How To Stop Choking On Dopamine
Break the Cycle of Addiction and Find Balance…
Do you find it difficult to set aside 30 minutes for your physical health? Do you constantly struggle to read 10 pages of a book? Does the urge to do something else always take over? Do you lack the self-control to resist worldly desires? Furthermore, you don’t know why you can’t break out of this cycle and you end up in a cycle of inconsistency, and it can seem like an insurmountable task to gain control of yourself. You may even find yourself to be more addicted to stimulation, instant gratification, and dopamine than you are to achieving your goals and long-term aspirations. It can be disheartening, knowing that you are not making the progress you want to, and it’s eating away at you from the inside.
If this is you, then you need to stop choking on dopamine.
Here are 5 things you need to stop consuming to take back control of your life.
1. Porn
If you derive pleasure from watching two unknown people have sex on the screen, then you have a serious issue. Pornography acts as a shortcut to fulfill a primal desire of yours which is mating, as it stimulates your brain with ease.
I don’t care how much society has normalized masturbation and pornography; if you want to escape the prison you are in, you have to go on the NoFap diet. I know it will be difficult to completely stop it, but start with small streaks — 3 days, 5 days, 7 days — there’s no excuse not to start. If you learn to control your sexual desire, you can literally achieve anything.
2. Social Media
I think we are at this stage in life where we can accept that we are mindlessly scrolling on social media and, without realizing, picking up on unwanted desires. We are exposed to an abundance of content that triggers our dopamine levels, creating an urge for instant gratification. Additionally, we are constantly being bombarded with a never-ending stream of comparison, which can lead to feelings of inferiority and inadequacy. Social media has become a way to quickly satisfy our primal need for socializing, as it gives us the perception of socializing. As a result, we have become digitally connected to everyone else but become deeply disconnected from ourselves.
Firstly, you need to turn off all the notifications — if it’s important, they’ll call. It’s easy to get caught up in the endless scroll, so set yourself a time limit. If you’re spending more than 30 minutes on social media, then you seriously need to reconsider how you are using your time. The best thing I have done this year is to switch off my phone after 10 pm and restart it after 10 am. It has been incredibly refreshing to have a few hours of unplugged time, with no distractions or notifications. I highly recommend it — try it and I bet you won’t regret it.
3. Multitasking
90% of you don’t have ADHD but you still jump from one meaningless task to another disguised as “productivity”. Multitasking taps into the primal human desire of seeking new experiences but it can easily lead to a sense of restlessness and dissatisfaction. Multitasking is just another form of self-simulation.
The ability to concentrate and to use your time well is everything if you want to succeed in business — or almost anywhere else for that matter. When you remove distractions and focus on just one task, you can unlock your focus and tap into a level of creativity that you never knew you had. Force yourself to get bored, you’ll only find magic in boredom. Unlock new levels of creativity, clarity, and focus.
4. Negative self-talk
Negative self-talk reinforces negative thoughts and emotions, creating a cycle of negative thought patterns that can be hard to break. This activates the “threat response,” a survival mechanism that prepares the body to respond to danger. This releases dopamine, causing increased stress and anxiety. When you are constantly engaging in negative self-talk, you may begin to doubt everything in your life. When you don’t believe something is possible, you are less likely to take action, as you think it will be a wasted effort.
To break this cycle, it’s important to be mindful of your thoughts and to challenge your negative beliefs. Acknowledge your negative thoughts and try to reframe them in a more positive light. Replace negative self-talk with positive affirmations and remind yourself that you are capable and worthy. Journal. Meditate. Do whatever it takes to improve your relationship with yourself. To show myself how much I love myself, I write “I love myself” until the page is full.
5. Stop gaming and eating junk
Gaming taps into the primal human desire for surviving and conquering, allowing us to explore and experience the thrill of victory. But unfortunately, the only things you are conquering are feelings of depression, anxiety, and social isolation. You may think that these activities are providing you with joy, but when you find yourself indulging in these cheap pleasures, you must ask yourself: is this what I was created for? To eat all the junk food and play video games all day? Is this how I want to spend my life?
You could be tempted to think that eating healthy, abstaining from alcohol or gaming, and making other positive lifestyle changes are going to be difficult, but trust me when I say that it is actually quite simple. Don’t let yourself be a victim of your own negative thoughts. Take one step at a time and keep going.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I have committed to a personal challenge of writing 30 essays in 30 days, and this is my 2/30 article. I hope to use this opportunity to explore the concept of self-improvement and share my findings with my readers. I am excited to embark on this journey, and I invite you to accompany me.
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