“The stop signal is not a decoration. It was carefully and purposefully designed, make it serve its role.”
I am curious and learning comes with curiosity I am told. As we are heading into the weekend, I was lucky enough to come by the feature caption and in further analysis and much thought I realized it sums human experiences in a way. Addictions have been scientifically assessed and established to have negative consequences on our well-being. It doesn’t matter the form of addiction one has. The only thing I got to think of when this came to mind was why it so happens that individuals get addicted to certain vices and virtues (I’m not mistaken here, virtues in the sense that there are people overly obsessed with productivity i.e. workaholics who are addicted to their work etc.)
Human beings are averse to pain whichever the form and with that we do anything and everything that gives us a chance to escape the pain. Most times this is the trigger signal for an addiction and as a result of rewiring of our programming missing out on the act is a source of pain by itself. It’s self reinforcing cycle. And most of our pain is caused by unmatched expectation or hope which we can’t realize.
Well, as the weekend is coming in I remember having a chat with a friend who opened my mind to the fact that we can close the tap whenever we want to but it calls for discipline. With nightlife restrictions we are bound to drink from the comfort of houses with limited or no company especially with curfews still in place. This means that if your poison is liquor you’ll wait on the bottle to run dry.
In other fronts there is a need to use the stop signal as well. In the wake of COVID-19, job losses set in and if you were the kind of person to spend whatever comes in knowing the next pay is on the way the struggle has been real. Good thing is we can learn to close the tap at a reasonable point and put in place a buffer.
The final and most critical tap to close is our mouths which isn’t the strength of most. My mom used to say that the walls have ears and when you open your mouth on anything that you’d rather not spit out in public you are welcoming the wrath of the unknown on you because when it does come you’ll regret the very moment. So why not just close the tap and stay chilled? I know it might feel good being you look informed and updated but then most of it may not be adding any value to you or to the person you are telling it to.
“A black cat passing by the crossroad can stop hundreds of people, what a RED LIGHT on traffic signal has failed to do for a long time! Don’t wait for a black cat to cross your path.”