Addiction

The first road to recovery is admitting my addiction... I'm addicted to procrastination. This takes the form of the many justifications I use to avoid doing the actual work, which can be loosely defined as anything related to the forward progression of my job or personal life.

I've also had the fortunate or unfortunate experience, depending on the perspective in regards to life lessons one could learn, of breaking up with my girlfriend.

Self-actualization according to Maslow, "The final level of psychological development that can be achieved when all basic and mental needs are fulfilled and the 'actualization' of the full personal potential takes place."

"To thine own self be true"

How does one know "thine own self?"

-I would find this to be the crux of any exploration into attaining self-actualization.

It has shown to be difficult, both for myself and those around me, to realize what silent contribution our societal construct has made in creating our image of "self." One could argue we are a creation of the the powers that surround us: family, friends, educators, media, etc. These powers have given us the supposed freedom to act in accordance with our passions and desires, or have given the illusion of these freedoms by providing societal reinforcement which encourages you to choose from a pre-determined set of decisions. Such as in the case of someone coming from a background or acceptance of alcohol. The acceptance of this behavior starts in motion, a cognitive schema, or way of developing a system to understand and interpret the behavior. This interpretation lends itself the building of a construct in which it is acceptable to partake and behave in a way that is in accordance with consuming the said beverage. In short, it becomes the acceptance of a lifestyle, with its set of morals and values to guide its faithful members. In this case it has been pre-determined that one would look favorably, due to conditioning and reinforcement of what we interport to be positive experiences, upon the consumption of alcohol. 

In my mind, this understanding comes down to the Socratic method of dialogue, or the "why." If one were to ask "why do you drink?" there would be no doubt a flurry of initial reasons as to why one chooses to partake, however, these reasons would begin to dwindle until one reaches "just because." At this point one must look in one of two directions, inside oneself, or to society in general, to provide the direction which will inevitably be lost in this quest. Many of us will look towards society to answer these questions, far fewer will embark on the painful quest of looking inside oneself for the answer only to find more questions. Regardless, it will be a path of justifications for either either party and will often come down to what "feels right."

We, possessing the need to feel a sense of belonging, will submit to some type of societal construct. We will inevitably give up some individual rights for the community, but one must always be conscious of what rights we relinquish for a sense of safety and kinship.

Lament over.

On a more important note, to address my addiction to procrastination, I've committed to doing daily posts of what progress I have made on any front.

-Read some "starting strength"

-Researched youth advocacy programs abroad

-Researched biking programs

As the say in Germen - Peace Out Cuz