🧠 Your Brain Has Two Sides — And One of Them Is Running Your Life (Possibly Into a Wall)

 

If you’ve ever wondered why the hell you keep repeating the same destructive patterns, welcome to the party.

You want to quit drinking, stop scrolling, eat better, stop dating men who treat you like a backup phone charger…

You know what you want.

And yet, you keep ending up right back in the same cycle.

It’s not because you’re broken.

It’s because your brain is divided like a dysfunctional flat-share — and one roommate is extremely emotional with poor impulse control.

Let’s break it down.

🧠 Left Brain vs Right Brain: Not What You Were Told

Forget the old myth that says:

Left = logic

Right = creativity

It’s deeper than that — and understanding this can actually change your life, especially if you’re dealing with addiction or self-sabotage.

Here’s how it really works:

Brain Side	What It Handles	How It Sabotages or Saves You
Right Brain	Emotion, intuition, body signals, threat detection, fear, cravings, survival stuff	Goes into panic mode. We need relief NOW. Pushes you toward quick dopamine (drugs, drink, doomscrolling).
Left Brain	Language, planning, logic, routines, order, sense of identity	Helps you make decisions based on your values not your feelings. Can override the chaos if its allowed to.

🎯 What This Means for Addiction and Bad Habits

When you’re in addiction mode, the right brain hijacks you. It’s like:

“Everything feels awful. Quick — get wine. Or nicotine. Or Netflix. Or validation from that emotionally unavailable twat.”

Your left brain — the rational part — is often offline during this. Or it’s outnumbered.

But here’s the good news:

You can train your brain to let the left side run the show more often — and get your life back.

🔧 How to Use This Brain Truth to Change Your Life

Here’s a practical breakdown:

1. ✋ Pause When You Feel the Urge

Craving something? Pause for 10 seconds.

That gap is where you give your left brain a chance to speak.

Try saying aloud:

“I notice I’m craving X right now. What do I actually need?”

Now you’re switching on awareness. That’s the left brain logging in.

2. 📝 Give Your Left Brain Tools

You need to feed your rational brain regularly so it can override your impulses.

Try:

• Journaling (to process emotions into language — left brain loves this)
• Daily goals (clear structure activates executive function)
• Tracking your habits (visible progress strengthens new circuits)

3. 🧘‍♀️ Calm the Right Brain With Grounding

If your right brain is panicking, it won’t listen to logic. You’ve got to soothe the body first.

• Deep breathing (inhales = alert, exhales = calm)
• Cold water on your face (regulates vagus nerve)
• Body movement (shaking, walking, dancing — whatever feels good)

This gets your brain back to balance.

4. 🗣 Choose Your Words With Power

Language is left-brain territory.

Use affirmations like commands:

• “I do not drink.”
• “I protect my peace.”
• “I am unavailable for bullshit.”
• “We do hard things here.”

Saying it out loud is powerful. Thinking it is good. Writing it down is elite.

5. 🔁 Practice = Rewiring

You won’t master this in a weekend. But the more you:

• Pause before reacting
• Acknowledge feelings without obeying them
• Choose aligned actions even when it’s hard

…the more your left brain starts running the show. And that’s when real change sticks.

💡 Final Thoughts

You don’t need to “fix” yourself.

You just need to understand the tech you’re running on.

Your right brain is a wild, emotional child with abandonment issues.

Your left brain is the tired-but-wise adult trying to build a better future.

Let them both have a seat at the table — but make damn sure the one who’s running your life knows where it’s going.

And if you’re trying to break free from addiction, self-doubt, or just the endless cycle of starting over — the key isn’t motivation.

It’s learning how your brain works — and using that knowledge to rebuild your life like a boss.