“Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell.”
As a flawed individual, I admit that I have a great many temptations. However, through some great force beyond me, I’ve recently managed to scrap one of them.
One of my most notable temptations was playing video games. I’d say it was like an addiction. I would play the same game over and over and over again just to see if I had exhausted every ability, every strength, every upgrade that was advertised on the back of the game box. The worst part was that, before I knew it, the day would be over. I would feel great immediately afterwards, but the next day I realized all the time and effort that I put into my video games was wasted. I didn’t get anything for getting a high score. Nor did I really learn anything particularly useful.
It was slowly taking over my life, and I knew that I had to do something about it.
It’s funny how I finally got a hold of this temptation. The simple solution was going to college and interacting with people. In addition to that, I got bombarded with hard work straight out of the gate. Within a matter of months, I overcame my temptation of compulsively playing video games.
As you can tell from my story, temptations can be nasty things. They’re okay in moderation, but if you keep on indulging in them, there’s no stopping them from becoming your “Achilles heel”.
Here are some tips I’ve compiled in order to help the rest of you eliminate the temptations that may be negatively affecting your life:
Distract yourself from it
This is where willpower truly comes into play. You have to smother your temptation with another engaging hobby or activity. While I was in college, I was in constant activity, whether that included going to class, working on a paper, hanging out with friends, trying out for a sport, etc. Since what I had on my plate was enormous, I didn’t even have time to think about video games, let alone play them.
Slooowly kick it out of your life
Once you’ve mastered the art of distraction, you’ll have to slowly detox your lifestyle of the temptation. Don’t think that just because you’ve taken it out doesn’t mean it hasn’t left it’s mark. They could easily reappear at anytime, so want to keep on your toes to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Eliminate anything that reminds of your temptation. You’ll always have the memories of accidentally giving in in order to indulge, but use those instances as reminders to stay true to yourself and resist your urge.
Temptations reveal a lot about the tempted
Let’s take my former video game addiction as an example. The thing I really liked about my video games is that they all allowed me to upgrade and improve my character. My power at level one would be nothing compared to the champion I become on level 11. This kind of hints towards my appreciation for growth and improvement in myself and in others. So as a tip, find what good your temptation brings out in you. What are your personal traits that lie hidden within?
Within us all, there is a primal urge to concede to temptation. It’s easy to give in to urges that have splintered your lifestyle for so long. However, it’s not impossible to break these temptations. All you have to do is strengthen the willpower that gets you up in the morning, that keeps you and your family happy, that drives you to live the life you want. Now do you want to have control over your temptations? Or do you want your temptations to control you?
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11 comments to “How to Stop Temptations from Becoming Destructive”
Distracting yourself is a great way to end temptation. Since the mind can only hold 1 thought at a time. Keeping yourself busy is an amazing way to stop giving into temptation. So if your tempted to watch t.v when you need to write a paper. Lock yourself in a room and so dont leve until your finished.
Interesting way to stave off temptations… locking myself up is too radical for me, but I usually try and go cold turkey.
A friend of mind who has now graduated from Stanford School of Law once killed his t.v. because it distracted him from studying for the LSAT. I have disabled games on my computer so that they wouldn’t distract me. Sometimes extreme measures are called for.
I really liked your last point about what our temptations reveal about us and about how your own temptation could be re-focused for the forces of good instead of evil. A point I will remember as I examine my own.
Thanks
Nice post.
I also find that reminding myself of a bigger goal sometimes helps me resist temptation.
For instance, when I think about my goals for my business, it stops me from procrastinating during the day.
@Tyler Ha ha Wow, congrats to your friend. It’s amazing the lengths we will go through in order to reclaim their lives from these temptations. I’m glad you took away something special from my last point (it’s my favorite too)
@Kaizan Great way to allay your cravings. It always helps to place greater value to things we know will be better in the future than to instant gratification that won’t do much for us. Thanks for your input.
You h ad me laughing at the quote! I don’t have candy, ice cream or cookies in my home. If they’re there I’ll eat them. It’s as simple as that. (I can’t have 1 or 2) The entire package calls my name.
ha ha yeah. the call of the cookies is indeed tempting. But that’s why you have me
John, radical yes, but the change will occur!
As long as you change who you are to who you want to become. I think any method of person choice is up for grabs.
@Jonathan That’s what it’s all about right? Changing who you are.
John,
Yes to an extent. I think if the desire for change is there and the willingness to be the person you want to be is aroused inside of yourself. The question now is How? and Am I ready to pass this test?