We all have our unique special ways of calming down after a long day. Some of us, run a hot bath and slip inside to forget our troubles. Some of us, turn off the lights, flick on a movie and be whisked away to a fantasy land. And then there are some of us that use a glass of wine or two, to soothe our tension. The weeks and months go by and we start to feel as if the wine has less and less of an effect on us. So what do we do? We increase the amount. We look toward other things to give us pleasure and make us feel better. Before you know it, your wind down methods will have begun to achieve exactly the opposite. Could you be under the spell of your own guilty pleasures?

Smartphone addiction

All day long, you’ve been keeping off social media and staying away from your phone. When we get home, we tend to have a routine catch-up to see what we’ve missed. Unfortunately, since there is so much information on multiple social media platforms, we’re never really as caught up as we’d like to be. Are you the type of person to take your phone to bed with you? If so, you might be suffering from a mild case of smartphone addiction. Buried in the screen, you might miss out on other things in your life. As a parent you begin to neglect your children, not playing games with them, listening to their stories, answering their questions etc. One way to combat this is to limit the number of people you follow. Have a limit to how many swipes you’re going to scroll down. Limit the number of accounts you get notifications from as well.

One too many

Stress-relief methods are varied and they have different effects on everyone. For some people, cooking releases their tension, whereas, for others, it makes things worse. For some people, wine makes them feel sluggish and it doesn’t taste very good. For others, however, it’s like heaven in a bottle. If this sounds a bit like you, you should be cautious about how you treat this substance. Alcohol is fine in moderation, but it is naturally addictive. Those who see it as their go-to for stress-relief may be putting themselves in danger of getting addicted. Maybe this is how it all started for you but now you know it’s gone too far.

Too many holidays

Working hard is often followed by playing hard, but you can do too much of both. Taking too many holidays to wind down, can burn a hole in your finances. You must learn to have a domestic vacation, explore your country and not see going abroad as the only option for relaxing. 

Be careful not to abuse your wind down methods. Too much of a good thing is never going to end well. That’s why, if you’re having trouble coping with alcohol, speak to a professional and seek help.