Can procrastination be an addiction as well?

[Metalhead]

I am starting to think that just might be the case. I need somebody with a bullwhip to be sicced on my ass to keep me moving forward, and I need to be that somebody for myself. Motivation starts with personal discipline, it can’t be external.

Slacking off is an addiction.

Only I can break that addiction.

What the hell is stopping me?

My mental weakness?

 

[Xinyta]

There are many reasons to procrastinate.

Low self-esteem
Depression
Anxiety
Overloaded by life
Fears
Laziness

It's a tempting thing to do. It's always that whisper in your ear. The lingering thought in the back of your concious mind...

The mind is a amazing thing.

I still feel lost to how to break my cycle too. Though I've grown more aware of the patterns. It's hard to break habits. Especially deep entrenched ones. It's took will to make them. It takes will to break them.

I don't have any cure all solution for this. No one size fits all advice, that helps everyone.

But what I do know is that the what is created, can be destroyed. That the wall can be torn down. The bubble can be popped. The cage can be escaped.

The key. Positivity.

It sounds mundane. It sound like it's too simple to work. But it does. It just takes hard work.

You are right. Only you can change your own situation. Same as I am the only one who can change mine.

On the darkest days. It seems the game is rigged against us. But in truth. It's always darkest before the dawn.

Trials await us all, if we seek to improve. It's a fact of life. But life is wonderful for that reason. That it isn't all sunshine and rainbows.

Life is what you make of it. And that's what counts the most, in the end. How you define life in your own eyes.

 

[Misery]

What are you doing the most often while procrastinating?

That could be the addiction that needs breaking.

For most people it seems to be phone use & scrolling through social media and whatnot.

I personally found that the big thing that helped me was to simply distance and disconnect from the internet as a whole WAY more than what I was doing. Particularly Youtube. I think a lot of people seriously dont realize just how much of an effect that constant connection has. I rail against social media a lot specifically, but that sure aint the only source of addiction.

If you decide to try that though, you cant just go halfway. It wont work if you do that.

Seriously, this can have way more of an effect than you might think.


Another idea to go along with it: New hobby. Something that lets you make something.

Being productive is nice and all, but being productive while doing an activity you actually ENJOY can sort of reinforce the productivity overall. Theoretically.

 

[Metalhead]

I get so lonely that I can spend a countless amount of time hitting the refresh button on Internet forums hoping for replies to what I say.

I know, that is quite pathetic. A real strong person would not behave like that.

 

[Misery]

I get so lonely that I can spend a countless amount of time hitting the refresh button on Internet forums hoping for replies to what I say.

I know, that is quite pathetic. A real strong person would not behave like that.

You're too hard on yourself.

Recent years, a lot of people are super lonely. Expressed in a million different ways.

You arent alone in it, and it doesnt make you weak.

I've done it myself for the same reason. Couldnt get over lost friendships and connections (lost when AIM collapsed), and sometimes I get into that refresh loop just desperately chasing something that vanished a long time ago.

It hurts, doesnt it?

Feeling that doesnt make you weak. Admitting it and facing up to it, I think, is strength.

Just remember you're not alone.

 

[Outdated]

Can procrastination be an addiction as well?

It may as well be in my case.

 

[Metalhead]

Yeah, I should learn to close my browser and be comfy by myself for a while. I guess one of the reasons that is so hard for me to do now is that I recently did an overhaul of my diet, and I added more physical activity to my life, so naturally I am craving Doritos and lazy time.

 

[Misery]

Yeah, I should learn to close my browser and be comfy by myself for a while. I guess one of the reasons that is so hard for me to do now is that I recently did an overhaul of my diet, and I added more physical activity to my life, so naturally I am craving Doritos and lazy time.

Maybe change what "lazy time" means? Maybe call it something different, too.

You could read a book, or do a quiet hobby that can be done at a table/desk, or whatever.

Been doing it myself recently for the exact same reasons: a lot more physical activity and a major dietary change. "Down time" is harder when you're sorta building yourself back up.

Gotta stick to it though, that's the tough part. Heck right now I'm checking the forum real quick, posting this, and then it's time to do anything that doesnt involve the blasted browser. Despite that the temptation to just click Youtube is absolutely there.

 

[Aspychata]

Thank you for this post. It's a big issue for me. Just waiting for the magical answer to whisk me away to resolving all those issues that need an answer, a intervention, information lacking , can't move forward, or need money, or need a professional, or need more time or therefore not do anything.

 

[Jonn]

I recently read "procrastination" can be a result of ADHD.

 

[Jonn]

I get so lonely that I can spend a countless amount of time hitting the refresh button on Internet forums hoping for replies to what I say.

I know, that is quite pathetic. A real strong person would not behave like that.

"Don't torture yourself, Gomez Meathead.
That's my job."

You can refresh now.

 

[Metalhead]

Surfing the internet blindly looking for dopamine hits is pulling me away from my healthy hobbies, like writing about movies and doing cardio exercise in the afternoons after work.

I need to put all of my damn devices down for a while.

 

[Jonn]

Surfing the internet blindly looking for dopamine hits is pulling me away from my healthy hobbies, like writing about movies and doing cardio exercise in the afternoons after work.

I do both.

I need to put all of my damn devices down for a while.

It wouldn't hurt so you can reset your mindset to something more stable and less prone to addictive thinking.

 

[blitzkrieg]

I quit social media a few years ago, after being active on one particular social media website for a whole 15 years!

The subjective feeling of having more time on one's hands after quitting social media is definitely a positive thing for me. No more wasting tens of hours chasing nothing on social media!

 

[Jonn]

I quit social media a few years ago, after being active on one particular social media website for a whole 15 years!

The subjective feeling of having more time on one's hands after quitting social media is definitely a positive thing for me. No more wasting tens of hours chasing nothing on social media!

I was never into twitter, Facebook, etc
I just don't have the interest.
Very hard to find intellectual discussions on them, I imagine.
Isn't it mostly about likes, dislikes, and flame-wars?

 

[blitzkrieg]

The debate side of Facebook is like that, yes. It is lacking in terms of intellectual capacity, but that is mostly because a huge amount of people are on there, which equates to a lot of intellectually challenged people.

There are barely any standards on there for debating, beyond having an internet connection and some kind of computer or smartphone.

So you have someone else's great grandma weighing in on conversations who dropped out of high school and has broken English and still thinks the world exists as it did "when I were young".

Or someone's nephew or niece who is in high school and thinks they have seen it all and done it all.

Pretty much, everyone you don't want to hear from is on there.

 

[Metalhead]

Debating on Facebook is the reason why Facebook was invented. People post inflammatory fiction, people debate it endlessly and angrily, fling insults, and then Mark Zuckerberg buys himself a new Ferrari because people get wrapped up into all of that BS.

Outrage is a hell of a drug. I am glad I gave up Facebook.

 

[Jonn]

Debating on Facebook is the reason why Facebook was invented. People post inflammatory fiction, people debate it endlessly and angrily, fling insults, and then Mark Zuckerberg buys himself a new Ferrari because people get wrapped up into all of that BS.

Outrage is a hell of a drug. I am glad I gave up Facebook.

There are disinformation flame-war debates/arguments...
And then there are civil intellectual/clinical/objective sharing discussions.
I doubt you would find much of the latter.

Outright bald-faced disinformation in the media is astonishing, these days.
Easily fact-checked to discover the dreck that it is, though so many non-rationalists blindly believe in their adopted narrative.

Society seems to be devolving, these days.
For a Truth-luving aspie, it is very disturbing.
But fascinating.