Addictions.

There are lots of different kinds of addictions.

I suppose if I had to put them into categories, I would put them as mild, medium, strong, severe, intense, and out of control with no way back!

Some people smoke, I remember years ago at work, I worked with two people, full time, and I didn’t know that they smoked. They were not related to each other, but they did not smoke at work! One of them smoked only one cigarette a day! The other one only smoked when they went out, like to a pub. Neither of these two people did I see outside of work, I only found out they smoked with they told me. Another woman at the same work place, she smoked that much, that in the mornings, before she opened her eyes, she would reach her out and get her fags from her bedside table, then while she was still in bed light her cigarette! Then one day after many years of this, she suddenly decided to give up, and she did, she never smoked again! She said, “It was the easiest thing I ever did.”  Over the decades that I have worked for the same company I have lost count of the smokers who have said, “I have given up smoking.” Only to be smoking again the next time I saw them. It is not an easy thing to give up! I have never taken a single drag in my whole life; it is the one thing I am proud that I have never done! I know that it is a very expensive habit, because my husband smokes.

Drinking is another addiction. At Christ mas parties I have seen people I work with get drunk. A few have got blind drunk. Most have not, they have had just the one and that is it. A person I worked with was drunk at work, not blind drunk but mildly drunk. Another person I worked with drank so much he went yellow, even the whites of his eyes. The doctors told him, “If you don’t stop drinking, you will die!” The impossible happened, he stopped drinking, it took its toll on his body, but he is on the mend.

Gambling is another addiction. I have played the lottery spending £1.50 a ticket about 3 times a year, only because I needed cash back, but now my supermarket has stopped giving cash back, so now I have to go to the bank, to get cash out. At the same customer service, I have seen people hand over £70 for lottery tickets! On reflection it might be for a syndicate, but I have not seen this very often and I have also seen more often £20 spent on their lottery tickets.

I don’t drink, gamble or smoke. But I had an addiction.  

For years it was getting out of hand, if I went to certain places, it was automatic, that I would also go to that place. I didn’t always spend a lot there, but sometimes I did, more than I could afford. It gave me a rush, an excitement, pleasure. It was uplifting, sometimes regrets. I would spend hours there, enjoying myself on my own. If I didn’t go, I would be thinking about it. sometimes wanted to go before work, or I would go after work. To me, it was one of the best places in the world! I loved it and still do. I haven’t been there for about three months, that is probably one of the longest times that I have not been there in decades! I haven’t given up going there, but for now, because I haven’t been, I have saved money. The money that I have saved, it is to pay the gardener! Gardeners, they are expensive, but to have the garden looking nice, for at least two to three months of the year in the Summer is worth it. There are other repairs that need doing in the house, the boiler needs serving and two of the taps in the house need replacing, we need a new cooker. For me, this is my incentive and it is worth it. I have actually noticed my bank balance has improved. So, what is my addiction?

SHOPPING at TKMaxx!