Yeah, this is usually the right answer. Which of course invites additional questions, like which part is which...
With addiction, I also think it is a mixture of things. For example, trivially, no one would abuse X if X were literally impossible to buy, duh. But even before “impossible”, there is a question of “how convenient”. If they sell alcohol in the same shop you visit every day to buy fresh bread, it is more tempting than if you had to visit a different shop, simply because you get reminded regularly about the possibility.
For me, it is sweet things. I eat tons of sugar, despite knowing it’s not good for my health. But fuck, I walk around that stuff every time I go shopping, and even if I previously didn’t think about it, now I do. And then… well, I am often pretty low on willpower. I wish I had some kind of augmented reality glasses which would simply censor the things in the shop I decide I want to live without. Like I would see the bread, butter, white yoghurt, and some shapeless black blobs between that. Would be so easier. (Kind of like an ad-blocker for offline world. This may become popular in the future.)
Another thing that contributes to addiction is frustration and boredom. If I am busy doing something interesting, I forget the rest of the world, including my bad habits. But if the day sucks, the need to get “at least something pleasant, now” becomes much stronger.
Then it is about how my home is arranged and what habits I create. Things that are “under my control in long term”, like you don’t build the good habit overnight, but you can start building it today. For example, with a former girlfriend I had a deal that there is one cabinet that I will never open, and she needs to keep all her sweets there; never leave them exposed on the table, so that I would not be tempted.
Yeah, this is usually the right answer. Which of course invites additional questions, like which part is which...
With addiction, I also think it is a mixture of things. For example, trivially, no one would abuse X if X were literally impossible to buy, duh. But even before “impossible”, there is a question of “how convenient”. If they sell alcohol in the same shop you visit every day to buy fresh bread, it is more tempting than if you had to visit a different shop, simply because you get reminded regularly about the possibility.
For me, it is sweet things. I eat tons of sugar, despite knowing it’s not good for my health. But fuck, I walk around that stuff every time I go shopping, and even if I previously didn’t think about it, now I do. And then… well, I am often pretty low on willpower. I wish I had some kind of augmented reality glasses which would simply censor the things in the shop I decide I want to live without. Like I would see the bread, butter, white yoghurt, and some shapeless black blobs between that. Would be so easier. (Kind of like an ad-blocker for offline world. This may become popular in the future.)
Another thing that contributes to addiction is frustration and boredom. If I am busy doing something interesting, I forget the rest of the world, including my bad habits. But if the day sucks, the need to get “at least something pleasant, now” becomes much stronger.
Then it is about how my home is arranged and what habits I create. Things that are “under my control in long term”, like you don’t build the good habit overnight, but you can start building it today. For example, with a former girlfriend I had a deal that there is one cabinet that I will never open, and she needs to keep all her sweets there; never leave them exposed on the table, so that I would not be tempted.