If any of us were to look at Wikipedia and randomly search through the pages and stumble upon the word ‘addiction’, this is what it would read “the term addiction is used to describe a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences to the individual's health, mental state or social life.” Now this is what I’m thinking, hmm is this possible that I am an addict?? Surely I have the will power to over come my behavior!

So I decided to take this test, I wrote down the list of things that I was addicted to;  now my definition of had everything I could do without;

1.       Pepsi ( this will be a definite no.1 of all guys who have been brought up abroad)

2.       Cigarettes

3.       Masturbation (Come on all of you do it too J)

4.       Feeling wasted (Everyone of us whose ever been in the corporate world must have felt it at least once, for me it’s a frequent thing)

5.       Giving Advice (This is probably one thing that lands me up in a lot of trouble; If I were the last person on earth, you’d be better off taking advice from a plant! J)

6.       Chicken/Non Veg (God’s only gift to the world)

After I made this list,  I decided to abstain from all of these for at least two  weeks; just to start off. And this is how I failed in every one of them.

Day 1: I came in to office to find a flurry of mails, Something was wrong and the clients were on our heads; There was a quick meeting where the manager almost bit our heads off (No.4 took a nosedive there); After that , the teammates went out for a smoke to vent their frustration, I was invited and naturally I couldn’t decline (for fear of my life!) (No.2 down)  

Day 3: Note to self: Never watch a Salma Hayek movie if you have any plans of abstinence (No.3 down and out!! )

Day 4: Friends party , All that you are looking to do is destroy the guy after the bill he gave you on your birthday party (No.1 and 6 down the drain; literally J)

Day 6: I had forgotten about the list already and advised a pot bellied friend to shave his head (He wanted a change in his look ). He now looks like the inverted evolutionary chart of a Potato. Small potato – Big Potato – French fries J

And thus within a week I had failed in all of them. I still maintain that I can beat all my addictions given the right circumstances (the govt.  bans all the above / I fall into vegetative coma).

But on a serious note, addiction is not just the use of abusive substance; it is the use/specific activity that brings harm on to yourself and others. Have the will to stop anything that you willfully do to to bring damage; be it loneliness, stress, fear, negative attitude, being rude to others, failure.

 Make your list, and stick to it and free yourself from this true son of misery!.

P.S. Let me know how well you do; probably I can give you some advice in doing it better J