Can I Be Positively Addicted to Something?
The term “positive addiction” was made popular by William Glasser. His focus is primarily the activities of running and meditating, though he offers many other examples from the experiences of others. Glasser claims that positive addictions “strengthen us and make our lives more satisfying.” They also enable us to “live with more confidence, more creativity, and more happiness, and usually in much better health.” Positive addictions, unlike their negative cousins, enhance life.
Runners actually become addicted to the hormones associated with exercise. Just like with other, more nefarious addictions there can be withdrawal side effects. Runners have become so addicted that they run even though they know it has become dangerous. Death from a heart attack has resulted. Despite all of this, Glasser still suggests such positive addictions as running and meditation leave people more effective and energetic.
In most cases, addiction does not develop overnight. It’s a process that builds on itself over the course of several years. When you break it down, addiction is when someone pursues some course of action that satisfies an appetite. There are two main kinds of appetites that are served. Hedonistic (think pleasure-seeking) and nurture based (think life-sustaining actions taken to an extreme).
The addiction process unfolds for some individuals but not others and may reflect individual differences prior to engaging in the addictive behavior or as the individual continues to engage in the addictive behavior though the question is still debated whether some people are more prone to addictions generally. Anecdotally, many self-described addicts have reported feeling “different” from others long before developing readily identifiable addictions. This includes feeling relatively uncomfortable, lonely, restless, or incomplete. Once a behavior is tried that decreases or eliminates the baseline sense of discomfort a process begins to unfold.
“Good” Addictions
So what do good addictions look like? Glasser provides six criteria that must be fulfilled for a person to have a positive addiction to an activity. They are:
It is something noncompetitive that you choose to do and you can devote approximately an hour per day;
It is possible for you to do it easily and it doesn’t take a good deal of mental effort to do it well;
You can do it alone or rarely with others but it does not depend upon others to do it;
You believe that it has some value (physical, mental, or spiritual) for you;
You believe that if you persist at it you will improve—but this is completely subjective—you need to be the only one who measures the improvement; and