What you borrow from the day.

Here at Counselling Connections, we have been talking about addictions. As we write we are in the throes of the third wave of the global pandemic and another lockdown. This brings its own difficulties. But what we are talking about this week is a phenomenon that exists outside the bubble of the lockdowns.

We have written before about the psychology of a hangover, the graph of what happens to us in the looking forward to followed by the looking back with regret. http://www.counsellingconnections.ie/cc/psychotherapy/the-psychology-of-a-hangover/

Following on from that comes an idea about a deeper, maybe simpler view of what happens when we play with substances. Substance can be any of the usual mind-altering kind from alcohol to various recreational drugs. Even prescription medication. They all have differing characteristics.

One characteristic that lures us to take some stimulant or other is to squeeze as much high energy uninhibited fun into one night. Partying, dancing, talking, laughing are a great release. Only some of the time the excess which is such an attractive part of all this is fuelled by an excess of whatever accelerant or amplifying agent is used.

Here’s the thing. This is what we say here. What you borrow from the day, to give to the night; it has to be paid back. What we mean by this is more than just the hangover and spiritual hangover we talked about before. This is especially relevant when taking something for the high becomes a regular thing.

What happens is some sort of balance between day and night becomes disturbed. The day becomes more difficult because some of the light that you need to see you through the day has already been burned. That light was gathered together to give to the night. And It was great. But now it’s gone. You can be left feeling bereft. You can be left with no light, no energy, no life force for the day.

Having no life force for the day makes things difficult. In a situation like that we tend to withdraw. We withdraw back into ourselves, into the cave. This happens with our work. And relationships. Some of the time, once you get on this train, the only escape is the night. You can light up the night again with whatever gets you there. Maybe now it is just not as bright as it was before. The highs aren’t as high, the craic is not the same. It is harder to find the buzz. And then there is the day. The day is waiting. Empty.

What you borrow from the day, to light up the night, that has to be paid back. The balance has to be restored. This line is a well worn one. Lots of really lovely travellers have tried this track before. Lots of them have come back with stories to tell and also an appreciation for the simple life. Never taking little things for granted. A few don’t come back. In their name and in the names of the people we love who manage to restore the balance and live contented, we simply say try. Try to live well. Try to live clean try to live healthy, with healthy friends and healthy relationships. It is awful tiring to live in debt to the night. If you feel you can, reach out and come in and see if we can help you get some sort of peace of mind. If we can, we’ll always try to reach out a hand to a friend we know of who is on this path.

Further reading. If you like you could listen to Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd while reading this post.