I'm sure you're wondering what all of these have in common and you would be right if you guessed something along the lines of a time vortex, but furthermore, all these things are escape tactics as well. The most counterproductive escape methods you could find out there, but in desperate times, right?
As I've aged, the effects of alcohol consumption have just gotten worse and with it so have my worries and my proclivity to daydream. So, I find this topic quite important as we explore what participating in each of these activities means and how we can be better with each. For starters, each of these comes with its own version of a hangover.
In younger days, an alcohol hangover was purely physical or else I never noticed how shite it made me feel mentally until now. More importantly; though, each of these comes with a mental hangover that has no expiration until you decide so. Physical symptoms fade but what's left in your mental space is the stuff of nightmares fueling your own self-doubt and maybe even some self-loathing.
The mental hangover from alcohol is a kind of darkness. You're exhausted and you can't function. It makes you feel broken and it freezes you in a spot where all you can think about is every little thing you did or said from the night before and just how embarrassing it might all have been. Alcohol is our basic form of the time vortex and the victim of this time slip? Your happiness.
Every time you decide to partake in the consumption of alcohol, you are essentially stealing happiness out of the next day and imbibing it into your current timeline. It's why we feel so good when we're drunk! It's happiness x2! But the next day? Oof. And you'll feel it. It kind of feels like shame and anxiety. Even if you did absolutely nothing wrong, it does not matter; you will be anxious and spiraling a bit. At least in the morning. Expect symptoms to worsen and prolong with age. Unfortunately; "It gets better!" does not apply here.
"Worrying is a waste of the imagination"
I used to have a tiny little tin sign hung on some wire that stated this. I don't know where it went, but I had it for the better part of a decade and hung it on my dorm wall, my apartment walls, and in my home office. And it's so true! I love the sentiment here because it's just the honest facts. You are using your most creative parts of you to...make up horrible shit? It kind of sounds crazy. And every time I find myself beginning to worry I remember this quote and try to stop.
The time vortex here is pretty basic in that worrying is just a waste of time. It sucks your time and imagination away from other more productive things. I can maybe claim that sometimes worrying has made me better prepared so I won't say worrying is a total waste but in its most common state? Yes, it is a waste. If you are someone who worries a lot, imagine for a moment that all that brain power was actually being used to create something you could be proud of. That would be amazing!
And sometimes we can't help worrying because what is stressing us is just that big. Still, I implore you try to stop because the only thing worrying ever did anyone was waste time and energy. We can't predict the future. We can guess based on current energies, but it's never absolute as things are constantly changing and in motion manipulating future possibilities.
So, we can't actually help with all our worrying. It will just stress us out to a greater extent as more and more possibilities come to light inside our worrying. Cut off the show! See what the universe brings and then react when you need to. Worrying is like reacting before a threat is there. It does not matter that you're throwing punches if your adversary hasn't even entered the arena yet. You're just exhausting yourself before the actual real battle. Not the one in your head.
Daydreaming! Seems harmless if not just something that wastes time. I actually don't think this one is a huge, huge time waster because it's also a cool way to gain inspiration for things. It can be a waste, though! When we find ourselves inside of a waking sleep mode daydream state where we don't even know we're in it; we just black out. Some people call this "zoning out." Really? You were just seriously zoning in to your subconscious and the moment your attention was brought back to reality the remnants of your subconscious fade away quickly. In this "zoned out" state you are wasting time. HOWEVER, you're resting too and if you're zoning out, it's probably a signal that your brain needs some rest. Rest is never a waste of time.
It is however an escape tactic. I'm guilty of this. It's why my imagination is so wild and won't stop being wild. It's why I have an entire dream world made up of physically impossible houses I built when I was little. I go back to certain houses and neighborhoods when I'm feeling particular things or if my subconscious is trying to tell me something important. When I'm in certain houses, I know to pay attention to this particular dream and its themes.
And that's the unconscious me at work inside of my dreams. Imagine my conscious self inside of daydreams. I mean, I have material for weeks! I could stay inside of a daydream all day. In fact, that's mostly how I spent my school days. I can say with 100% certainty that I don't remember shit from school. I couldn't even tell you the name of a class I took unless it was "math" in elementary school and only because we did that year after year after year until "math" became "pre-algebra." Okay, I guess I remember pre-algebra. What was taught? No idea. My year of nursing school? I can tell you that a tummy grumble when you're hungry is called a borborygmus. I thought it was a funny word, so it stuck.
All three of these things present time warping threats which is exactly why they're perfect for escaping. If you truly need to just get the fuck out of your own reality for a second - it happens - turning to alcohol, worrying or otherwise making shit up in your head is pretty common practice that allows for time to pass just enough that suddenly it's finally time to sleep. If you find yourself escaping reality to pass the day just so you can go to bed? You may be depressed.
My point, whenever you find yourself looking in the fridge or slipping into a story whether it be good or bad, think of the consequences. Eventually, you will have to return to reality and face whatever it is you are running from. Essentially, you're postponing something by drinking, worrying, and daydreaming. What are you postponing? And is the postponement of your reality really worth the possible consequence of your happiness (alcohol) or creative power (worry/daydreams)?
I'm not saying to cut it all out I don't think these things are bad in moderation but that's not typically how we enter into these activities, right? With the intent to moderate ourselves? Here's your wake-up call to monitor the time you spend consuming alcohol, worrying, and daydreaming. And to really consider what you're sacrificing with each by trying to escape.
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