Social Acknowledgement

It’s been way too long since I wrote.

I feel like I have a mental cold when I don’t get stuff out of my system.

The job hunt continues and my ego is still standing. Applying for jobs in a city of 3 million people is a lot different than applying for jobs in small, rural Mid Western towns.

I must have more of an ego than I’d realized.

HBO Special: Addiction

But the other night we were sitting around watching the tube and we saw a commercial for an HBO special called Addiction.

Naturally, I had to see what it was. It’s fascinating! All of the episodes are on the OnDemand channel as well, so if I ever get enough time I’m going to watch/dvr them.

One of the most interesting statements I heard, though, was from a judge who was doing what they called “Rehab court”. Apparently the court system has finally realized that people who are addicted are clogging up the judicial system needlessly.

They finally realized that if the addict isn’t out burgling or murdering, they probably need more help than prison time.

In that whole process, they’ve learned an addict often has an intense need for social acknowledgement. And at that moment, when they said that, it occurred to me that it had been true for me.

I found QuitNet on my 3rd day of my Quit, and I literally lived there on that site for about 3 months.

Benefits of Social Acknowledgment

When I stopped smoking I needed the imagery and the social acknowledgment that I was doing well.

I soaked in the praise from the host/ess of the nightly bonfire.

I did the group daily pledge.

I revelled in my stats, especially when they were praised by my quit buddies.

And here HBO was doing a special about drug addiction that validated everything I had been going through and experiencing.

It’s just an interesting insight I had some 10 months after beginning my Quit that I thought I’d share with you.

~GareK