Addiction Replacement

Booze, drugs, food, cigarettes, shopping, sex.....these are all words that come to my mind when I hear the word addiction. What words come to your mind?

It took me a while to admit it, but I am an addict. I was addicted to cigarettes, binge drinking, and food. In 2009, at least two days of the week would include a bottle of wine, a pack of smokes, and a pizza. I knew what I was doing was unhealthy, but I didn't care. The gratification and "high" I'd get from that combination was enough to keep me doing it, no matter what the consequence.

I would tell myself, usually after I drank half of the bottle of wine, that this was the last day I was going to do this to my body, I'd finish up the pack of smokes and be done, and I'd start working out....tomorrow. Tomorrow was always the day I was going to quit. Yet I saw a few years of tomorrows go by and the only thing that changed was my health. I was overweight, depressed, tired all the time, and my hair and skin looked like crap.

I am not sure what finally made me decide to change things. I think that turning 30 and the thought of getting old hit me pretty hard. Even when I did decide to adopt a healthy lifestyle in January of 2010, I was still scared. What was I going to do to handle stress if I was giving up my wine, cigs, and pizza ritual!?!?

But I fought through the cravings and combated them with exercise. As the days and weeks passed, I was thinking less and less about the vices that plagued me just a short while ago. I was thinking more and more about working out and eating right and getting my family on board with some of my lifestyle changes.

It was then I realized that I replaced my addiction. When you hear the word addiction, so many things come to mind as I mentioned when I opened today's post. But why can't health and fitness be on that list. It's on mine.

Hello, my name is Alexia, and I am a health-aholic.