What is your personal definition of addiction?

I am doing a project for my addictions class at Texas Tech University, almost everyone has gone through an addiction or knows a loved one who has. (This includes drugs, alcohol, shopping, self-harm, eating disorder, anything that has an aspect of addicting characteristics) Your response will be completely anonymous on my project.

Please just write a personal definition of addiction, and if you would like, a little explanation from personal experience to go with it!

Thank you so much!

Additional Details:
I am doing a deck of (52) cards, and putting a personal definition of addiction on each card. The deck of cards represents "gambling" addiction, and the definitions just show the perception society has on addiction.There is no "exact" definition of addiction and every definition is bound to be different because of each persons individual experience with the disorder.

Addiction is a dependency or behavior that you can't quit, even if you want to.

Addiction from my POV is starting something that is not easily stopped and ussually taked some time to fully recover from.

There's never a "full recovery" from a true addiction. It's a life long battle to overcome and commitment to continue ongoing sobriety. IMHO, addiction is different from dependence. I'm dependant on medication to get me through my day. Addiction is when you start abusing/misusing whatever you happen to be dependent on. Addiction becomes all consuming, it's all one can think about, it affects your job, your family, you'll do and say anything to feed it and protect it.