I was going to give this post a much more descriptive and specific title, but I think this one actually captures the essence of what I’m about to say more clearly and, perhaps, accurately.
First, I’ll explain my initial thought.
I’ve come to believe that using any substance or activity that floods you with dopamine, whether that be alcohol, cannabis, TikTok, Instagram, or anything else, leaves you depleted of the dopamine you would otherwise need to pursue activities and objectives.
Specifically, I’ve been thinking about my times going up to lake cabins in the summer. I always go with hopes that I’ll have tons of energy and do every activity available to me like kayaking, swimming, tubing, whatever.
As I’ve outlined in other posts, I’ve noticed in recent years that the energy and enthusiasm I’ve had for those things has been dwindling. One thing that’s been consistent over time is that these types of activities tend to come with more overall drinking that normal. Perhaps not all at once, but having White Claws throughout the day is quite common.
However, to the point of this post: I feel like the right people will sort of force you to do things. Even if you don’t have the energy to suggest it and make it happen, as long as somebody does, they’ll often convince you to do it.
And so even at times when perhaps I had been drinking more than usual, I still did more activities because somebody else convinced me to do it.
But in the last several years, more often the people who would have done that for me were in the same boat (literally and figuratively). As a result, we kind of just… Don’t do anything.
And that’s a shame.
The solution is probably for at least one person, me for now, to be the one who’s not drinking or doing anything else and sort of lead everyone.
But that’s not the main point here.
Having the right people around who are going to motivate you and keep you on track with a schedule and moving towards some kind of goal is extremely beneficial.
In my examples, I’ve highlighted how this is the case for leisure activities when on vacation. But I suspect it applies to so much more.
They say that having a strong group of close friends is one of the greatest predictors of success in life.
One of the main reasons could be that when you are struggling (in any way), they’ll help you through it and keep you on track.
Maybe you’re having a tough time with something. Your friends may encourage you to take the steps needed to keep your life going and even get back on track.
If you’re totally alone, it would be much easier to simply give up and not do anything to improve.
So I guess the main conclusion here is to keep the right people around who are going to support you, motivate you, and keep you on track.
It’s also important that they not actively harm you, as I’ve more recently realized. It’s a shame that this is ever relevant, but the reality is that it often is.