Can Passion Be The Solution To Addiction?
From Psychology Today:
Life can be better—and longer, and addiction-free—when you have a sustainable passion.
What makes you live longer? What makes life more satisfying? What enables people to resist addiction?
These three questions have an answer in common—a remarkably good piece of news about which we should continually remind ourselves.
One piece of evidence to support our answer was produced by Lewis Terman, an educational psychologist at Stanford University, who developed the modern IQ test in 1916. Terman believed intelligence was inherited, and he was associated with the eugenics movement.
But our answer has nothing to do with IQ, nor the damaging notion of genetic determinism. Instead, it’s about something quite different that Terman discovered despite his prior beliefs.
In 1921, Terman and his colleagues started a study built around IQ. Originally titled The Genetics Studies of Genius, it evolved into the Terman Study of the Gifted (it’s also now known as The Longevity Project), and comprises the longest study of individual lives ever conducted.
Terman wished to follow the most brilliant young people in America, as determined by his IQ test and similar instruments, to prove his belief about the determining impact of high intelligence on people’s lives.
But the results didn’t show that intelligence determined people’s lives. One example that hit Terman was that only 50 of more than 1,500 high-IQ subjects became university faculty. Terman (who died in 1956) was forced to conclude, “We have seen that intellect and achievement are far from perfectly correlated.”
The study continued until the last subject died. When the results of the research were safely able to be concluded, Time announced the study’s single, most definitive finding with this headline last year: “This 95-Year Stanford Study Reveals 1 Secret to Living a Longer, More Fulfilling Life.”
It wasn’t intelligence. Nor was it achievement. On the other hand, the Time subhead declared, “This decades-long study shows that living an easy, stress-free life won’t make you happier—and definitely won’t help you live longer.” In other words, living in Margaritaville or La Dolce Vita wasn’t the answer.
But before returning to the answer, let’s reflect on the finding that not only the most satisfying lives, but the longest ones, shared the same trait.
And that trait was having a purpose.
The study’s conclusion:
We did not find that precisely living out your dreams matters much for your health. It was not the happiest [meaning “most pleasure seeking”] or the most relaxed older participants who lived the longest. It was those who were most engaged in pursuing their goals.
In other words, having a life-motivating purpose—one providing a meaning beyond meeting basic needs—is the secret to a longer, more fulfilling life.
Of course, like many life secrets, this one seems simple and straightforward upon reflection. Having something you want to do, a role to play that you consider important and worthwhile propels you through life, making life more engaging and fun. This doesn’t mean that your life will proceed effortlessly or be trouble-free. But an energized and directed life is one that also more readily overcomes obstacles—which brings me to addiction.
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