live life in a way that we can see more and feel much more than most people but the price we pay for greater emotional intelligence is greater emotional loss. I wouldn't want it any other way......I love who I am as a person. It's wonderful to be able to read emotion in people the second you lay eyes on them. To have that level of emotional empathy is all very well and good but you have to remember you can't help everyone and most people need to make mistakes for themselves in order to learn. The least we can do is impart what we know onto others as it seems we have lived more than one lifetime and come with an instant understanding of human emotions the minute we were born. As the saying goes - 'Old before our time' I would rather hope it's 'Wise before our time'. It begs all sorts of questions about life but that's hopefully to be done with somebody equally as empathic over a nice glass of wine with an open fire and candles flickering gently in soft warm light. Who says the mind isn't attractive?.......and what amazing possibilities life holds for like-minded people. May you find love and light, Matt x When I first read this it was as if it was written about myself. ‘Love is elusive, and yet I ache for it….Life is exquisitely wonderful and terrible at the same time.’ Those parts and in between rung very deep inside me, it’s exactly as if I had written it. When I look back at some things I have written they too seem melodramatic but in reality it’s an endless hope to find true love and happiness, some of us are just made this way. It’s a defence mechanism to put yourself down and for me a way of dealing with an endless and lifelong rejection from everyone, the disappointments from the high expectations of people. It calls into question your very existence in this world. I can never understand why I judge myself so much on my moral actions and how I treat others. Sometimes to have such a high level of internal guilt for any wrongdoing means that you feel out of place in what seems a very harsh and cruel world. For the likes of us we live life in a way that we can see more and feel much more than most people but the price we pay for greater emotional intelligence is greater emotional loss. I wouldn’t want it any other way……I love who I am as a person. It’s wonderful to be able to read emotion in people the second you lay eyes on them. To have that level of emotional empathy is all very well and good but you have to remember you can’t help everyone and most people need to make mistakes for themselves in order to learn. The least we can do is impart what we know onto others as it seems we have lived more than one lifetime and come with an instant understanding of human emotions the minute we were born. As the saying goes – ‘Old before our time’ I would rather hope it’s ‘Wise before our time’. It begs all sorts of questions about life but that’s hopefully to be done with somebody equally as empathic over a nice glass of wine with an open fire and candles flickering gently in soft warm light. Who says the mind isn’t attractive?…….and what amazing possibilities life holds for like-minded people.

May you find love and light,

Matt x

]]> By: Ella http://sprinkleofginger.com/how-to-handle-obsessions-and-addictions/comment-page-1/#comment-54 Ella Fri, 15 May 2009 11:47:03 +0000 http://sprinkleofginger.com/?p=422#comment-54 Hey Allen, Good news: you've already completed the first step toward recovery, which is recognising that there's a problem. Score! For phase two, I'd enlist a support group who will help you kick this thing's ass. Talk to a friend or family member. Let them know what's going on, and say you're concerned and want to tackle this behaviour before it gets out of hand. You might want to pay a visit to your doctor or rope in a good ol' shrink. Find one that you click with -- I once went to a psych who sat, arms crossed, and basically said 'Well the trick, silly girl, is to eat". No foolin'! It can be tempting to keep this problem to yourself, as an eating disorder can become like a friend, and you might fear or resent the idea of it being taken away from you. Ditch that. EDs are deceptive, conniving frenemies who will drag you down to their murky cesspool of Suck. And they become SO tedious SO quickly. The other thing to do is to look into the reasons why you're feeling or behaving this way. Maybe it gives you a sense of control or relief that you can't get elsewhere? That needs to be addressed so that you don't find yourself slipping back in the future. A good online resource is the long-established website <a href="http://www.something-fishy.org/" rel="nofollow">Something Fishy</a>. It has heaps of articles, support forums and information on treatment. All the best. Ella Hey Allen,

Good news: you’ve already completed the first step toward recovery, which is recognising that there’s a problem. Score! For phase two, I’d enlist a support group who will help you kick this thing’s ass. Talk to a friend or family member. Let them know what’s going on, and say you’re concerned and want to tackle this behaviour before it gets out of hand. You might want to pay a visit to your doctor or rope in a good ol’ shrink. Find one that you click with — I once went to a psych who sat, arms crossed, and basically said ‘Well the trick, silly girl, is to eat”. No foolin’!

It can be tempting to keep this problem to yourself, as an eating disorder can become like a friend, and you might fear or resent the idea of it being taken away from you. Ditch that. EDs are deceptive, conniving frenemies who will drag you down to their murky cesspool of Suck. And they become SO tedious SO quickly.

The other thing to do is to look into the reasons why you’re feeling or behaving this way. Maybe it gives you a sense of control or relief that you can’t get elsewhere? That needs to be addressed so that you don’t find yourself slipping back in the future.

A good online resource is the long-established website Something Fishy. It has heaps of articles, support forums and information on treatment.

All the best.

Ella

]]> By: Allen http://sprinkleofginger.com/how-to-handle-obsessions-and-addictions/comment-page-1/#comment-53 Allen Fri, 15 May 2009 06:49:10 +0000 http://sprinkleofginger.com/?p=422#comment-53 This is a very informative and informational blog post I think I am slowly spinning into the deep dark depths of not Anorexia, but Bulimia, because I feel hungry, eats heaps of food, and then feel really fat, disgusting, and I want to throw up until I start to chuck up bile... Sorry if I am sounding strange, but you seem like someone I can trust... Thanks for the help Allen This is a very informative and informational blog post
I think I am slowly spinning into the deep dark depths of not Anorexia, but Bulimia, because I feel hungry, eats heaps of food, and then feel really fat, disgusting, and I want to throw up until I start to chuck up bile…
Sorry if I am sounding strange, but you seem like someone I can trust…
Thanks for the help
Allen

]]> By: Ella http://sprinkleofginger.com/how-to-handle-obsessions-and-addictions/comment-page-1/#comment-52 Ella Fri, 15 May 2009 04:09:19 +0000 http://sprinkleofginger.com/?p=422#comment-52 Great suggestion. So many of our fears are unfounded. Reminds me of a golden Mark Twain quote I heard the other day: "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened." Great suggestion. So many of our fears are unfounded. Reminds me of a golden Mark Twain quote I heard the other day:

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”

]]> By: Jeb http://sprinkleofginger.com/how-to-handle-obsessions-and-addictions/comment-page-1/#comment-51 Jeb Fri, 15 May 2009 03:49:04 +0000 http://sprinkleofginger.com/?p=422#comment-51 Another brilliant post, Ella... I'm finding that a useful way to deal with obsessions - particularly those where you constantly fear a particular outcome - is to write them down as you've described, but then note the actual outcome next to it. Usually your fears don't come true, but the voices in your head tend to forget this. Sometimes it's good to have all that hard evidence staring you in the face, and it takes writing it all down to realise it. Another brilliant post, Ella…

I’m finding that a useful way to deal with obsessions – particularly those where you constantly fear a particular outcome – is to write them down as you’ve described, but then note the actual outcome next to it. Usually your fears don’t come true, but the voices in your head tend to forget this. Sometimes it’s good to have all that hard evidence staring you in the face, and it takes writing it all down to realise it.

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