We live our lives for the next dopamine boost and completely miss our long-lasting serotonin goal. Every day that we wake up we are supposed to be ready for a bell curve of a day. When I reference a bell curve I am referring to those silly math images that rise up, slightly level out, and then drop down.
This is how our serotonin levels are supposed to be in our day to day lives, but today due to many accessible pleasures right at our fingertips our brains are running on dopamine that looks more like a heartbeat. Now readers discretion advised, you can burn your brain out with too much dopamine being pumped through it.
You will burn out the receptors in your brain which are the gloves to your dopamine-driven fastball. This my friends, is not a good feeling, because you cannot get these back completely. Now I will explain a few heavy hitters to your dopamine, some may come as a surprise and some may create a "duh" moment.
How strong is your brain?
Some heavy hitters that drive that dopamine fastball are drugs, gambling, online shopping, food, social media, your phone, and YouTube videos (as much fun as they are). For all of these heavy hitters, pleasure is the goal while desire is the hit that drives that ball straight into a homerun.
Now if you have either been to college or attended a rave then you know this next drug, MDMA, otherwise known as methylenedioxymethamphetamine.
This sucker, MDMA, is both an amazing runner as well as a power hitter. It puts both serotonin and dopamine on high tilt, which might make you think "how is that a bad thing"?
Well, both these being blasted in your brain will cause both your receptors of dopamine and serotonin to be burnt out so badly one day you may wake up after years of abusing MDMA and wonder why you can never feel happy anymore.
I wouldn't wish this feeling upon my worst enemy (if I had one, but for this example let us pretend).
Some may think this will never happen to them, but the brain is unpredictable and isn't always on our side if we are feeding it mind-altering chemicals. MDMA isn't the only drug. Cocaine may seem harmless, but eventually, people need more and more, and there is a reason for that.
Those beautiful irreplaceable receptors are being burnt out and one must have more to reach the potential of whatever receptors are left. This is the same for online shopping addiction. It isn't about wanting what is the newest, most shiny toy, it could be as little as wanting a new toothbrush and upgrading from that raggedy manual toothbrush to a new automatic one. Addiction comes in many forms. If something sends your dopamine into a frenzy than it is an addiction.
Please take care of your brain, you only get one
Transplants are becoming a commonality, but brain transplants are far off from being possible. We can even get a new heart, but we cannot get a new brain. It is responsible for everything and is possibly the most single-handedly important thing in our body along with the heart.
Practice self-awareness and catch these desires for dopamine. Try investing yourself into some serotonin boosting activities to get your mind off that needy Dopamine. All jokes aside, re-evaluate your desires, maybe even write them down and access them in detail.
Many people are coming forward with their personal addictions and teaching us it is okay to be an addict, and in some way we all are. Mental health is becoming prevalent and accepted today and for years to come.Embrace the ability of your brain, because just like you, it is unique and special and there will only ever be one like it!
