Reading does the brain good.

Reading, Law & Order SVU, Law & Order Criminal Intent, too many cigarettes, long drives. My current vices. 

You see I'm the kind of person who only partially deals with issues and subconsciously disperses them to the unused portions of my brain. I let it build there until it is oozing into the functioning matter then I like to bury it deeper. I don't really know how to properly deal with the stress of school (even though academics tends to be a relatively easy concept for me), the ever present nuisance of home and family, the death of a kind friend (the first time anyone I really knew or cared about died),  or my own interpersonal dysfunctions. 

Is burying myself in books any amount better than burying myself in frivolous reality TV or complete laziness? 

I know something, somewhere, inside of me is spinning backwards at the current time because I can't find the drive or focus I usually have for my school work, for my activities. And it's not just a bought of depression, because to be honest I've been feeling rather manic, for much too long now. I believe this is the state of over mania where everything is on self destruct, 90 mph toward the river with bad breaks.