Choose Your Transfer Addictions Wisely

On a lighter note, yes, many of us have been addicted to food in one way or another.  Food has taken up a lot of our time: thinking about it, planning what to eat next, shopping, cooking, restaurants, savoring the meal.

Suddenly it’s taking up less of our time.  It’s not being the focus of our attention.  Worse, it’s not performing its old function anymore, as a cure for boredom, loneliness, anger, grief, etc.  Now what do we do with ourselves?

We need to find transfer addictions.  Have you ever noticed how many people at AA meetings smoke?  They’ve transferred one addiction to another.  Yes, of course, we should endeavor to cure ourselves of having addictive personalities at all.  But not only does that sound like hard and boring work, it may also be completely futile.  So whether you call them “hobbies” or “transfer addictions,” you need to stay on top of the selection process.

If you let them choose themselves, who knows what you’ll end up with?  A gambling problem and a thing for Vaseline?  It’s no good.  Pick your own.

I went with shopping first.  I was somewhat careful to pick stores I could afford.  I didn’t bankrupt myself.  I did spend a lot of money, so perhaps it wasn’t a perfect idea.  But it worked with my diet.  I walked for hours, looking at clothing I could now fit into.  I got to reward myself for becoming a smaller size.  I repackaged myself, showing off my success, which got me lots of compliments that then fed my resolve to keep going to goal.  It worked out.

For a while I tried dating.  It was great distraction, keeping several men going in rotation.  Unfortunately I have a monogamy problem, and before you could snap your heels three times I’d decided that one of them was the keeper and jettisoned the rest.  For a while I had a whole lot of fun with the keeper.  The problem with dating as the transfer addiction is that it requires the cooperation of other people, and dating lives have dry spells.  But I don’t regret giving it a try.

I also garden, go out dancing, camp, clean my house, cook healthy food, write, play around on the internet, and go to school.

You need to decide what you’re going to do with your extra time and energy.  As you lose weight you’ll need less sleep and you’ll want to be up and around more.  Take swing dancing classes, join a hiking club, research your genealogy, start a business, or go to Brazil.  Whatever you choose, just don’t have it revolve around food, and don’t pick something unhealthy.

If you want to start smoking or anything else bad for you, just know why you’re doing it.  You’ve cut off one addictive avenue.  Don’t let your subconscious drive you down a road that’s going to involve another unwholesome withdrawal period later.  Steer yourself to something that is unlikely to do you any harm.

And then have fun!