A picture and a few words about Dopamine

Hey fam,

A couple of weeks ago I colored my 2019 drawing Recovering Dopamine Addict.

My friend Michael then hooked me up with Dallas-area printer Steven Haas, who pressed up a ton of vinyl stickers for Fan Expo Dallas (which was awesome, but that's another post).

You can cop the stickers (or 11x17 prints) in the GhettoManga shop.

Buy a Sticker, Pamphlet, or Signed Print

There was a lot of interest in this image and its meaning at Fan Expo Dallas, so I figured I would re-share the email that I originally sent to Starving Artist Anonymous subscribers when I did the original drawing back in 2019, along with the YouTube video about dopamine addiction that inspired it.

Enjoy!

My name is Samax Amen, and I'm a dopamine addict. I don't take drugs, per se to get my fix, but my addiction to flooding my brain with dopamine sometimes causes problems.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is released in the brain as a reward for achieving a goal. Very effective when used properly, but really bad when used wrong.

Many addictive drugs increase dopamine activity, but lots of seemingly harmless things (sugar, social media, video games, etc) effect our dopamine levels in similar ways, and can be linked to anxiety and depression.

This video details some solutions you can implement starting today.

(12 MINUTES)
This was an article voiceover of DOPAMINE DECODED: The 5 most toxic habits. from Millennial Monk please check out more great articles at http://www.themillennialmonk.com

I had been struggling with depression and motivation problems for years, and my self-help research sort of reached a tipping point when I saw this video.

I like the concept of dopamine addiction as a mental framework to understand what's going on with my brain, and as a starting point for hacking my way to where I want to be.

My healing process involves lots of meditation, hip hop music, and of course, drawing.

When I crave a hit of dopamine, instead of rewarding myself for doing nothing, I try to achieve something, to check something off of my to-do list.

It works to give me that good feeling, plus it actually contributes to bettering my life.

For example, today I uploaded this drawing to a print-on-demand site and wrote a blog post about it. That way, my fans can CLICK HERE to buy printed stuff like tee shirts, coffee mugs, pillows or whatever with this image on it.

Hopefully, sharing my experience helps other people, too.

I'm not a doctor or anything, just a recovering dopamine junkie. Look for treatment or support groups in your area if you need them!

Self-care is a priority!

Anyways, that's all I got for now.

Thanks for reading, fam!

Peace,
-Samax ("some AX") Amen

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