When Numbing Isn't a Good Thing

 I'm on the floor reading to my grandson out of a Hebrew picture book. He's looking at the pictures and identifying what he sees. 

Oven, vacuum cleaner, broom, cat, frypan, spatula. 

He's telling me what is in the picture in English. At two years old they add words exponentially, every day is a learning experience and it isn't tiring, it isn't boring. It is exciting, easy for him. 

As he 'reads' the picture I read the Hebrew translation, work on learning that. And I think, Why am I not doing this more often, learning simple nouns in Hebrew? One day I will move there and will be at a disadvantage at the department store.

Hebrew Picture Book

Hebrew Picture Book Kitchen

Until now I thought the only important word to be 'check' in the restaurants. 

Later, when his father retrieves him and I'm alone with FD, we're catching our collective breath, I scroll to the New York Times Spelling Bee and begin to work the game.  It's a hard one and I am spending WAY too much time on this, a little angry at myself for getting started. Already I have an ongoing online scrabble game with a friend that could easily waste an hour every day if I let it. 

So let's talk.

When people are depressed, or even anxious, angry, we talk about coping strategies and one of them is numbing, toning down the noise with simple activities. A game on the phone would be one of them. Numbing is not a bad thing, assuming one is not clouding the head with substances. That would include alcohol. 

Learning something new is a coping strategy, too. It can be.  Applying ones aptitudes, attending to new stimuli, incorporating new information into what we refer to as SELF, is calming in its way, and productive at the same time. 

I think about this, that I should be doing that, not activities that bring me immediate satisfaction (or frustration) like Spelling Bee. 

So I'm quitting that. Gonna' make myself some Hebrew flashcards. 

Let's see how that goes. 

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