Can An Addict Really Change

Ever wondered whether or not an addict can ever really change? Why, How and when addicts become addicts and how we can overcome addictions. The answer is YES! Addicts can actually change but its more to do with mindset and connections than it is about the particular addiction.

Let's say, for example you take a kid who grows up in a home feeling relatively disengaged, disconnected with their family, with the exception of when they all sit down, and open up, and talk, and engage, and connect with each other over a meal and then with repetition, over the years when they grow up, they can't understand why every time they feel stressed, bored, disengaged, or disconnected, they feel this urge to kind of eat for comfort. Even when they're not even hungry, they just need to eat for the comfort of it and they can't figure out where that started because most people don't spend a lot of time reflecting and looking for recurring patterns.

Have you ever watched the movie about The Founder about Ray Kroc who started McDonald's? He was this middle aged guy who was feeling really disengaged, disconnected, didn't have a very good home relationship with his wife and daughter, but when he was going around selling these McDonald's franchises, he was selling them to mums and dads who bring their kids and they go, "Hi, Ray. How's it going?" and he was like part of the family. He was like the father figure.

The recurring theme with McDonald's when they first started out was McDonald's is family and it worked brilliantly for them. They now are the most successful fast food franchise in the world because they promoted that image of bonding and connecting, which humans growing up need to do.

People need to feel a sense of belonging and connectedness, this is especially true when we look at young people these days. Young people especially need that sense of belonging, nowadays ... where's my phone? If they can't bond or feel engaged or connected with people in real life, there's always a substitute. Now people, young people especially are literally, literally addicted to their phone. Instagram is particularly addictive for young people because you could put a filter on the world. You don't have to see reality. That doesn't feel good. You can get this filtered and I believe it and then ...

Snapchat is even better because it's like it relies on the impulse mechanism. Just post something and it's gone so you don't have to worry about the consequences. So what do you think we do when we don't feel connected? Well, one of the things we do is we seek out self destructive behaviours and distractions like addictions.