Catching up, doom scrolling and bad habits

31 - Jan 2022

Ever feel like you need to spend a day catching up? Catching up with articles you’d like to read. Programmes you’d like to watch. Podcasts you’d like to listen too. Meditations you feel you should do. And so on and so on. Then the thought of wanting to ‘catch up’ with everything becomes over whelming.

I’m having one of those mornings.

When I experience times of overwhelm, bad habits tend to kick in. Ever heard of the term doom scrolling? I’m almost embarrassed to admit I hadn’t until just a few days ago. Doom scrolling is one of the worst habits that is a consequence of living in our connected online age. I’ve just spent the past 20 minutes feeding that habit. I’ve scrolled through my newsfeed and devoured every iota of bad news, every death, disaster, fall from grace and suicide that’s deemed ‘newsworthy’. And now I’m admonishing myself for having done so. Crazy isn’t it?

Why is it that we indulge in unhealthy habits?

(Written on my 2015 calendar)

Try sitting quietly and ask yourself. Write it down. I mean, physically handwrite the question on a piece of paper. You may be surprised what answers appear. And the beauty of this process, is you can cross that first response out, or leave it there, and try again. Explore.

You can fill a page or more with answers and you will know when you’ve stumbled across the truth. The first time I tried this I was a little taken aback. The process led me to the answer to my question and the self revelation was quite profound.

It has taken me many years to get to this point. Books I read years and years ago to educate myself in how to help others are taking on new significance as I am have begun to apply that knowledge to help myself. Years of self- neglect have necessitated that.

What’s the cause of your bad habits?