More, more, more. Society teaches us from a young age to consume more and more, with no end in sight. This consumption has normalized unhealthy habits for coping and dealing with mental problems.

Drugs, sex, social media, cars, food, porn, video games. These are all normalized addictions in our lives that can, and often are, used to avoid problems. We run away and ignore what goes on in our heads, using physical pleasures as our coping mechanisms. In small doses this may work, but we are not a world of small doses. The dopamine release from these activities makes people addicted to their pleasures, snowballing down a dark rabbit hole. 

No one likes to admit it, but we’re all addicted in some way to the physical escapes we create. I will admit that I use unhealthy coping mechanisms to escape problems. For me, I always drive too fast, too much. And now, I can look and see that no matter how much faster I go, or dangerously I maneuver, I cannot escape my own thoughts or problems. That is what is wrong with the world around us. It is built on ignoring real issues and instead focusing on more, more, more. I understand now what is wrong with running: no matter how hard you try, your problems will always catch up to you. 

Finding solutions to our problems is not easy, nor is it fun, but standing your ground and taking life head on is the only fix. No one can tell you how to live your life and get through hard times perfectly, and that is scary, but consuming the poisons fed to us will not help either. 

Rather than looking for the next fix of your addiction, try to discover a healthier way to cope with your issues. I may not know the solutions to my own problems even, but I can say striving for physical pleasures have only made them worse.