We all have this from time to time – indulging in little sins to please a craving. Be it chocolate, gaming, social media, buying something, a small treat – you name it.

I think the problem is not pleasing a little craving once in a while. It’s a little dopamine spike that can sweeten your day. For those who are able to drink controlled — kudos to you.

Actually, that goes for every guilty pleasure you might want to indulge in. The dose makes the poison.

Not living by a 100 % healthy lifestyle is ok, for me. But it depends on the guilty pleasure. Alcohol is a no-no for me. There are no exceptions and no loop holes.

Other things may be ok, but I need to watch out for the dose. If I have ADHD, I have an explanation, but I am not diagnosed yet. But: I fall for addictive habit loops and cravings because I can’t keep my fingers from the sweet honey the temptations lure me with.

I am on Instagram – I doom scroll

I am on Youtube – I start binge watching

I am at Amazon – I may end up in a shopping spree.

Well, it doesn’t happen all of the time and not as dramatical as it may sound like (except for doom scrolling).

But in the end, the results are always the same: I get a cue, I have a trigger, craving builds up, I respond to the craivng, the reward system reacts, I yearn for higher dopamine outputs. What else is this if not addictive behaviour?

The next thing is, I get into a flow like state, I forget everything around. Yesterday I forgot to prepare my overnight oat and I forgot my Tai Chi. I went to bed. I was about to feel totally destroyed, fall into the post – quick-fix – depression.

Luckily, I have a range of methods to answer this answer of my system. I have built up resilience and I have my resources. So I can surf the bad feeling, deconstruct and learn from it.

The takeaway: I need to be mindful of the honey – pots around the traps I might fall into that lead me to addictive habit loops. I need to be mindful of my feelings in order to accept the bad feelings afterwards but not condemn myself. And I need to learn to build more resilience and boundaries to slow down my habitual drive once a cue and a trigger start igniting a craving.

So, yes, quick fixes or quick guilty pleasures are ok for me (except for alcohol and Social Media), but I need to be mindful. As soon as I realize I stepped over the threshold of addictive behaviour, the key is to put in a brake that keeps me from entering the spinning wheel of toxic habit loops.

Until next time, take one step at a time and never lose the faith in yourself.