Category Archives: My Addictions

Is running more addictive than porn, and other questions on my mind during my lockdown runs

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It’s day 537353928 of lockdown. Yeah, yeah. We’ve all chirped this corny joke. But it’s true. It’s been long and drawn out and for most runners, the only thing keeping us sane is the 6-9 am exercise slot.

As always, it’s the time alone on the road where my own thoughts (and lately bizarre questions) drown out my heavy breathing.

Speaking of heavy breathing…

The Strava vs. Pornhub strategy is an interesting one. Hear me out.

Pre the early morning exercise allowance, we ran endless paths across our lawns. We trotted up and down our driveways and for some athletes, it meant jogging circles on teeny tiny balconies. But the fact is that even though there’s a global pandemic, you won’t stop runners from doing what they love. Why? Because we’re addicts!

So then my question is: what’s up with Strava? Knowing how important (and addictive) exercise would be to most people globally craving the freedom of outdoors, they’ve made no effort at all to give us free access to their Premium service? Even temporarily until lockdown ends. But now, they’re removing some of the free stuff.

If you compare this to Pornhub who (I heard, *cough*) opened up premium access to its site with this statement, “With nearly one billion people in lockdown across the world because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s important that we lend a hand and provide them with an enjoyable way to pass the time.”

I’m disappointed in Strava.

I figure it would’ve been such a prime opportunity to let as many people as possible trial the Premium service that they keep trying to promote knowing that should it be worthwhile, we would definitely continue with after lockdown. Or not? It feels like so much else has been offered as free. Free yoga, free gym, free online learning. But to track my 5 km run, nope. 

<Edited: After I posted this blog, I received so much support from the running community, and I realized that perhaps I had not done my homework. It appears that they have extended the free trial, that they’re a small company & I should be supporting small businesses now more than ever.>

But hey, we keep running…

Does anyone else find running with the face mask tough? I can’t breathe properly so I’ve been sticking with the buff since it’s easier but boy does my whole face sweat! Here’s a trick in how to make sure the buff stops sliding down your face…

One more thing…

If I’m the only one who drinks the milk at home, and we’re not getting visitors during the lockdown, surely it’s acceptable for me to drink the milk straight from the bottle? Yes? No? Whatvevs, this is the new norm of lockdown. Pffft.

Running, porn, or milk. No judgment from me. It’s what we need to do to survive COVID-19. I’m sure you’ll agree. 

Colouring to zone out

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I stress. I stress about the smallest issue and allow those thoughts to eat me, to consume me and overwhelm my thoughts. So when I noticed on my social media feeds that a couple of people were colouring in as a way of de-stressing I thought, eh, let me give it a try.

Just to be clear, I am not the creative one in my family. My sister studied art and to this day will paint the most exquisite paintings. So it’s odd that this appealed to me.

Gwynnevere Salgado paintings

Two of my sister, Gwynnevere Salgado’s, paintings

I bought two different adult colouring books (and one for my sister). I also bought a range of colouring pencils and kokkies.

Colouring in

Some of the ones I’ve completed from my colouring in book

I started on my first pattern and since then, I’ve been hooked! My hand aches! I sit in front of TV and colour in. And I really do zone out. I get completely fixated on the page and the colours and the shading. I’m in my element!

How ironic that such a simple thing can be so addictive and yet so wonderful and fun at the same time! Has it helped me de-stress? I zone out and focus on my thoughts and get clarity on some issues. It’s helped me to zone in while I zone out, if that makes any sense.

It also gives me another hobby. Running takes up quite a bit of my time but this is easy to pick up and do whenever or wherever I feel like it. And let’s be honest, it’s also a much better option than hours of Candy Crush.

(This post is unsponsored. I’ve seen various colouring books at Exclusive Books as well as PNA. Go on, do it! Join me in this addictive fun!)

Goodbye Blackberry. Hello Life.

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I’ve always been a Blackberry fan. Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you how irritating it was to be around me because whenever you saw me, I would have my phone glued to my hand.

My Blackberry was my life. I was addicted to it and how it opened up a whole new world for me.

But after 2 years of total dedication to my BB, I’ve switched over to iPhone.

Funny enough, the decision was an easy one to make. It wasn’t the blackout of 2011 that made me change my mind, nor was it the constant bad press that RIM has been receiving about its financials. BB has just started to let me down, in a big way, especially with regards to social media.

I found most evenings, my Twitter time line was not refreshing. Posting a tweet would take me up to 2 minutes. Worst of all is that I struggled to connect to the Internet all the time! And when I wasn’t charging my battery, I was doing a battery pull. In addition to that, I had started to use KK’s phone for taking photos for my blog and had seen some of the cool photo apps available via the iStore.

It’s been a month now since I made the switch and I must admit that I’ll never go back to Blackberry. iPhone is simply in a different league all together!

But with the switch, I’ve noticed something else too… I have my life back. (don’t laugh)

I know this is going to sound weird, but my BB seemed to “own” me. Being a typical A-type personality person, I was not able to ignore that little red flashing light. Yes, I’d try waiting a few minutes before I’d look, but it would kill me not to do so immediately. I was completely controlled by that red flashing light! It was like a spell! I would answer to emails at 23:00 at night and read work emails on the beach, even sneak quick peaks at my phone whilst driving. I could not put my BB down. Ironically, with the iPhone I can. I’ve taken back the control.

I find I am tweeting less but cheating on Twitter by playing around with other sexy apps such as Instagram. I also love all the other camera apps!

Am I still in that honeymoon phase of iPhone? Most probably…

Confession: If you look in my bag, I still carry the old Blackberry around with me. Maybe it’s my comfort blanket? I don’t know. As much as it’s let me down, I still feel I need to have it close by. I’m not ready to pack it away just yet. Maybe it’s because I still can’t believe the iPhone can be that great. But it is…

* Photo of me taken at #TBDza courtesy of @HayleyM_

Time for a clean up

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I’ve heard it so many times before: If you are trying to lose weight, make sure you don’t stock anything that can potentially tempt you. To be honest, if I’m going to be serious about sticking to a proper, healthy eating plan, I got to do what’s right.

So I finally cleaned out my sweet cupboard. By cleaned out, I don’t mean I sat down and ate everything. I literally threw stuff away and took the rest of the sweets to work (only to make my colleagues grow chubby!).

I have been meaning to do it for ages but never got around to doing it and every weekend, I’d just buy more and more goodies, adding to the heap.

My weakness is chips. I love chips! Any flavour but especially the chutney flavoured ones.

Funny enough, I am able to resist chocolates. In fact, some years have gone by when we’ve had to throw Easter eggs away because they’ve gone old.

Sorting through the cupboard, I was horrified that so many of the sweets had passed their expiry date. So much of it had to be thrown away as it was inedible. Some of the goodies I had no memory of even buying. Worst of all was that some of it were gifts from people that had gone to waste.

What’s left in my cupboard are packets of nuts, dried fruit (and maybe one bag of speckled eggs and a pack of caramello bears). But no more chocolates. No more buckets of sour gums. No more chips.

And it feels good…

Why do we allow things in our lives to gather dust? Why do we put off clearing out and getting rid of things in our lives that are only causing us to slip up or not accomplish our goals? How come we don’t see how unnecessary things take up so much space in our lives?