Passion and Addiction - The Fine Line of Chasing Dopamine
We humans, by nature, are wired to gear towards rewards generating behaviors. This reinforcement of the rewards-seeking loop is created by a little neurotransmitter in our brain called "dopamine." Dopamine is probably the most talked-about chemical in our brain. Dopamine is a pleasure-seeking chemical and is released in our brain by dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) whenever we do things that make us happy --this is like the brain's way of telling us: "THIS FEELS GOOD, I WANT MORE OF THIS!"
Back in the good ol' days, our ancestors get their doses of dopamine by engaging in behaviors such as hunting buffaloes, eating the fat buffalo they hunted earlier in the day, or sexy time with their spicy senorita. This creates a behavior reinforcing pattern that drives these hunters to continue to hunt, create shelter, and thus living a better life by not starving. Today, however, as times change and technological improvements make our lives better, dopamine release is much easily achieved than ever before. To achieve food-pleasure dopamine release, our ancestors needed to go on long strenuous hunts that can last for days. We, luckily, don't have to hunt anymore, instead, we just have to drive to our nearest Micky D's and order a Big Mac, with the entire process lasting no longer than 30 minutes. In today's world, dopamine release can be achieved through a multitude of activities, these can range from achieving a career goal to just scrolling through social media. Such accessibility to dopamine-releasing behavior now creates a fine line between positive and harmful dopamine-seeking behavior, and I categorize them into Passion vs. Addiction.
Dopamine and Addiction
A big part of today's dopamine-seeking behavior is categorized by consumption. Whether it is scrolling through social media, watching Netflix, pornography, drinking alcohol, or smoking cannabis, these are all relatively simple activities that can result in a dopamine spike. Contrary to the ancient days, dopamine release is now much easier to achieve than ever. However, with this change in accessibility, it proposes a different issue, one that our body is not accustomed to. As our brain is constantly using dopamine as a way to motivate the body to continue to participate in that particular behavior, this creates a never-ending reward-seeking loop that is build based on the foundation of consumption. And when this happens, it can lead to addiction. Needless to say, addiction can be destructive, and once our brain gets too attuned to consume in order to achieve dopamine release, our behaviors can become destructive as we are doing whatever it takes to obtain our stimulus. The desire to consume, such as scrolling through social media or watching pornography, becomes so strong that it starts to inhibit our desire to engage in the other activities that can help us improve. Therefore, in addition to avoiding over-consumption, we should also remember that dopamine is a motivator, and we need to utilize it for us to create rather than consume.
Avoiding Consumption with Passion
When dopamine-seeking behavior is reinforced on the basis of consumption, it leads to addiction. However, when your brain is getting dopamine spikes from creation and achievements, it becomes a passion. Dopamine is not only released when you eat good food and scroll through social media but also when you create something you are proud of or do anything that you feel lead to self-betterment. This can be reading a self-help book, creating a business, or even just going on a hike, these are all activities that leads to a dopamine release. In my case, I get a great sense of achievement when I finish a blog post. This is due to my understanding that I have created something that I am proud of, as well as doing something that can lead to self-betterment in the long run. The difference between dopamine seeking from passion and addiction is not only just the reinforcing behavior but also the consequence. In both cases, once your brain is attuned to the dopamine-releasing behavior, your brain will motivate you to engage in that activity no matter the cause. In addiction, like previously mentioned, you are chasing consumption and often has a negative consequence. But when you are chasing creation and achievement, you are creating a behavioral loop that is leading to self-growth and development.
Takeaways
Dopamine motivates us to engage in behaviors and activities that make us feel good, it is our inherent mental process that helps us survive. However, as dopamine release behavior changes as human life progress, it is now easier than ever to engage in behavior that makes us feel good. With the change in accessibility to dopamine release, we shouldn't be worried about not being able to release dopamine, instead, we should now be concerned with the consequence of the dopamine release behavior. The dopamine released behaviors that are built on consumptions often are easily accessible, have a high spike of dopamine release (which makes the desire to be extremely strong), and most importantly, they can potentially have negative consequences if they are not kept at a moderate level. Instead of consumption, we should focus on behaviors that are built on the basis of creation. Unfortunately, these dopamine releases may not be as strong, are often harder to assess, but in the long run, they lead to self-betterment.
Human advancement has made the world a much better place. We no longer have to hunt buffaloes or wild boars to survive, instead, we can quickly get our food through drive-thrus at a local fast food joint. Given this privilege, our body now faces a problem that it is not wired to be ready for: the preparation for the long run. When our body motivates us to do something, it doesn't care as much about the consequence as it does about that dopamine spike. Therefore, it is our job to be mentally aware of our behaviors and look for the future of betterment rather than the short-term rewards.
