Addiction

I understand addictions less as vices than as places where the mind seeks refuge when it is overstimulated or overexposed. A light but persistent obsession, a habit that returns when attention wanes—this is not an enemy to defeat, it is a signal.

Something in us is seeking either relief, stimulation, or avoidance. The mistake would be to correct this through force or optimization, as we would then fall into a more respectable but equally invasive addiction: the addiction to control.

The obsession with optimization belongs to the same family. It creates the illusion of progress while sometimes preventing us from making choices. Optimizing often means delaying the moment when we expose ourselves to imperfection.