Why We Are All Addicts

We tend to imagine that we can only become addicted to a few sorts of things. But real addiction is about using something, anything, to keep our real emotions, fears and hopes at bay. There are many more addicts among us than we think.

FURTHER READING

“We operate with some stock images of the addict: a person with a heroin needle in a park, or who nurses a bottle of gin in a paper bag at nine in the morning or who sneaks off at every opportunity to light up another cylinder of marijuana.

However dramatic and tragic such cases of addiction might be, they are simultaneously hugely reassuring to most of us – because they locate the addict far from ordinary experience, somewhere off-stage, in the land of semi-criminality and outright breakdown…”

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CREDITS

Produced in collaboration with:

Yan Dan Wong

[hunterdepriest]

It's important to remember that often we hate the things we use as an escape. You don't have to love what you're addicted to--in fact, most addicts don't.

[mephistophelesthesilentchi]

I think we develop addictions because at times we struggle so desperately to express ourselves, that we eventually lose hope. And adopt various habits, as cheap substitutes for the sense of fulfilment we were denied.

[cup_check_official]

that's exactly what i always say. An addict doesn't necessarily have to be a heroine or a drug addict. You can get addicted to anything.

[sailingintosunshine]

who is addicted to youtube videos like this one?

[TheZoo]

“The pain is real, but you can’t heal what you never reveal” - Jay Z

[RestaUM_livros]

Thank you for this video. I feel that being addicted and using mechanisms of escaping the present moment has kept me from being creative and doing something productive. It's quite sad too see yourself in this circular motion with very little chance to get out. I need the confidence to quit all the crap and go do something nice with my time. Anyway, thank you for bringing the awareness to us.

[randomtrucks]

Daydreaming, the internet, shopping, basically anything that distracts me from my existential regrets and fears

[CreateYOUTV]

How the HELL does this video have dislikes? This is the most accurate explanation of what addiction truly looks like and stems from. Excellent video.

[Hazzard]

There is an interview with Chester Bennington (Linkin Park vocalist who commited suicide) where he explains exactly what this video is saying. He explains how he is ok mentally when he keeps busy, but as soon as he is by himself he struggles.

[ericsommer]

"All the miseries of mankind come from one thing, not knowing how to remain alone." - Blaise Pascal "Pensées" (1670)

[lizab]

You can get addicted to thinking too much - it's called rumination.

[fangirlfortheages]

This is one of your most helpful videos. I don’t remember the last time I sat alone with myself without a screen or the desire for one. Youtube accompanies me everywhere. I watch the same videos of broadway shows over and over again. Thank you school of life for giving me perspective

[PersonalPower]

besides dangerous drugs you should really pay attention
to not getting addicted to a person! You can get addicted to basically
anything, but being addicted to a Person can be a real problem
especially if the person isn't around anymore. Being attached to
someone is normal but make sure to keep it under control
At least a little!

*Personal Development videos Sub Goal: 185/200*

[matthieu]

What if your addiction is sitting in a room alone with your thoughts

[dariusasghari]

Addiction is rooted in attachment disorder and the inability to self-regulate effectively. Until those issues have been realized, the individual will suffer.

[vee]

This channel is so relaxing. It's comforting to be able to listen somebody with high and most likely, higher intelligence than myself, compared to most of my relatives and friends... It's like a shattered piece of light in the great valley of deep darkness. This channel is almost as a second father like figure to me...

[ctrip]

I was and in mostly all ways (aside from literal drugs) been a full blown functioning drug addict for almost 14 of the 32 years I've been alive. I've never put a needle in my arm and have never smoked crack straight up. But have I snorted bags of heroin? Yes. Have I smoked cocaine or meth. Yes. Have I been a pill addict, methadone Clinic patient and at my best points before diving back headfirst into addiction a Suboxone strip patient? YES. And at 32 years old I can honestly say I'm closer to a Chester Bennington result than a productive fulfilling life. Cold turkey doesn't work. Telling myself to think of my successful military wife doesn't help, thinking of being so blessed to still have both of my parents and my younger sister doesn't help either. It all HURTS. It serves as the constant reminder that I have been TRULY the lucky one to have love and life and functioning organs. But for how parents will die. Our organs will fail and our loved ones will find it increasingly harder to love us(and themselves) as a result of our inability to be honest with them. (Or ourselves) Do I want to die sometimes? You bet your life I do. Is it bc I can't forgive myself for things that happened to me as a child or things I have done to others that I find impossible to cope with? Both. Now before anybody jumps out a window thinking this hits home and sees the utter honest hopelessness in my words. Know this: I have stopped taking lorazepam/xanex my antidepressant Zoloft and take no opiates or Suboxone as of just recently and as much as I wake up wanting to die or numb myself into retardation so I can actually get a night's sleep that stops my face from pounding, I also know that all the drugs in the world will NEVER change a Single choice I have EVER made... negative or positive. If laying in bed wailing is what's honestly in my soul, then it's there for a reason and needs to come out. If screaming my favorite Slipknot or Make Them Suffer song till my throat bleeds helps my pain bleed out then you need to fill your life with people who are fine with wearing earplugs. If you have NO ONE like that, remember there is a man who grew up in love with Darkness, masochistic, overly emotional to the core, and confused about sex from seeing such hardcore things as a ten year old by somebody he called "friend" who is still alive at 32 and as much as he's numbed out every bit of pain and emotion he's never felt comfortable with and has wanted to officially give up sometimes every second of every day sometimes for years, he hasn't. Do I have an answer for you? Not even close. In fact, videos like these give me strength bc it reminds me we're all not such different people. I DO however have a longass paragraph of things that are MOST DEFINITELY NOT EVEN REMOTELY CLOSE to the answer. If you have the ability to get help, do it. If you don't, make peace with that shame long enough to ask for it. Bc you will not do it alone. Even with all I have at my disposal it's easy to not use any of it. Do what you have to do to purge the negativity you feel. Bc although it isn't your fault your own mind can be your own worst enemy. Listening to that fool like he has your best interest in mind or like he's anything BUT your enemy, is a bigger waste of time than I can say, and I've wasted over fourteen years of it. Am I afraid I'll never be comfortable? Terrified. Scared I'll never beat it? Everyday. But I promise this life has a purpose for us all. No matter how big or small, you have touched someone sometime that has literally meant the world to them and kept together the world of everyone around them as a result. So no matter how much of a failure you may feel like sometimes try and see how greatly the smallest things you do affect others. If you have the sense to read this and apply it at a young age, please do. Going down this road will make you feel like you have pissed away your time waiting for things to get better. If your older and have already done this to yourself, let me know if you have any advice. Or questions for that matter. I have tried to be honest here(although long AF) bc I want REAL responses. "At the end of my rope I'm

[Stringz]

I've been thinking this forever now

[TheEyeball]

Yes. I've realized this. What I like at least as much as the important point of view this video brings to light is that it has a positive message! I witness way too much cynicism about difficult topics such as this. The best and smartest thing to do is address the problem and see or find a way to deal with it. There is always light at the end of the tunnel. You get better by first believing there is a way out.
I'm glad you didn't just make a video that would connect with and play into people's hopelessness. That probably would've garnered a lot of views which satisfies a shallow desire to get ad revenue through those views, but took the high road and lived up to the values of this video with optimism.

[pangc]

I'm addicted to your videos. Luckily they make me think about things I avoid :)