The Walmart Induced Fugue State or How To Break Bad Habits
I had to go to Walmart this afternoon to pick up some stuff. Often, I get in there (and today was no exception) and I wander around aimless and lost (like I haven't been there thousands of times). Even with my list, half the time, I can't remember everything I need. My brain shuts off.
So there I was today, meandering pointlessly as usual and my sophomore year Abnormal Psychology popped into my head. (I will always remember this class because I had it with my future husband and my roommate liked to tease me about being abnormal with him.) Anyway, I thought of the fugue state.
Among other things, Wikipedia says this about the fugue state: "It is a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity, including the memories, personality, and other identifying characteristics of individuality". As in what do I need this week? What can I afford? What the heck am I going to make for dinner? Why am I here? Why are any of us here? But instead of having a full-blown existential crisis, I thought, wouldn't it be funny if I added "frequently brought about by shopping trips to Walmart" to that article.
Then I thought "that would be a great meme, if I knew how to generate memes (which I don't)." Even if only psychology nerds understood it, it would still be amusing.
Then I thought, I could write a blog post about it. This was exciting. Any of my friends will tell you that I'm incredibly energized and excited by new ideas. They're kinda' like crack for me.
And while I was happily thinking about how I could merge abnormal psychology and Walmart into this blog post, I walked right past all of my normal pitfalls. It's important to note here that I am highly susceptible to impulse buys. They are the bane of my existence. But I walked past clothes, shoes, the magazine rack and clearance items without a second thought. I didn't buy anything I didn't need or couldn't really afford (except for that apple pie which somehow, inexplicably just jumped into my shopping cart).
I heard a story on the local news a couple of years ago. It was about a dude who was driving on the highway eating yogurt covered raisins. He choked on one. This caused him to pass out which caused him to sideswipe another vehicle which caused his airbag to deploy which dislodged the raisin and saved his life.
I love this kind of circular logic where the things which caused your problem is also the thing which solves your problem.
The point is that if you want to change a behavior you have to change how you behave during the behavior. If you always do the same stuff in the same way all of the time (and we all do, often without even realizing it) the same stuff is always going to happen. QED and we all disappear in a puff of logic.
So there I was today, meandering pointlessly as usual and my sophomore year Abnormal Psychology popped into my head. (I will always remember this class because I had it with my future husband and my roommate liked to tease me about being abnormal with him.) Anyway, I thought of the fugue state.
Among other things, Wikipedia says this about the fugue state: "It is a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity, including the memories, personality, and other identifying characteristics of individuality". As in what do I need this week? What can I afford? What the heck am I going to make for dinner? Why am I here? Why are any of us here? But instead of having a full-blown existential crisis, I thought, wouldn't it be funny if I added "frequently brought about by shopping trips to Walmart" to that article.
Then I thought "that would be a great meme, if I knew how to generate memes (which I don't)." Even if only psychology nerds understood it, it would still be amusing.
Then I thought, I could write a blog post about it. This was exciting. Any of my friends will tell you that I'm incredibly energized and excited by new ideas. They're kinda' like crack for me.
And while I was happily thinking about how I could merge abnormal psychology and Walmart into this blog post, I walked right past all of my normal pitfalls. It's important to note here that I am highly susceptible to impulse buys. They are the bane of my existence. But I walked past clothes, shoes, the magazine rack and clearance items without a second thought. I didn't buy anything I didn't need or couldn't really afford (except for that apple pie which somehow, inexplicably just jumped into my shopping cart).
I heard a story on the local news a couple of years ago. It was about a dude who was driving on the highway eating yogurt covered raisins. He choked on one. This caused him to pass out which caused him to sideswipe another vehicle which caused his airbag to deploy which dislodged the raisin and saved his life.
I love this kind of circular logic where the things which caused your problem is also the thing which solves your problem.
The point is that if you want to change a behavior you have to change how you behave during the behavior. If you always do the same stuff in the same way all of the time (and we all do, often without even realizing it) the same stuff is always going to happen. QED and we all disappear in a puff of logic.
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