• 5 Star Reads
  • Audiobooks
  • Books on Screen
  • Children’s Books
  • Christian
  • Fiction
  • Giveaways

5 Minutes For Books

  • Home
  • About
    • Who Are We? Reviewer Bios
    • 5 Star Reads
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
    • About Us
  • Join In
    • 5 Minutes for Books Bookclub
    • Children’s Classics
    • Kids’ Picks
    • What’s on Your Nightstand
  • Link To Us
  • Contact
    • Advertise

Breaking Everyday Addictions

April 20, 2009 by Carrie

I don’t have any addictions. Nope, not single one! How ’bout you? I thought not.

This book, Breaking Everyday Addictions, by Dr. David Hawkins focuses on the “other” people with the significant addictive behaviors (i.e., porn, alcohol, gambling issues, etc) as well as the people with the “every day” addictions. You know the sort . . . the other people who can’t seem to function without their daily caffeine fix. The people who are always reading blogs. (Ahem.) The people who run around with a blackberry in their back pocket. Yeah, you know the ones.

Hawkins talks about the stages of denial: rationalization, justification, minimization, procrastination, victimization and other -ations. He also spends a significant period of time talking about how we just need to own up to things and face facts. IS a caffeine addiction harmful to others? Is people-pleasing and an addiction to affirmation your thing? Own up to it. What Hawkins is saying in this book is that to truly be free to be the person you were created and meant to be, you need to be free from addictions. He talks about how addictions are not respectful of persons. People in every area and walk of life can be addicted to something – a behavior, work, e-mail, etc. The list can be long and intense. Honesty – a good hard look at what motivates and drives us – will help move us towards recovery.

I think one of the nice aspects of this book is that he doesn’t suggest that the road to “recovery” will happen overnight. He talks about how recovery is progressive, but does not demand perfection. Change takes time and a person who has lived with particular habits are going to have to work really hard to change them.

Overall, I’d say this book was interesting and helpful. I was intrigued by it.

I admit freely and wholeheartedly that I have an addiction to books. It’s true. I really am addicted. I don’t deny it and yet at the same time I refuse to change it. Seriously, sometimes I need to set my books down and deal with real life. I need to get up off the couch and clean the kitchen and prepare the next meal. I need to play with my kid instead of bury myself into someone else’s story. But I don’t. I sit. I read. That should change.

We all have our vices — mine are books! There is nothing inherently wrong with reading but is it taking up time that I should spend elsewhere? Perhaps. Most definitely? Sometimes.

I have a long ways to go . . . .

Carrie comes by her book obsession honestly, having descended from a long line of bibliophiles. She blogs about books regularly at Reading to Know.

Filed Under: Carrie, Christian, Health, Non-Fiction

« Things I Want My Daughters to Know
The Double-Daring Book for Girls »

Comments

  1. Alicia says

    April 20, 2009 at 7:40 pm

    This book looks great!

  2. bekahcubed says

    April 20, 2009 at 9:29 pm

    Ouch!

    I can totally identify. How many times have I escaped from the troublesome world of dealing with “real people” to curl up with nice, cosy, predictable, can’t-touch-me book people? Too many to count.

    I was just reading (of course) a book of quotes about reading (of course)–and this one struck my eye: “Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mightily bloodless substitute for life.”–Robert Louis Stevenson “An Apology for Idlers”

    It would do me good to let books be a supplement to rather than a substitute for life.

  3. Rita says

    April 20, 2009 at 10:29 pm

    Wow! This book shows up just when I am aiming to “throw off everything that hinders”!

Connect with us

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Welcome to 5 Minutes for Books. We are a team blog dedicated to sharing reviews and information about children's lit, fiction, memoir, and more. Read More…

Reviews

5 Minutes for Books

Jennifer Donovan
Managing Editor

MEET OUR TEAM



Connect With Us


Pinterest

Community

Cybils Logo Draft 3

Disclosure:

Find out about our relationships with publishers and affiliate networks in our full disclosure statement.

Recent Posts

  • The Everest Enigma
  • The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club
  • Murder on the Mississippi
  • Afterward
  • The Busybody Book Club

Categories

Privacy Policy    |     Disclosure Policy
Terms & Conditions
© 5 Minutes for Mom

Let’s Socialize

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Pinterest is Our FAVORITE!

Find and Follow Us at
pinterest.com/5min4books

Copyright © 2025 · Tasteful theme by Restored 316