Which of your bad habits became worse in 2020?
Our worst habits may have become pandemic vices. But they provide us with a list of potential New Year’s resolutions to attempt in a few days.
Which of your bad habits worsened in 2020?
Did you empty more bottles of booze than usual? Or binge watch a ridiculous amount of mindless TV? Or waste too much time (TikTok, TikTok) through online entertainment? Or lose yourself in your smartphone for hours at a time? Many of us have mastered the timeconsuming art of going down rabbit holes that lead to nowhere. Andwe love it.
Maybe you’ve been self-medicating your fears and stress by overeating again? Or by needless shopping or addictive gambling or pornography? What about “food porn” through deliciouslooking television shows such as “The Great British Baking
Show,” or late-night baking of newfound recipes?
InMarch, when the pandemic first put a vice grip on our lives, it felt reasonable to escape reality by any vice necessary. Several months later, with 2020 almost in our rear view mirrors, her ewe are with too many of us continuing to cling to our worse traits. Worse yet, they’re masked by contagious rationalizations that give us permission to continue.
The lingering pandemic is still to blame, we keep telling ourselves and anyone who will listen to our justifications. Or the initial lockdown and its social restrictions still play a debilitating role with our lifestyle. Possibly all the uncertainty in our world hasn’t loosened its grip as 2021 arrives.
We also can’t forget or dismiss the pressure-cooker of a presidential race this year and the effect that our outgoing commander-in-tweet has had on our psyches. Love him or hate him, President Donald Trump’s personality has raised our collective blood pressure. He has driven some Americans to start drinking, and others to raise a glass (or three) in his honor.
Yes, there is nowa vaccine for COVID-19 but there isn’t a vaccine toward off our deepest fears and transmittable stress. We cope how ever we can, each in our own way.
Tim Hendrix has coped through smoking. Thomas
Lynch through eating everything in sight. Barbara Sullivan through watching “way too much” Amazon Prime video and Tubi TV. For Wendy Masters, it’s been a battle against “inertia” the tendency to do nothing. Sound familiar?
Working from home has its obvious perks. It also has its inherent pitfalls.
Food is just a hunger pang away. Liquor is just an excuse away. The couch or bed is just steps away. The work commute for these employees no longer affords them an opportunity to get away fromtheir job and their family at the same time.
They’ve been quarantined with swelling anxiety for nine months, giving birth to new lifestyle habits.
“I actually got my (expletive) together during the pandemic,” Tyler Thomas said. “I haven’t drank since January 2020. Iwalk or run four miles per day. And I got a decent job. I’ve spent my whole life waiting for the zombie apocalypse, I suppose.”
Other people have rediscovered their will power or their love for previous hobbies. Patti McLaughlin has lost 15 pounds.
Samuel Franklin lost himself in reading classic literature. Therese Lynch loves doing puzzles again.
Froma scientific perspective, it’s all about pleasure seeking.
Our brain becomes oversaturated with stress hormones, which can block the function of the prefrontal cortex. This leads to the over-activation of the brain’s reward center, delivered through many of the mindless pleasures I mentioned earlier. Or more dangerous ones such as illegal drugs, prescription meds, online gambling, or social media addiction.
I’m a junkie for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, continually posting my newspaper columns on these sites for readers. Unfortunately, I’ve also posted an excessive amount of ramblings that have nothing to do withmy job and everything to do withmy addiction. I guarantee that I’ve been on social media more this year than any other previous year.
I’ve also placed more online bets on football games this season than I did last season. Every one of them fromthe comfort of my iPhone, my trusty sidearm throughout this pandemic.
Our phones are the fastest delivery service of feel-good chemical rewards with every ding, ping and sound effect. Who just texted me? Which post of mine got liked on social media? Did I get that email reply? Ismy shopping order ready? Did my package arrive on the front porch? The dings are endless on our phones, and within our psyches.
There an upside to all these unhealthy habits that may have become our pandemic vices. They provide us with a dirty laundry list of potential New Year’s resolutions to attempt in a few fleeting days.
Until then, let’s binge on what got us through 2020. I’ll look the otherway if you do.