Sometimes, when your body and mind become unconsciously stimulated by something new, attractive, different, quicker, or addictive and you experience something greater than usual, your mind then demands the same excitement and experience from your regular things, responsibilities, roles, routines, people, and tasks.
If it’s not getting that same excitement and experiences from your regular things, your mind will start becoming ungrateful and irritated, labeling them as “boring,” “not good,” “I don’t like it anymore,” “bad,” and whatever else possible to keep you guilt-free and justified. These stimulating experiences are caused by a phenomenon called stimulants.
Example 01: You can activate or trigger your body’s energy organically through running, walking, workouts, yoga, or meditation, or you can simply drink black coffee or a pre-workout drink to pump it up quickly without effort—this is why they’re called nerve stimulants. If someone can easily get their energy stimulation from a drink, why would their mind encourage them to do anything organic?
Example 02: Consider a school-going teen: a regular schoolbook becomes meaningless when they are stimulated by the Harry Potter book collection. That collection becomes insignificant when they listen to Harry Potter audiobooks, which in turn becomes meaningless when they watch Harry Potter movies. Perhaps even that becomes trivial when they start playing Harry Potter video games. At that stage, just imagine how they feel about a regular schoolbook—almost numb.
It is neither functionally healthy nor safe to rely on any stimulant for an extended period. Doing so will either deepen your addiction or make you feel numb towards your regular life.
However, recognizing stimulants in your life can be subjective and confusing. People might either perceive everything as a stimulant or dismiss everything entirely.
Here are clear indicators to determine if you're influenced by stimulants:
Activities, roles, responsibilities, relationships, or tasks that you once deeply loved, valued, and connected with suddenly become dull, disconnected, or meaningless.
When engaged in everyday responsibilities or roles, you often find your mind wandering, longing for something else, rather than remaining fully present.
Stimulants generally fall into these categories:
Personal Stimulants, created by individual habits and environments (varying by person):
Bad habits
Relationships
Comfort zones
Gadgets
Commercial Stimulants, intentionally designed for mass stimulation and addiction:
Artificial intelligence
Social media apps
Mobile phones
Junk food
Television
Internet
Pornography
Desire for validation
Fame or recognition
Preference for taste over nutrition
Sexual attraction
Entitlement
Privileges
Novel experiences
Wealth
Occasionally, even so-called "good" things can also become stimulants:
Gurus
Divine
Beliefs
Cults
How to Overcome Stimulants:
The million-dollar question is how to effectively eliminate stimulants from your life. The solution, however, is straightforward:
Be Away or Be Aware
Be Away: If it's possible, simply distance yourself from the stimulant. Trust yourself—you already know how to do this. You don't need a New York Times bestselling book or a social media influencer to teach you how.
Sometime People Shift from One Stimulant to another as an escape mechanism. Thinking they are being away. You be clear you are not doing it.
If you are in a situation that you can't quit or get rid of right now,
Be Aware: Here's my proven approach to staying clear of stimulants or mentoring others to achieve this:
Clearly List the Stimulants: Identify them explicitly.
Use Wisdom Tools: Practice gratitude, Sankalpa (intentional resolution) and journaling to maintain constant watchfulness.
Gamify Your Watchfulness: Create a printed 40-day tracking sheet with your identified stimulants. Mark each day red if you slip and green if you successfully remain vigilant. This method validates your progress and encourages consistent awareness.
Sometimes you slip more into stimulants because you really don't know what you want and don't want. If that's the case, then fix your vision, milestones and goals and start manifesting them. Your mind will become so busy with that that you won't have time for any stimulants.
PS: The one piece of advice and request I always give to my mentees is: Don't use anyone as a stimulant, nor let anyone use you as a stimulant.