Addiction is like a disease. Most people believe addiction to be a lifestyle choice. People can be addicted to various things like alcohol, drugs, cigarette etc. People can also be addicted to other things which are not drugs. You may hear people talk about being “addicted to the Internet” or “addicted to chocolate” or gambling etc. This means that they get into a habit of enjoying that thing, so if they have to go without it for a while, they miss it a lot.
The sad part is most of the times they do not realise the side effects of this. The pain and suffering that one goes through is far beyond description. I’ll narrate a short story here which would serve as an eye opener and lessons learnt.
Once there was a beautiful couple who were in love with each other. But the husband was always cribbing for money. He smoked and drank a lot as well. His wife was really worried about him.
One day she asked him – “Why do you drink and smoke so much?”
He replied instantly – “Why do you bother? I am burning my money and not yours.”
Then she said to him – “It’s not your money or my money. Together we earn for our living, for our family, for our future.”
She said – “If you don’t have good health, how will you enjoy your wealth, how will you enjoy your life?”
This struck him. He had never thought about that. He always thought that he was young and can always cope up with health and wealth. He always thought that drinking and smoking was a status symbol.
His wife asked him – “How much do you spend on a cigarette packet and your drink per day?”
He replied – “INR 60 on cigarette and INR 600 on my drink every day.”
The wife replied – “That makes it INR 660 per day and INR 2,40,900 per year.”
The husband was shocked and uttered INR 2,40,900 per year!
The wife said – “Yes, this is apart from all the other medical bills which we land up paying as you keep falling sick because of this. And now imagine the amount of money you have wasted ever since you started to do this. We could have easily saved and invested this amount.”
She then said – “Now if you are doing this for 10 years, then imagine how much money and great health you would have had by now? Assuming 10 years, you have wasted a minimum of INR 24,09,000 per year plus medical bills.”
This thought touched something deeply in him. That day onwards he was a completely changed and different person. He gave up smoking and drinking and got into focusing on his health and wealth as well. They lived happily ever after.
This example moves the focus to – keep your health on priority. Health is wealth. Even if you have all the wealth in the world but not health, you will not be able to enjoy life.