Diversions

We all have problems in life. Things we can't handle, or don't want to handle at the moment. At first we ignore them, but the more we encounter them and think about them, the more they continue to eat away at us. School, work, bullies, taxes, love--life in general adds up. We end up getting overwhelmed by all of them, and we start doing things to forget.

I'm not talking about doing things to take a break from the monotony of life-- hobbies and enjoyment aren't bad things at all--I'm talking about the habits that we fall into as a way to escape from the things that we can't control. In a sense we are running away from them, just hoping that they won't come back.

They always do.

These habits look different for different people. For the vast majority of my peers, it is drinking. For others, it can be sports or video games, or music, or drugs, or eating, or even being social. For me? I would say that the two biggest ones that I realize that I do are video games and sleeping. When I have papers due that I don't want to think about, errands to run, or people that I don't want to confront, I find myself sitting down and trying to get lost in a virtual world. I just run away from my problems and pretend to be someone else. Of course, even I get tired of video games after a while (As I get older, the amount of time I spend playing them has been greatly dwindling), but I still try to escape through sleep. I feel the weight of the unfinished pressing down on me, and I become weary. I sleep until there is no reason to sleep anymore, and then just lay down until I become tired agian. The more I sleep, the more tired I become, and the cycle continues.

It is a weakness that I wish I didn't have. Maybe it's time to stop wishing.

Nobody can run away forever; these things do need to be handled.