Here’s how I overcame it.
No, not the kind of addict this image symbolizes. But all the symptoms of my addiction were virtually identical.
My drug of choice was success.
Success was my very favorite relationship. When my wife suggested I work less, I got angry. Who was she to deny me access to my one true love? I had embraced my success addiction long before I met her. I had pursued the American value of hard work with a vengeance, from a motivation I’ll explain later.
Being successful in my career made me feel special. Not happy, mind you — it was a puny…
A story about learning from experience and reflection
What’s more important: Loads of money, or mental health?
The award winner of the World’s Best Example of Capitalism Gone Sideways: Apollo Global Management
7 out of their 30 employees in their New York office — nearly 1/4 of its workforce — have quit their jobs over the last 3 months.
They walked away from salaries of $450+K per year because the toxic nature of the workplace and up-to-20-hour workdays were trashing their quality of life.
(What, only seven of 30?)
I’m reminded of Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko in the 1987 film Wall Street: “Money never sleeps, pal”.
“I don’t want to be spending my time doing this. I don’t care how much you pay me”, said one Apollo Global Management employee…
What can you do to brighten their today?
I see Julius 3 times a week, as I’m power-walking along the baywalk in my city. Julius doesn’t walk — he can’t. Instead, he pedals his homemade sit-upon tricycle with his right hand.
Each morning before dawn he pedals from his home about 5 miles away into town. He bumps into his friends (like me), then buys a kilo of rice and some canned goods or dried fish with the money we gift him. He pedals back home around sunset. He’s pretty much a fixture in town — everyone seems to know Julius.
He lives with his sister. I’ve never…
Why we do it. And how to resolve it.
Do you envy others?
Do you wish you could write like someone, or have another’s wealth or good looks? Do you long for the glory of fame like the stars of films or music? Do you yearn for a relationship as romantic and intimate as your best friend’s?
If you do, chances are you blow right by the underlying feeling that arises when you envy another. Next time, try noticing what you feel, and what might be beneath that feeling.
Envy is comparing yourself with another and finding yourself less than.
Less wealthy, less attractive, less charismatic, less ______ (fill in the blank).
Why do you do that?
You’re…
How could we ever have accepted this as normal?
Somewhere along the line, society came to normalize anger as a chief expression of all kinds of feelings. Please don’t ask me why; it makes no sense to me. Especially with this awareness:
Most of the time anger is a cover-up for some other emotion.
Anger has two forms of expression: raging and outrage.
A few examples of anger expressed as rage:
- The businessman is afraid he’ll be late for his meeting. He either can’t access his fear or doesn’t want to seem weak and vulnerable by expressing it. So he rages at the person behind the ticket counter.
- The woman walking her dog in Central Park has buried…
Her final gift to me
A knock at the door.
Two men in suits are standing on my front porch. They introduce themselves as policemen, confirm my identity, and ask if they can come in.
Oh shit. What did I do to deserve a visit from the cops? The last couple of years of life flashed through my mind like lightning. I can’t think of a damn thing. Nervously, I invite them to come in. We all remained standing.
Them: “We regret to inform you that your sister Mary Jo passed away today.”
Me: “WHAAAT? No, you must have the wrong person.”
They confirm her name and address.
What the…
I did, in 60 days. Here’s how.
The basics of how I reversed a Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis within 60 days — without drugs:
- I minimized my carbohydrate intake.
- I replaced sugar, wheat, pasta and root vegetables with high-quality fats.
- I dropped 24 lbs, from 194 to 170.
- I fasted 16 to 22 hours per day, and did an occasional 2-day fast.
There’s no magic here. I’d judge my willpower at no more than 5 out of 10.
If I can do it, so can you. As Hippocrates — the father of medicine said:
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
If you’d like…
The 1–2–3 method to manage your anger.
“In the hours after an angry outburst the chance of having a heart attack doubles… Repressed anger — where you express it indirectly or go to great lengths to control it, is associated with heart disease”
- Dr. Chris Aiken, MD, an instructor in clinical psychiatry at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and director of the Mood Treatment Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Get that? Both raging, and pushing anger down are about equally as high-risk to your heart.
But the health risk doesn’t end there. Being easily triggered to anger increases your stress and anxiety, and can…
We all use it — either unconsciously, or consciously with intention
Personally, I think Law of Attraction is a flimflam term to sell stuff. On the other hand, were it not for that 2004 film I may never have gotten so interested in mastering my mind. I have created a life of grace, ease, and fun that often amazes me by using this principle.
If you are human, you too have this fundamental ability, though it’s been hyped as some sort of superpower. There’s no magic to it. I’ll try in this article to remove the woo-woo and explain it in common-sense terms. …
Bob Wuest
Permanent American expat. Personal growth junkie. Spiritual activist. Enthusiastic hiker. Cheerleader for the best in you, and me. More at http://bit.ly/3aBjVOq
