Not long after I joined Twitter, I chatted with a chap who is a fellow Punter who had a great bio. It simply said “an addiction I’m not seeking a cure for”.
I thought it was a great line, but I did ask myself “is Punting an addiction?”. Recently I was chatting with one of my closest lady friends and she asked me a similar question, namely, am I addicted to Punting or could I give it up if I wanted to do so?
In this post, I shall look at the issue of addiction in general and tell you where I feel I personally stand.
What is an addiction?
How do you define an addiction? The Wiki Dictionary simply defines it as this: “The fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.” (www.WikipediaDictionary.com)
Ok, but what does “addicted” mean? Surely one could say one is addicted to many things on life? Is it a regular activity? Is it something one cannot live without?
I imagine most of us can decipher between a drug addiction or an alcohol dependency, but what about other areas of our lives? For example, what about caffeine? How many espressos does it take to make the day happen?
Or what about the love of a favourite soap? Can we live without it?
Or for the “gym rats” amongst you, how about a love of exercise and the endorphin rush?
What kind of addiction?
I feel, if everyone micro-analysed their own life we would find many things we are “addicted” to and things we simply could not contemplate living without. However, I think the true measure of an addiction is one which causes us real harm, either now or potentially in the long-term.
Using the examples I gave earlier, with drinking or drugs, it is easy to see the potential harmful side-effects of an overuse of each. Similarly, with gambling, it can have potentially harmful effects if taken to excess.
Indeed, I think gambling is the one potential addiction Punting can be most closely associated with. The reason being as both can affect one’s financial welfare.
Punting addiction
There is no doubt Punting can give immense emotional highs and physical releases. But can one become addicted to the buzz of a Punt? In simple terms, yes!
As it costs not an insubstantial amount of money, just like gambling, if done to excess, it will have financial implications. It can also have a detrimental impact on one’s time, if done too often. What is “too often” will vary for everyone.
For these reasons of time and money, I believe it imperative for every Punter to set himself a pecuniary and time budget and to adhere to it! It should also be reviewed regularly. This can avoid the most dangerous excesses of a negative behavioural pattern.
Danger signs
As I said earlier, we are all different, with different demands on our time and finances. However, if one sees the amount one is spending, in time and/or money, increasing on a regular basis (there are often peaks and troughs), it is time to sit up and to take note and to have a reality check with one’s self.
Punting requires a degree of maturity any way, to adhere to the professional boundaries and to honour the correct etiquette, so financial and time disciplines are just two more ares where one needs to be honest with one’s self.
If one does find it getting out of control, try easing off for a while and see how you cope with it. If it is possible to reduce or to stop one’s activities all together for a while, then it is not an addiction but it just went a bit too far.
However, if one finds it impossible to stop, it is time to take that honesty check up I spoke about earlier and to seek professional help – fast!
An addiction to sex?
Addiction to Punting is one potential pitfall and an addiction to sex is another. I imagine, to some degree or other, everyone is “addicted” to the endorphin rush one gets, but it is managing this which prevents it becoming a problem.
I am sure we would all like to have sex all day, every day, but for most of us Punters it is, sadly, a reality we cannot! Again, it is keeping it real and having realistic expectations about what is possible and what is not.
Not all bad!
In my intro, I mentioned the Twitter bio and it was a light-hearted aside. It is important to maintain a balance, as not everything is good and not everything is bad! There are plenty of good sides to Punting too and I am sure all Punters will have their own plus points they derive from it. Of course they do, otherwise why would we do it? And on a regular basis?
The good sides may include increased confidence in themselves or with the opposite sex, achievement of lifelong ambitions, the companionship an elite Escort can provide or a plethora of other reasons.
Am I addicted?
I mentioned the question my friend posed: am I addicted to Punting? In simple terms, NO! If I wanted to or needed to, I would and could stop tomorrow and I have come very close a couple of times.
Of course I would miss it, undoubtedly. However, I have experienced so much and I have so many amazing memories to draw on. One day we will all have to stop, but life goes on!
This is not to say Punting is not important to me, as it is and I immensely value the time and experiences I share with the ladies I know. I also value their companionship within the bounds of the nature of the relationship.
Ladies’ circumstances change too and many ladies I have known have stopped Escorting, sometimes quite suddenly and unexpectedly and this is something one has to deal with.
One has no knowing when things might change in life, so the ability to live without either meeting a particular lady ever again or to cease Punting in general is something we all need to be prepared to do. To my mind, the ability and maturity to do so confirms it is NOT an addiction.
It is important to cherish the moment and the respect and appreciate the companions we meet, but it is equally vital to be honest with one’s self, what one wants out of the Punting “hobby” and how much one can commit in time and money towards it and then to stick to it. That is the true measure of whether it is an addiction or not.