ADHD: Can You Redirect Your Cravings?
ADHD: Can You Redirect Your Cravings?
Dopamine is a harsh mistress, to paraphrase Heinlein, and one of the fastest ways to get a hit of it is to give into an impulsive desire.
Dopamine is a harsh mistress, to paraphrase Heinlein, and one of the fastest ways to get a hit of it is to give into an impulsive desire. Hunters know this particularly well, which is why Frank’s suggestions are so resonant…
Frank in Kansas City has found a way to deal with his impulsive cravings:
There are some things in life that I’m a junkie about. Sex, sugar, new toys (especially stereo equipment and new computer enhancements), and sometimes just some wild-ass thing that I see on TV or in a Facebook ad.
Used to be that when I’d get it into my mind that I wanted something, nothing could stop me from getting it. Now, instead, I ask myself if it’s a useful craving. If it’s not useful but it’s not destructive, I’ll usually indulge myself just to get it over with. Things like grabbing a quick candy bar or masturbating fall into this category.
If it’s something that could get me into trouble financially, or emotionally, like jumping into a new relationship with a woman, for example, then I’ll run through my list of other things that I like to do, and try to go for one of them instead. Maybe go to a movie, or get some friends together for a party.
What I’ve found is that my cravings are deep, somehow underneath everything. I don’t know exactly how to describe this other than to say I think they’re coming out of some essential part of me: they don’t really hook into the specific desire that they seem to be attached to at the moment.
If I can find something more useful to crave (even something at work, like a new project), the first craving will diminish or even disappear.
I don’t know if this will work for everybody, but it does for me. I still make a lot of mistakes along these lines, but at least now I’m aware when I’m making them, and they’re far less frequent.