Crisis blogger Maarten

When I started IkPas on December 29, I initially counted the days that I didn't drink. When the non-drinking had become a bit ingrained, I started counting weeks. And now I have reached the point where I count the months. It is that I am currently still blogging for IkPas, which makes me aware that I still do not drink, but if I did not blog, it would not -drinking has already become such a habit that I don't really think about it anymore. Where I used to see every small setback, whether it was a hard day with the kids, a physical discomfort or something else, a reason to spoil myself with a nice drink, not drinking has now become second nature that even in those cases I don't even think about drinking. Had I still been drinking, I would undoubtedly have seized the opportunity of the corona crisis to drink more often and more. Because let's face it, a lot of people are confined to their homes these days, just like me. Shopping for my parents and our own family is actually the only outing I still take. That's the only time of the week that I see other people besides my wife and kids. In short, the social and cultural life, which for many people is associated with the weekly or sometimes even daily intake of the necessary units of alcoholic drink, is completely at a standstill. It is not surprising that alcohol consumption in the home situation has increased for many people. That would have irrevocably also been the case with me if not drinking had become a bit ingrained and if I had not used the corona crisis to extend my 100-day IkPas Challenge and there, as a big stick behind the door and because I just like very much, about blog.

Because the corona crisis also throws a spanner in the works for the King's Games, Daltonschool de Vlier, our children's school, had come up with a number of fun challenges and a coloring contest for the children. Last Friday the children received a beautiful coloring page, a skipping rope and a Frisbee neatly delivered to their home in a bag. The challenge with the frisbee consisted of throwing it as far as possible and then counting the steps to the place where the frisbee had landed. The jump rope challenge involved making as many jumps as possible in one minute with skipping rope. The idea was to make videos or photos of both challenges and send them to school so that the school could make a nice compilation of it. So no sooner said than done. However, my children aged 5 and 6 came into contact with a skipping rope for the first time and of course had no idea what exactly the intention was. So as an enthusiastic father I thought, after I had already shortened the skipping rope a bit because of their short length, I would like to demonstrate what the intention is. Not smart, because jumping rope with a hunched back is asking for trouble. Those problems actually arose quite shortly after my enthusiastic demonstration. I felt that my back couldn't really appreciate what I had done. As the day went on, my back only got stiffer and more painful. The next morning I had the greatest possible difficulty getting out of bed properly. And then we have a fantastic high bed. Anyway, it was immediately clear to me that this was going to bother me for a while. My wife's advice, she is a neurologist, was to take a lot of painkillers for a few days and especially to keep moving. So we'll just do that. I even asked my online sports coach for specific exercises that can promote the recovery of my back. Because I really want to get rid of the pain and limitation of movement as quickly as possible and get back to being sporty again.

And you know what's remarkable? That, despite the fact that the corona crisis and my back injury severely limit me in my daily life, I do not long for a drink for a single moment. And if I've learned anything about myself and my drinking so far, it's that not drinking is much easier to sustain than drinking in moderation. Do the current circumstances have no effect on me at all, you might ask? Certainly, I am only human after all and notice that this back injury, the use of painkillers, not being able to exercise and therefore lose my energy, definitely have an effect on my state of mind. This manifests itself in particular in my compulsion to control. It's much easier for me to turn a mosquito into an elephant. My ability to put things into perspective is severely affected and I get angry more easily about silly things. Not fun for myself, nor for my roommates. So I regularly try to count to ten, what am I saying, to a hundred. I can keep up with social distancing and home education for a while, but the combination with not being able to function optimally is difficult. Fortunately the sun is shining!

If you are bored, feel free to take a look at my website www.bambobeertje.nl where I write a new blog every week about things like happiness, health, smart technology and sustainability. Until next time!