My Quarantine Drugs of Choice
How are we all dealing with being stuck at home all the time?
Alcohol sales have gone up by 55%, Netflix servers have been overloaded, and everyone I know is stuffing their faces with bags of ruffles and salt & vinegar chips.
Seattle was the first city in the US to be hit by Conoravirus, so March 1st was the day I started quarantining myself. Since I live alone and I don't have family here, that means I've gone a whole month and a week being completely alone in my head 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The time alone has helped me to see how I cope when I'm under stress. Here are my addictions during quarantine, and how I'm tackling them.
My Quarantine Addictions:
Food
Baked goods are full of sugar that your brain responds to like it would drugs, so it's no wonder that in March, I baked cinnamon rolls, cardamom rolls, then more cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, pie, pizza, and I ate a whole loaf of bread every weekend.
My March monthly review helped me see this and April has been healthy AF (and dude, I've lost 6 pounds so far!)
Netflix, YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok
The uncertainty of how long this situation will last scares me. I can't imagine being alone all the time until September... how... like, how? So to deal, I've been escaping into junk-food of the visual kind as well. Yes, I'm that quarantine basic bitch who watched Love is Blind, watched hours and hours of cooking videos (Joshua Weissman is bae), downloaded Tik Tok and subsequently became addicted, finally saw Parasite, and spends an ungodly amount of time scrolling Instagram.
I haven't fixed this one yet... But bringing awareness to it is the first step.
Men
I hate admitting this, but when things get tough and I feel vulnerable, I usually turn to my exes. This quarantine has helped me see how much I kept those doors open for selfish reasons. I would rely on these people to give me validation or solve my problems for me, and it was a crutch in the same way alcohol or junk food could be.
Since January 1st, I haven't contacted any of my exes. This quarantine has solidified that I need to keep those doors closed forever, and solve my problems and be my own hero- both for me and for them.
I've also just been lonely. I haven't had so much as a handshake or a hug from a friend since February (holy fuck!). It's taken some strength to not flirt with anyone just so I can have some sort of like... security blanket to get through this time. I haven't though, and I won't. :)
That's all I can think of for addictions right now.
I've been slowly replaced my addictions with healthy things. I have exercised every single day this month (it is keeping me sane I kid you not), and I'm eating really nutritious food now. This time has strengthened my resolve and helped me become a better person. I like myself more than I did in February, and I feel a lot more solid and grounded.
There are some negative side effects of this quarantine... I can't fall asleep before 2 am, I have no energy 3 or 4 days out of the week, and I find it hard to concentrate at work, but none of those are addictions. Maybe I'll explore them in a future post.