SIDE EFFECTS OF OVER-CONSUMPTION

How does having too much of something affect everything else in your life? Have you ever found a food that you were so pleasantly surprised by that you went ahead and ordered another platter or bought another cartoon of it just to crush it the same day? You just had this overwhelming urge to eat as much of it as you could without weighing in the consequences that would transpire later. As a teenager, my binge habit was chips and salsa— and lots of it. I was notorious for smashing a whole large jar of spicy salsa in one sitting without even blinking— well I actually would be blinking and blowing my nose because of how spicy the salsa was but you get my point. I looked like a pig in slop (not exaggerating actually). I have had many different fancies that I have obsessively over-indulged in over my life—chips and salsa, cheesecake, video games, and many more. It’s clearly a natural impulse to desire more of something that gives intensified feelings of satisfaction (i.e. having sex, eating desserts, or even accomplishing a challenge). Having a set of activities that you can regularly go to and knowing without a shadow-of-a-doubt that you will walk away feeling gratified can be a huge benefit for your emotional health. If moving and playing some kind of sport gives you that satisfaction, then go for it! Maybe it’s sitting down and watching a riveting TV show or movie. Perhaps you are more performance driven, and you love to work on something with your business or stock portfolio— that’s great too!

Each person will develop a relationship with the things that bring them satisfaction, but how they allow themselves to become attached or even how much they allow themselves to indulge in any given pleasure can cause adverse effects for other parts of their life. It can get out of hand if our appetite for these things is left unchecked. If using your time playing video games becomes disproportionately high compared to the amount of time you allot to other activities in your life such as family, friendships, and health, naturally those other areas will suffer and regress— guilty as charged. If eating a cheesecake becomes a daily occurrence for me, then my health will take a hit both immediately and long term— been there done that. On the other hand, it’s been thoroughly documented that activities that are beneficial for human life such as drinking water can be detrimental for health if done in excess. So it goes to show that finding a balance for how much you can delight in your pleasures along with your other priorities will be vital to living a well-integrated life.

The final point I will mention on this topic is this— over-consuming can many times lead to even more over-consuming. In my case, eating compulsively as much as I did with chips and salsa would easily spill over into my over-eating with other foods. Me and buffets were a dangerous combination— let me tell you. I have also had to address and resolve the same problem that so many do in over-consuming media. I would find myself numbing out on watching YouTube videos that were entertaining but pointless; and after several hours of doing that, it would escalate further when I would turn to content a bit stronger such as disturbing horror movies or even pornography in order to increase that stimulation effect. It’s like trying to feed a bottomless pit and wondering, “How the hell am I still hungry?” It was clear that the stimulus that would usually provide me with pleasure would become less effective as I over-indulged in it. Little did I know that this has already been scientifically proven and demonstrated, especially in the areas of addiction and neurobiology.

Now a simple start to address this:

I had to start with a simple question— “What/why am I medicating?” This question, if thoroughly fleshed out, should help in identifying what needs are going unmet in your life and/or what belief systems are not aiding you in your journey of living to your life freely and fully. When it comes to the actual activities and their resulting satisfaction, understand that they act as a sort of drug that numbs the individual temporarily of different negative emotions (and sometimes positive emotions) by activating the intense hormones of dopamine and/or endorphins depending on the activity. Many will get lost in labeling different activities as good or bad, but the more helpful critique I have found for qualifying an activity in my life and not getting lost in the moralization rabbit hole has been whether or not said activity is causing damage along with its feelings of euphoria. Does my self image benefit from such activity or does it take a hit? Do my values become strengthened when I do this or not? There is obviously more to depth to this subject when dealing with addiction, but for now I will focus on some simple solutions to get us started.

Happiness, as we hear in all of the movies and from all of the enlightened gurus, is not something that can be truly produced from an outside agent but is something that is discovered and held within one’s own self. Identifying the source of this impulse to over-consume without being judgmental of yourself or others is a critical first step. Changing your relationship with the things around you that give you pleasure so that they aid your true self and your priorities will become another life-changing practice that will upgrade how you experience life. As you reform how you relate with your pleasure activities and learn how to consume in moderation, your different emotional and hormonal systems can slowly begin to reset balanced state. This is when you reconcile your ability to thoroughly enjoy the simple doses of that which you fancy yet not compromise who you are and your other values.