For October 7th 2013 Monday<\/p>\n
Download:\u00a0F13-ENG23000_Vanessa-Addiction<\/a> Addiction implies that you\u2019re unable to control yourself. It implies that you\u2019ve been overtaken by an inanimate object.<\/p>\n Addiction may be many things, but it is not simple. It is elaborate, manipulative. It makes you think you\u2019re fine, and sends you off into a hectic world in which you spend the day thinking about the very object addiction has made your obsession.<\/p>\n Addiction makes you a victim.<\/p>\n ADDICTION: THIS IS WHAT IT\u2019S NOT.<\/p>\n You read about things in newspapers that tell you how bad it is for you to smoke. You read headlines like, \u201cNicotine Addiction May Predict Weight Gain in Smokers,\u201d and \u201cEvidence Shows Smoking Causes Cancer,\u201d but they don\u2019t phase you like they should. You shrug your shoulders and allow these ideas to slip into the back of your mind, where they eventually get erased from your memory. You\u2019re not addicted. You\u2019re fine. You could quit any time you want to. You just don\u2019t want to right now. There\u2019s no need. It\u2019s not that bad.<\/p>\n But still, the notion that you could be addicted lingers around, filling up things in your day from thoughts to conversations.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you addicted?\u201d you ask your friend, gesturing with your cigarette for effect.<\/p>\n You\u2019re sharing a box of cigarettes with him, a new variety you’ve never tried before.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I\u2019m not addicted; it\u2019s just a habit. I have one when I\u2019m walking to the train station, I have one when I come out, I have one when I get out of work…I don\u2019t need it; it\u2019s just habit. I could quit, but you know, I don\u2019t really have the motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n This is something you\u2019ll often hear from addicts.<\/p>\n You tell yourself to be wary of ever making these statements:<\/p>\n I\u2019m not addicted; it\u2019s just a habit.<\/em><\/p>\n I have it at this and this time of the day, but I don\u2019t need it.<\/em><\/p>\n I could quit, but I don\u2019t have the motivation.<\/em><\/p>\n After this conversation, you wait outside the grocery store for him. He wants to introduce his favorites to you, so he\u2019s buying new boxes. You mentally count off the number of cigarettes you still have in your case. Sure, I could open a new box<\/em>, you think, I only have eight more to go.<\/em><\/p>\n He comes out and you walk together to the end of the block before he hands you your box.<\/p>\n \u201cHere, I just saved you five dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThanks,\u201d you say.<\/p>\n And you\u2019re kind of grateful, but it\u2019s such an expensive habit you\u2019ve stopped counting the price of it for a while now; you\u2019ve just been letting money burn.<\/p>\n Keep burning, keep burning.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI know the owners, so they always give me a discount. I just say pringles, and they know which box I want,\u201d he says, packing his box away. \u201cYou don\u2019t pack your cigarettes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do,\u201d you say, and pound the box into your palm a couple times.<\/p>\n You observe the kids running around the park. Half an hour ago, he was just saying how he doesn\u2019t smoke around children, and here you are, about to do it anyway.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought you don\u2019t smoke around children.\u201d<\/p>\n He pulls out a cigarette and puts it to his lips\u2014\u201cI don\u2019t. They\u2019re inside, we\u2019re outside. It\u2019s fine\u201d\u2014lights it, and takes a deep pull.<\/p>\n A mother passing by the two of you glares at him and pulls her child away.<\/p>\n Uneasiness creeps up inside of you, but you ignore it. She’s a stranger<\/em>, you remind yourself. Who cares? Just don’t blow the smoke in a kid’s face and you’re fine.<\/em><\/p>\n Addicts justify their actions. You don\u2019t need to be in AA to know that. You see it everywhere around you, from the jobless, career gamer justifying his hobby with a TED talk to the shopper with too much in her closet going, \u201cThey were on sale, O.K.!\u201d You see it everyday.<\/p>\n But people only define addiction in terms of the unhealthiest pastimes in this society.<\/p>\n Or it might just be you, justifying your actions again: Everyone\u2019s addicted to something\u2014it\u2019s fine if I am too.<\/em><\/p>\n So are you admitting you\u2019re addicted?<\/p>\n What does it mean to be addicted as a smoker?<\/p>\n You stay up Googling when you should be sleeping.<\/p>\n \u201cCigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive.<\/p>\n Even if you want to quit smoking, you may find it difficult because you\u2019re addicted to the effects of nicotine. Some research has suggested that nicotine can be more addictive than heroin.\u201d<\/p>\n Can you really trust this site? NHS.UK? Who\u2019s sponsoring this? Health freaks? Can they be trusted? Then again, could you trust an article about smoking addiction written by a smoker?<\/p>\n So you continue reading.<\/p>\n \u201cNicotine alters the balance of chemicals in your brain. It mainly affects chemicals called dopamine and noradrenaline. When nicotine changes the levels of these chemicals, your mood and concentration levels change. Many smokers find this enjoyable.\u201d<\/p>\n You remember getting frustrated from not being able to have a cigarette. You remember finding it hard to concentrate.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve rushed friends home so you could be alone and have a cigarette or two, or five, or eight.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve been with certain friends and would suddenly start thinking about going outside to have a smoke and having to make up some plan to get away from them, because you know that if they find out, they\u2019d only give you hell.<\/p>\n You were at a Starbucks once, watching a friend\u2019s bag because she had to go use the restroom. Her drink was on the table. You wanted to walk out, but you would be a bad friend. And it would\u2019ve been too many things to hold. Damn, would it have been annoying. But you could\u2019ve done it. Before you were able to, she came out of the restroom. Your chance was lost, because you know she hates it when people smoke around her. You reminded yourself to have a couple smokes before seeing her next time.<\/p>\n The article has you thinking about too much. You’re about to close the webpage, but you note the next paragraph. It\u2019s short enough; I\u2019ll just finish this section.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe more you smoke, the more your brain becomes used to the nicotine. This means that you have to smoke more to get the same effect.\u201d<\/p>\n You think about how you\u2019ve told yourself that by the end of every box, you wouldn\u2019t buy another one. But you always do, and every time, the number of cigarettes you smoke per day only goes up.<\/p>\n You remember the time you drove to a 24-hour Rite Aid at two in the morning to pick up a pack of cigarettes because you couldn\u2019t wait until the next day.<\/p>\n Maybe I am addicted<\/em>, you start to wonder.<\/p>\n Even as you\u2019re wondering this, you\u2019re already thinking about your next cigarette. You find your thoughts trapped, your lungs begging for its next inhale, exhale. You remember the headlines as a memory flashes through your head. In the next minute, all the weight and worry is evaporated. You can’t remember the last time anything mattered, and you breathe out a satisfied sigh in a savory stream of smoke.<\/p>\n Addiction. It is not a friend. Or at least, not a very good one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For October 7th 2013 Monday Download:\u00a0F13-ENG23000_Vanessa-Addiction Addiction implies that you\u2019re unable to control yourself. It implies that you\u2019ve been overtaken by an inanimate object. Addiction may be many things, but it is not simple. It is elaborate, manipulative. It makes you think you\u2019re fine, and sends you off into a hectic world in which you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall13"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.meadmedia.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.meadmedia.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.meadmedia.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.meadmedia.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.meadmedia.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.meadmedia.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":631,"href":"http:\/\/www.meadmedia.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618\/revisions\/631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.meadmedia.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.meadmedia.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.meadmedia.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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