Addiction is messy. It starts interfering with everyday life making it hard for you to go about your day without getting your daily hit. If you choose to ignore your cravings, you start experiencing equally painful withdrawals. These can include headaches, nausea, and painful stomach cramps, which will push you to seek immediate relief. Without professional help, there is almost no way out of the labyrinth. Institutes that know your condition can only gently lead you into a sober life. 

However, continued substance abuse pushes you further from a life of sobriety. Your friends and family will also feel the effects of addiction. They wouldn’t want to deal with you when you have no control over your actions and words. To help you understand how addiction can sink its claws in you deeper, consider the following reasons why you need to stop.

It becomes a habit

Habits make up our routine. You choose your habits to make sure you have a valuable and fulfilling life. For example, you are setting the alarm to wake up early and going for a morning jog. These are healthy habits that will lead to a good lifestyle. Addiction, on the other hand, introduces a different set of practices for you. Your body will become conditioned to use substances to subside feelings of headaches and ailments like nausea. 

Addiction can run deep. If you’re already heavily dependent on substances, you need help. Research and education are your only way out before it starts getting harder to function. It will help if you turn to online resources such as substancerehabilitation.com to study rehab and conquer your addiction. Unless you’re willing to give up the new habits you’ve acquired, it will get more difficult by the day to pull you back.

You neglect yourself

Neglecting yourself is a disservice to yourself. You stop caring about your health, hygiene, and your well-being. Continued recklessness will start expressing itself physically. You may be more sick than healthy and have no interest in doing anything outside enabling your addiction. Once these signs settle in, your body will start protesting against a balanced lifestyle. 

Consequently, you’re stuck in a vicious cycle of neglect. Your mental and emotional health will also suffer under the weight of your abuse. You may feel depressed, anxious, and even paranoid. When you’ve hit rock bottom and continue staying there, you can’t get much out of life.

You may get mental health issues

Not every mental health issue stems from addiction, but addiction can lead to mental health issues. There is a chance you may become depressed and paranoid. In extreme cases, you may start starving yourself and even neglect to sleep. Mental health issues are a challenge. You start losing your rational and logical side and start letting your condition take over you. You may struggle to keep up with social appearances and often not get invited. 

People with mental health issues can be unpredictable. People would rather not deal with you at all than try to understand you. An addiction that leads to mental health issues is dangerous. You have no control over what you say and what you do. You can become offensive and even assault people.

No one wants to employ you

As an addict, holding on to a job is hard. Workplaces are highly stressful spaces. The contributing factors are the deadlines, company policies, and working hours that need following to the dot. Addicts need to abuse substances frequently, or the cravings start settling in. These cravings are intense and can often make an addict irrational and even aggressive. This is one side of the picture that makes addiction hard. The other side of the picture is addicts who abuse at work. The effects of drug substances cannot stay hidden. Slurred speech, erratic behavior, and having no social or workplace decorum is a dead giveaway. 

You can’t progress

If you want to achieve goals in life, you need ambition. Addiction takes away purpose. You don’t think rationally or logically and can no longer commit to plans. If you became an addict while you were a student, the chances of you graduating are getting slimmer by the day. It may be hard for you to enrol in educational programmes and work them to completion. Other aspects of your life also suffer. You may abandon your hobbies like painting and even music. 

When you close the doors to these opportunities, it gets hard to get anywhere in life. Keeping up with addiction is also costly. So instead of channelling your resources and money into healthier habits, you may blow it all on your addiction. Without the proper resources and funds, you can’t get much out of life. You are stuck in the same position in your life for years to come.

You may have a run-in with crime

Addiction can make you start looking into crimes. Substances are expensive. It’s not easy to keep buying alcohol to keep up with rising levels of tolerance. The same goes for any drug. Even if drugs are illegal, they are still immensely costly to purchase. As an addict holding a steady job or even running a business is impossible. The substances incapacitate you reducing you to recklessness and poor judgment. You may start looking towards crimes as a means to make ends meet. Most crimes can start small such as shoplifting and even stealing money. If you get into trouble with the law, it can bring your life to a standstill. No one wants to go to jail and have it etched on their record. 

Once addiction starts, it’s hard to get out of it. The only chance of redemption you have is checking into rehab as soon as possible. If you continue delaying your treatment, you may sink deeper into addiction. The substances will become a part of your life. You will start neglecting yourself and those around you. So, before it consumes you completely, it is best to get help and break yourself free from the shackles of addiction.

Ellen Diamond did her degree in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. She is interested in mental health and well-being.