Blog

A Boomer’s Journal

By Tom Anselm

Well, ‘twas the season to be jolly, although it took some doing this year. It was also the season to be over indulged.

I know I ate too much and, ahem, drank a bit too much. Not that I am ready for rehab, but, you know, the over-served issue came up a time or two.

Which brings me to a discussion that I have been batting around for some time in this hollow noggin of mine. Why, oh why, do we do this to ourselves?

It is an established fact that the gym memberships and info-mercial gadgets and diet plans have a heyday after the end of the holidays.

People of all walks of life come to the realization that they don’t have the control over what goes into their bodies, having just been through a period of excess. Then they try to do something about it, with the best of intentions.

Except that in a few months, those well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions have become Last Year’s thoughts. And it’s back to the old habits.

So it’s habits we are talking about here. And in some cases, real addictions, which could be called habits that have a deeper root in a person’s psyche, or even their physical predilection.   I am in no way passing judgment on anyone with an addiction. I have lived long enough and learned enough to know that there are just some things that people do that are part of their psychological and physical make-up. But I also know that there are ways for them to treat these issues. Not everyone has success, with some battling these demons and tendencies all their lives. Still, there are many who do come to a balance, either through counseling, medication, treatment programs, 12-step programs or a combination of these. And that the very first step in coming to this balance is for that person to admit that they are powerless.

That is not easy to do in a world that tells us in every commercial and every self-improvement book and even in every ad for the latest gym machine that we are in control. I can only imagine how hard it must be for a person who has an alcohol addiction not to take that next drink, when here I am not able to pass up the Christmas cookie tin after barely being able to button my Nautica-plaid Crazy Pants. I have been wearing them every Christmas for years since finding them on a clearance rack for $29 at now-lost Macy’s at Jamestown Mall.

But I must find a way to back away from the tin just as others must keep themselves from situations that trigger their addictions.

Our world is full of contradictions when it comes to substance abuse. A major beer company has at the end of its ad the admonition to ‘drink responsibly’. Four states have legalized the production and use of marijuana. This one still has me bewildered, since it is becoming more clear everyday that marijuana is a ‘gateway drug’ and that its use by early teen males damages their developing brains such that they will suffer from life-long judgment issues that can lead to crime, divorce, further addictions, depression and suicide. And yet these states are saying it is okay to this junk just so they can get the tax revenue from its sale.

One might say the odds are stacked against a person seeking change, seeking freedom from their demons. But there is hope for them that takes all this into consideration, and offers them ways to get out of the destructive behaviors that have been putting them and the lives of those whom they love in such turmoil and jeopardy.

Not my usual hopeful ditty for the coming New Year, I know. As I struggle to walk past the cookie tin, I will say a sincere prayer for anyone who is looking to deal with their addictions in 2015.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us