ClaritE

Lately, I’ve been thinking about when and how behaviors become unhealthy, and the big distinction (at least, for me) is whether it’s used to escape or enhance your life.

Many things can be used to celebrate a life you love, but at different times or in different quantities can be used to escape to the point where you’re barely living. I’ve don’t this with any number of activities:

• Walking
• Video games
• Eating
• Sleeping
• Browsing the ‘net
• Reading
• TV and movies
• Drinking alcohol
• Using social medi

I mean, the list basically includes any type of media that I can become so wrapped up in that I can avoid what’s happening in my real life. I’ve spent more than eight hours at a time in front of my computer because logging on to whatever MMO I’m playing at the time is easier than coping with my boredom or loneliness.

And while I haven’t run into issues with smoking pot (or other drugs) or sex myself, I can easily see how these things can overflow until you’re drowning.

So many things can go from useful or healthy to unhealthy so quickly, and we’re in an era when so many things are gamified and designed to make us check compulsively to get those quick shots of dopamine (damn you, Facebook!).

Perhaps this line of thinking isn’t new to you — or anything. But I’ve visualized it in such a clear way that I want to share if only to pay myself on the back a bit.

These types of thoughts are those that I once commonly wrote about on here (I used only existing tags_ and I almost started this as a Facebook post. It would certainly garner more attention, but there’s something freeing about writing in my blog instead. It feels like I have to work less at impressing the reader and can perhaps be more exploratory and vulnerable, which is often a boon.

Here’s to more clarity in 2019.