I took a brief hiatus from the hard work of self-reflection that this blog causes and found myself in the familiar arms of escapism.

Escapism can take on many forms from something as innocent as getting lost in a good book to something more pervasive like alcoholism or drug abuse. For a person with addictive tendencies, escapism can evolve into an unhealthy avoidance.

In my post on self-care, I talked about the need to take breaks. I also discussed how some of the healthy things we use for self-care can become harmful if misused. Personally, I love books, video games, movies, and television. Basically, anything that can get me lost in a storyline different than the one offered to me at the moment.

I’ve learned that the difference in self-care is in how you feel afterward. Taking a necessary break for yourself should energize you and motivate you to take on the next task. Harmful escapism is active avoidism. You feel drained and unenergized from this because you are not allowing yourself the room to focus on an unaddressed issue.

It is always best to engage in the hard work of life no matter how difficult the process is. Avoidance is just prolongment.