NaBloPoMo

A prompt that I got for writing today goes like this: What is your addiction and how does it affect your behaviour.

Addictions are supposed to bad and if their effect is harmful to oneself or those around one then – yes they are.  Drug, alcohol and gambling addictions for example need intervention. And of course there are TV addictions, Computer Game Addictions which seem less harmful but I believe are just as bad for one.

If something grabs me I tend to get into it intensely.  This goes for philosophies, diets and different kinds of trends.  It might be part of my addictive personality.  Or perhaps I’m just a passionate person. I don’t believe that it affects me or those around me detrimentally.  Others in my family may beg to differ. But they all seem pretty well-adjusted so they have to live with it.

I prefer to think of my addictions more as passions or things that I am deeply interested in.  For example, when I learned to sew – I threw myself into the activity with great enthusiasm.  My talent was limited but my determination to master quite advanced skills was strong and I like to think that my daughters were the best dressed kids in the neighbourhood because of my constant activity on the sewing machine.  At the time I was not employed full time and was able to devote a fair amount of time to this hobby. But when I returned to school full time, it fell by the wayside and it’s been 2o years or more since I touched my machine.

My career was also a kind of addiction I suppose.  It certainly took a great deal of my time and energy.  Now can that be a bad thing?  My husband thought so but that was only because he received less attention than he believed he deserved. So like all good wives I tried to keep a balance – doing the things I was addicted to while giving him quality time too!  I was not always successful!

Another thing I might be addicted to is technology.  I am deeply fond of my laptop, Ipad and Iphone.    I have a knack of getting to know the applications and constant changes that are happening by the month.   But I still manage to function like a normal human being and only use my devices for useful things. It changed my way of teaching kids – and for the better I believe.  So my addictions are good ones and have enhanced the way I behave rather than made me into a reclusive, secretive addict trying to get to the thing I crave twenty four seven.

Now that I’m retired I have returned to hobbies/addictions that I gave up years ago – I am now constantly teased about my crocheting and knitting.  But I have thick skin – I just creep away to a quiet spot and get on with it.