Beyond Addiction Episode-2 “The Fertile Soil of Addiction”

In this episode of “Beyond Addiction”, we explore the “Fertile Soil” for the roots of addiction such as insecurity, trauma, anxiety, and more.

“Beyond Addiction” is a podcast dedicated to sharing an innovative perspective on addiction and recovery. In this series, we discuss an innovative, “inside out” approach to recovery.

In the second episode, “The Fertile Soil of Addiction”, Kat and Barnett from Gulf Breeze Recovery, a non-12 step holistic drug and alcohol rehab in Florida, talk about the fertile soil that is the home for the roots of addiction which include but are not limited to insecurity, traumas, depression, anxiety, boredom, etc. These are the conditions that occur below the surface before the observable behaviors of addiction grow and spring forth. These roots can be referred to as “Internal Unrest” and are the feelings and conditions we are often unaware of that cause us to seek from outside ourselves for relief. This manifests in activities, addictions, and attempts to organize, fix, manage, or manipulate conditions outside ourselves to keep these negative feelings at bay.

Just like roots are growing under the surface before we ever see a plant, the components of internal unrest are the roots under the surface before the addiction itself is visible.

The fertile soil of addiction represents an “outside in” misunderstanding that makes a person particularly susceptible to addiction. This misunderstanding happens when we attribute our feelings and our experience of life to people, places, things and situations outside of ourselves. The fertile soil represents the belief that something outside of ourselves can be responsible for positive feelings of happiness and peace, and for the feeling of completion and validation within ourselves, and this misunderstanding is what allows the addiction to really grow. The fact is that these positive feelings are only ever sustainable from within!

We use this analogy to simplify the complicated issue of addiction.

The good news is, once this is realized as a misunderstanding, the process of reorganizing our inner state to make the soil fallow for addictions to take hold and grow.

In this episode:
“The Fertile Soil of Addiction”

Barnett and Kat discuss the fertile soil that must be present for the roots of addiction to take hold. The fertile soil represents the belief that something outside of ourselves can be responsible for feelings of happiness and peace, and for the feeling of completion and validation within ourselves.