Escapism Addiction

Questions and Comments
#1

Escapism.

The American Psychology Association defines escapism as the tendency to escape from the real world to the safety and comfort of a fantasy world.

I’ve only recently discovered that this is something I’ve struggled my entire life with and my escape has taken many forms over the years, substance abuse, pornography, online gaming and probably many more.

I find that it strikes most when I’m in a position to make huge growth in life, typically resulting in me escaping away and unfortunately making minimal to no progress.

Can anyone suggest a sub or any advice to counter this bad habit I’ve formed? Being aware of it is absolutely key but the awareness only seems to strike AFTER the escapism has taken place, it’s only in hindsight that I’m typically able to identify it, which sadly is after the damage is done.

I considered running something healing intense but when I tried to dig into it, it doesn’t feel like it’s the result of any particularly traumatic experience, or even any internal limiting factors or beliefs, it quite literally just feels like a very bad habit that I’ve formed and could use some help breaking.

Any and all advice appreciated brothers.

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Million Dollar Luther 🤑
#2

Sounds about right. What I’m going to say is just my view on things and what I’ve come to learn over the years.

What we perceive as bad habits are safety mechanisms of the mind. By design these patterns will execute in a low profile way. Stopping bad habits by pure force of will is just about the most ineffective and draining approach to curbing these bad habits. But that’s what we’re all inundated with due to the fact we were raised by individuals who also had their own escapist habits.

Sanguine elixir would be a good one. The main goal here would be to facilitate a state of calm so these patterns don’t get triggered. Then the elixir element for slowly understanding why they happen. I’m not sure if sanguine elixir has elements of RoM in it, but I’ve felt a strengthening of communication between my conscious and subconscious more. To me that’s the important part. You have to get on the same team as your subconscious. Otherwise if you try to stop bad habits or fight, it pushes back harder.

It’s inevitable the habits will creep up again. It’s important to go easy on yourself. Dismantling the defense mechanisms of the mind is not an easy task, they were put in place for safety. When you try to take them away through brute force your subconscious can perceive that as the equivalent of a suicidal mission.

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#3

Thanks brother I appreciate the insight.

I’m currently running Ascension/Primal and was contemplating just ditching them to run DR and I guess force the healing out but eventually came to the conclusion that it’s probably Ascension/Primal that’s actually helped me come to this realisation.

I think I’ll just supplement them with a light healing title such as Sanguine Elixir like you suggest.

Thank you

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#4

Ya know, the longer I’m on this magnetic, spinning terrarium hurtling through space at 67,000mph going God-only-knows-where, the more I approach things using the Ruth Langmore perspective of: “I don’t know shit about fuck.”

Now that my disclaimer is out of the way, here’s advice from my files…

Your escapism pattern isn’t really your fault. The game is rigged to distract you and hold your attention as much as possible in every way possible, ultimately making you addicted. Plus, we’re creatures of habit by design…it’s more energy efficient if we don’t have to think too hard about every single decision before we make it. Hence, the awareness-after-the-fact phenomenon.

So, to reiterate what @Fractal_Explorer said: don’t beat yourself up. I’ve tried that. Don’t recommend it.

But, do take accountability for ALL of it (and it seems you’re already doing that since you made this post).

Take notice of everything you choose to allow into your environment, awareness, and daily experience. Try to notice everything without too much judgement. What’s it telling you about yourself?

Then, from a relatively neutral state not too upset or super excited, decide if that element aligns with who you choose to be, distracts from it, or worse. Add or subtract elements from your daily life and environment as necessary. Repeat ad infinitum until you’re the Gigachad, or whatever you’re going for.

Oh, and expect to slip and have to get back on track…because those habitual pathways are well established and easy to fall into. I mean, if you don’t ever slip that’s fucking awesome, but that’s not been my experience, lol.

Anyway, after you take full accountability for everything, and you’re aware that you’re choosing what you allow in your environment and who you’re being in your day-to-day life…

…now, it’s all your fault. :laughing:

You create everything from the inside out, brother.

And that’s why I’d say add RoM and/or RoS to get some deeper insight on what your insides are communicating right now, what truly matters to you, and why.

LBFH could be another pathway to changing what you choose for yourself, but the healing was pretty intense for me, so I’d recommend easing into that one.

One last note from my G-14 classified N of 1 experimental space monkey trial…the less you focus on not doing something and the more you focus on doing something different that’s aligned with who you choose to be, the easier it is to adopt and stick to new patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior.

Of course, all easier said than done.

You got this, man :muscle:

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#5

Oh crap :joy:

You’re an absolute beast man I really appreciate the time you took out to write this post and I’m deffo taking it all on board.

I haven’t decided on a 3rd title yet but RoM will be up for consideration, I’m gonna mull on this little breakthrough and the advice you legends have given and go from there.

I’m trying to not just make snap decisions in the moment, I feel like I’ve come to this realisation thanks to what was most likely some guidance from Ascension, so it seems a little silly to swap off it or alter my stack if it’s actually working. I will however keep close watch on it in the coming days, do some research and potentially add something in if I feel it’ll contribute.

Thank you brothers.

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#6

I would encourage you to look at:

RoS
RoM
Ascension
Sanguine The Elixir
DR
Regeneration

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#7

LBFH plus The Executive is what has helped me healing my escapistic habits and behaviors. A whole lot of LBFH and little bit of The Executive.

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#8

I appreciate the input man.

I’ve actually had the best week of my life since making this post, just realising my shortcomings and reflecting on what you guys have shared has caused me to grow exponentially.

I decided to not mess with my stack, it’s still just Ascension/Primal and i’m glad I stuck with it.

I can’t remember if I wrote about it above but I realised my usage of subs was also part of the escapism and typically followed this process,

Start making progress > have a breakthrough > switch stack > start over > repeat > looped infinitely.

Thanks to you brothers though i’m actually growing. You guys are the best.

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