A Legal Beachy Addiction

I saw a Facebook post from someone at Calvary Bible School who is undergoing "music withdrawal." Instantly I knew how to describe a phenomenon I've observed over the past number of months. In a medical sense only people who have addictions undergo withdrawal. I think music can be an addiction.

I don't claim to be anything other than an interested observer on this matter--certainly not an authority or a professional of any kind. The following observations are more tentative in my mind than they sound.

You may be addicted to music if--

1. You can't work with your hands without listening to music.

2. You can't study without listening to music.

3. You can't stay home if a good live music presentation is going on within an hour's drive from your home.

4. You have an opinion on every singing group or musician ever mentioned in your circle of acquaintances.

5. You dream constantly of the next good music thing you will buy the minute you have the money.

6. You can't go to sleep without listening to music.

7. You can't wait to learn to play the next instrument.

8. You're in a crowd that engages only in vocal religious music and you feel stifled.

9. A sizable portion of your income goes to buying music gadgets or experiences.

10. You think more is always better where music is concerned.

11. You're offended if anyone challenges your music choices.

12. You use music as an escape from responsibility.

13. You can't enjoy singing unless the people around you are good singers.

14. You can't enjoy singing unless you're a very good singer.

15. You refuse to accept any definition of good or bad music beyond your own preferences.

16. You think anyone disinterested in music is probably mentally, emotionally, or spiritually abnormal.

Do you agree that music can be an addiction? Are there alternatives to "cold turkey" withdrawal? (Where did that term ever come from?) Or is music a good addiction that does not call for any resistance at all?

**********************

I'm pleased to say that I had my grades for the past semester ready before I went to school today. I'm not so pleased to say that it took me till past 2:30 pm to get to school.

We did not get snowed in. It wasn't looking too promising when I went to bed, so I planned to get up at 5:30 as usual and get going. This morning it dawned on me that with this semester's lighter teaching schedule, I could probably just as well work here at home as at school--with fewer interruptions and more room to spread out my multitude of notebook binders and stacks of papers. A quick call to Norma revealed that even the usual learning center obligation before lunch on Monday would not be an issue today because Norma was not going to the grade school at that time as she normally does. So I ended up having my own version of a snow day--a furiously busy kind of snow day, however.

I got to school almost in time to teach my typing class, although a slight schedule confusion on my part necessitated Norma's taking over the first few minutes of class.

Tonight I feel like a new person. I'm so excited about all the possibilities for ways to spend the evening that I may not want to stop to go to bed at a decent hour.

*********************

I'm off to the next fun thing to do this evening--look at seed catalogs and start putting together orders.