Addiction usually brings to mind the abuse of alcohol or drugs. Some people are also addicted to smoking, gambling, or pornography.
Those who are free of these practices may feel a bit superior to friends or family members who get drunk every night or who lose their home to pay their gambling debts. We may pity Uncle Bill for his love affair with New Amsterdam gin, but that sorrow may also contain a heavy dose of condescension.
Yet, truth be told, a lot of us are addicts, meaning that some force in our life controls us more than we control it. The wife of the guy who works 70 hours a week selling insurance convinces him to vacation with her at the beach. If he can set aside his work habits and enjoy that week, then it’s likely he grinds away at his job by choice. If, however, he spends the vacation out of sorts and distant, trekking 10 or 12 times a day to his laptop to check his emails and the status at the office, then work is his master, and he the slave….