You know, I have heard that definition of "insanity" many times, yet have failed to find it beyond the line in the Movie "28 Days" with Sandra Bullock. The real definition of insanity according to Websters...
1 a : a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder (as schizophrenia) and usually excluding such states as mental retardation, psychoneurosis, and various character disorders b : a mental disorder
2 : such unsoundness of mind or lack of understanding as prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or as removes one from criminal or civil responsibility
3 a : extreme folly or unreasonableness b : something utterly foolish or unreasonable
Now, on the other hand, I think what many of us experience as insanity is really the stress and anxiety of addiction, as described here by Wikipedia...
Addiction is a compulsion to repeat a behavior regardless of its consequences. A person who is addicted is sometimes called an addict.
There is a lack of consensus as to what may properly be termed 'addiction.' Some within the medical community maintain a rigid definition of addiction and contend that the term is only applicable to a process of escalating drug or alcohol use as a result of repeated exposure. However, addiction is often applied to compulsive behaviors other than drug use, such as overeating or gambling. In all cases, the term addiction describes a chronic pattern of behavior that continues despite the direct or indirect adverse consequences that result from engaging in the behavior. It is quite common for an addict to express the desire to stop the behavior, but find himself or herself unable to cease.
Repeating the same habit over and over, with out regard to the harmful results, the effects on others and yourself is surely an addiction... of some kind. Many would just call this a habit. I have always believed that the same behaviors that made my father drink must be underlying in my behavior when I try to escape life through food, television, games, sex or any number of other things that divert attention from the priorities at hand. "Just do it" is a clearly a slap in the face to those that procrastinate out of fear and habit, as both reality and insult. but I wonder how helpful or realistic it is to really say that to someone as a means of breaking a habit or addiction. I really would like to just do it, have wanted to for about 25 years now.
2/3's of the population in our country is addicted to food and unlike alcohol or heroin, it can not be stopped cold turkey or with imposing penalty of law. You have to manage the addiction because you also need it to survive. The hurt and pain that a benign type of addiction causes are not readily felt like a car accident, a drunken fight or jail time, they are largely ingested by the self and over time cause heart disease, diabetes and any other of the many maladies that contribute to over 500,000 early deaths a year in America. On top of those "diseases of choice and lifestyle" you have all the things that go undone, the laundry list of life that goes procrastinated, packed away in a box to be opened later in life as regret.
It's kinda sad really. It is much more frustrating than anything, like it is something that does not have to be, yet is for whatever reason, be it chemical, genetics, environment or upbringing, just a part of you. I think that for the longest time I wanted to exercise this part out of me, both literally and figuratively, but maybe I am going about it the wrong way. What if "it" is something that I have to come to accept as part of my personality, what if "it" is just who I am. That would mean that somehow the dark side of me, the "Sith Lord" inside my psyche, has to be managed not expunged, and ultimately accepted as just my nature. As it turns out, and as I have learned these past 25 years, getting rid of a portion of who you are is not possible, but learning to live with it just might be.
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