Apparently
it takes three weeks to break a habit, an addiction, a routine?! I
haven't a clue where I read that. But I did. But I don't actually
think it's true.
I drink
far too much wine. And the 'three week' thing just doesn't do it for
me. I constantly regularly
drink more than the recommended 14 units of alcohol per week and I
would say that about once a year I go without alcohol for a whole
month. Just to prove to myself that I can. I do it so that I can
tell myself I'm not an alcoholic?!!
I'm a 61
year old single female who has been drinking alcohol pretty much
every single evening since lock down began. That's more than 2
months now. But actually that is normal for me.
Apparently
the sale of alcohol in the UK has increased by more than a third
since lock down. Hmmmmm.......... I think that's only to be
expected because after all, all the pubs are closed so everyone is
now drinking at home. It's obvious that supermarkets and off
licenses are going to be benefiting from all the home drinking that
is going on.
BUT does
it really only take three weeks to break a habit? Perhaps it does.
Perhaps it doesn't. Where do these statistics come from?
I
personally, drink far too much wine. I've drunk far too much wine
for about the last 25 years of my life. I know I drink far too much
wine so every now and again I go for a month without drinking any
alcohol at all. As I mentioned above, I do this just so that I can
prove to myself that I can. I actually like wine. It's part of my
daily life. I love it. But is it an 'essential' part of my life
that I should be embracing during lock down? Probably not. But
still I add a lot of bottles of wine into my weekly supermarket shop.
But it's
not just alcohol. It's cigarettes and gambling and people gorging on
cakes and chocolate and takeaways. Apparently the on line gambling
sites have seen a massive surge of people registering over the last
couple of months. And I have loads of friends, who for some reason,
feel the need to go out to get a takeaway coffee from Costa or a
doughnut or cake from the local bakery. Is any of this really
'essential'?
Everyone
has some sort of an addiction.....................
35 years
ago I think I was addicted to coffee. In the early to mid 80s when
the most sought after item for a 'yuppie' to have was a 'filter
coffee machine'; I had one. And I wasn't even a yuppie. Lol! I was
a very low paid primary teacher. I remember my grandparents coming
to visit me in my very first flat in 1984 and immediately reporting
back to my mother that I was addicted to coffee because I'd been
showing off and had had my coffee machine switched on for the
duration of their visit. Perhaps I thought it was some sort of
status symbol. Perhaps I thought that they would report back to my
parents that because I had a coffee machine they would maybe view me
as someone who had actually reached the ranks of the professional
elite that they always wanted me to aspire to. Who knows??
30 years
ago I was addicted to 'aerobics'. I used to attend at least 7
classes a week, sometimes more, and I taught 3 classes a week, (after
having trained as an aerobic instructor in the late 80s.) If I
missed even one of these classes I was distraught. Looking back I
was most definitely addicted to exercise. Obviously at the time I
didn't think I was. I just thought I was keeping fit.
20 years
ago I was the manager of a hotel and I couldn't wait until the latest
edition of 'Hotel & Caterer' came out. I used to devour it for
all things relating to my latest choice of career. I was obsessed
with the 'hospitality industry' and couldn't really understand how
'my staff' (most of which were youngsters in very low paid jobs)
didn't understand my passion.
15 years
ago I'd just acquired my first 'rescue' dog and my obsession was 'all
things dog related'. Dog magazines, dog training courses, etc. etc.
And
now............................. at 61 years of age I just want a
quiet life but I know that I am drinking far too much wine.
…..............But I don't eat cakes or chocolate or smoke or
gamble so I reckon that a few bottles glasses of
wine a night isn't really going to do me that much harm is it????
Hmmmm....................
I've just read through what I've written here. Has it got anything
to do with 'Life in Lockdown'? Not sure. But there again as I
stated on 1st May 2020, when I decided to post something
everything for the month of May; I actually didn't have a clue where
this would take me.
Tonight
it's taken me on a bit of a trip down memory lane. 'Three weeks to
break a habit'? ….........Perhaps today's title is wrong. Perhaps
not. I thought about changing the title to 'Reminiscing' because
that's what this post seems to have turned into. However even though
I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here, I'm going to keep the title
as, 'three weeks to break a habit' because I believe that, that is
what I have talked about in this post!!!
Actually
re-reading it and re-reading it and re-reading it. It has absolutely
nothing to do with three weeks to break a habit so I'm going to
re-name it.
'Three
weeks to break a habit – Reminiscing'
I seem
to have broken my 'habit' of drinking coffee and going to aerobic
classes and being obsessed with a career in the hospitality industry
and training rescue dogs. These 'habits' just seemed to have died a
natural death when I moved onto the next obsession/habit to engulf my
life.
All I
need now is a new habit/obsession to focus on instead of drinking
wine?!!
See you
all tomorrow.
Toodles.
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