Sometimes, when your body and mind become unconsciously stimulated by something new, attractive, different, instant 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 a black coffee or a pre-workout drink to pump it up quickly without effort—this is why they’re called as 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 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. Eventually even that becomes trivial when they start playing Harry Potter video games. At that stage, just imagine how they would 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:
1. Activities, roles, responsibilities, relationships or tasks that you once deeply loved, valued and were connected with, suddenly seem dull, disconnected or meaningless.
2. When engaged in day to day responsibilities or roles that you desired, you often find your mind wandering, longing for something else, rather than remaining fully present.
Stimulants generally fall into the following categories:
Personal stimulants, created by individual habits and environments (vary 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
Natural stimulants, existing inherently in human life since time immemorial:
Desire for validation
Fame or recognition
Preference for taste over nutrition
Sexual attraction
Entitlement
Privileges
Novel experiences
Wealth
Occasionally, even the so-called "good" things might become stimulants:
Gurus
Divine
Beliefs
Cults
How to Overcome Stimulants?:
The million-dollar question being, “How to effectively eliminate stimulants from life?”. The solution, however, is straightforward:
Be Away or Be Aware
Here's my proven approach to staying clear of stimulants which I have understood through my mentoring journey,
1. Be Away:
If it's possible, simply distance yourself from the stimulant. Trust yourself—you know how to do this already. You don't need a New York Times bestseller or a social media influencer to show you how.
Sometimes, People Shift from One Stimulant to Another as an Escape Mechanism assuming that they are being away. Be sure to not slip into the illusion.
If you are in a situation that you can't quit or get rid of right now, then,
2. Be Aware:
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 the respective days 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 be so absorbed in it that you won’t have room for any stimulants.
Anything that does not nurture your vision is merely a stimulant. Be Aware.
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.
If you are curious to reflect more on this, Lets Connect.. Click and Converse here…
- SCD Balaji, Wishion Mentor