Did you know that escapism is one of the biggest issues in this day and age? People nowadays are being bombarded with distractions. They are being given tons of ways to substitute pain with pleasure. It short term- pleasure but nonetheless people go for it. Does it benefit these people? Not really, but they are able to escape the pain for some time and that’s all that matters to them.
The only issue here is that they create a bad habit and will have to resort more to it down the line. They get into a vicious cycle of pain followed by a short period of pleasure and so on because of their actions.
So escapism is a bad habit you need to get rid of ASAP. You need to realize that there are other ways to solve problems. Because right now, you’re not solving anything. You’re just making things worse. There are tons of ways to practice escapism so I’ll mention the most common ones. It was easy to write about this subject since I’ve done it as well. I was trying to escape my reality and I made things a lot worse.
Escapism and relationships
The majority of people who’re in a toxic relationship don’t break up because of the comfort it provides them. They rather remain in the same situation rather than being single again. The break up is inevitable of course but most couples prolong the pain.
Unhappiness can make you do dumb things that’s for sure. So here’s the issue when it comes to all of this, the majority of people who’ve been doing this don’t know any other way. Nor do they ever try any other way.
Because when the majority does it, there has to be something to it right? Not really but this is what the majority of people assume. Now let’s take a look at how men deal with reality in the wrong way.
Men and escapism
Men like to watch porn to escape the fact that they’re in a shitty relation or are bad with women. Porn is extremely dangerous since it has a negative impact on your whole life. They don’t want to face reality so they’ll go sit in a dark room to jerk off behind a computer screen. You’re looking at two human beings (well two or more) having sex while you’re depressed. You might think you feel better in the short run but you’ll feel a lot worse in the long run. The issue will become bigger and bigger and you’ll watch more and more porn.
In the end, porn abuse is a way to escape pain. The pain could be frustration, boredom,… This whole realization was the inspiration for my porn- detox course. You can check it out here.
Escapism when you’re single
Well, you can write a whole book about this matter, to be honest. Most single people can’t deal with loneliness. They’ll do anything to be with others. It’s a fucked up mindset which people have these days. So there are multiple ways to escape reality here.
- alcohol
- tons of parties
- fucking around (yes I mean fuck buddies, one night stands, friends with benefits and so on)
- the combination is possible as well
All options end the same way. They all end bad. It could results in tons of frustrating relationships that end after a short period combined with tons of hangovers.
You’ll never be able to make somebody happy if you can’t make yourself happy. Most people don’t don’t seem to realize their whole view of relationships is toxic. Imagine demanding happiness from another person. You don’t need a girlfriend, you need a dog in that case.
The third option might sound interesting but you’ll make your life way more complicated than it needs to be.
Escapism and your job
Most people hate their job so they stay at home whenever they can. They would prefer to be home for weeks but boredom kicks in rather quickly. Can you guess what happens? They go back to work just out of misery. It’s pretty ironic since it’s a vicious circle as well.
Others clock overtime so that they don’t have to spend too much time at home. Which is another bad habit and this one get glorified in our current society. Because more is always better according to some people.
I’m curious if they’d make the same statement if they knew it involves creating more misery.
Escapism, drugs, and alcohol
I’m one of the few people that doesn’t drink alcohol anymore. A lot of people abuse alcohol every single weekend. Most people use it to escape all their demons but these demons will catch up with them so they’ll need more and more. They’ve created this habit of drinking while feeling unhappy so guess what happens when their unhappiness increases? Alcohol consumption increases as well. The same goes for drugs.
Short term, it seems like a good idea. But in the long run, you’ll start to abuse that substance on a daily basis only to cause more problems which lead to more unhappiness.
In the end, you’re the source of your own misery.
Escapism and social media
A lot of people spend tons of time on social media to battle loneliness and boredom but they reinforce this feeling. Social media makes you miserable since you’re constantly glancing at other people’s photoshopped bodies or their “perfect lives”.
It’s all fake but it makes people miserable nonetheless. They can’t separate the reality from the fake things and they live in a false reality. They try to create the same false feeling as well on their social media accounts and get deeper into a dark hole. You’ll never be happy if you’re trying to flex on social media. All the people that liked your post will forget about you as soon as they see the next post.
In the end, they don’t care about you. They care about being entertained to numb the feeling of boredom.
The conclusion about escapism
I was a little verbose about this subject but most people don’t realize that they’re trying to escape something. The bottom line is that you’re trying to replace something unpleasant by something pleasant. The problem is those pleasant things will reinforce the unpleasant things after a while.
Even suicide is a way of escapism. This is the worst form of escapism but you have to realize that this might become an option if you let things come too far.
Face your issues head on before it’s too late. I can’t stress enough that bad habits will destroy your life.
The only way out of this is to replace all the bad habits with good ones. Which is very easy on paper. In reality, it’s a bit harder for most people but your life will flourish once you master this habit.
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Till next time
Alex
[…] reality. In the end, it’s the cowards way out. You can’t outdrink, outdrug …. your reality. You can’t escape it, taking that approach will do more harm than good. The only way to deal with it, is to face it and solve it. The sooner you take this approach, the […]