Do you ever fight with yourself? Who wins when you do? Do you ever fight with yourself out loud? If so, is anyone else ever in earshot?
A silly question deserves a silly answer. Actually, I do fight with myself. This seems to be happening with increasing frequency lately. You see, as I pursue my education, I must read for long periods of time. Sometimes I get bored with reading. Sometimes I’d rather walk the dog or clean the house or play with the kids in the yard. At any rate, I must discipline myself to continue reading until I’m done with what I set out to do.
Sometimes I snack to get through.
Do you ever do that? I didn’t think so.
So, this fight with myself goes something like this: The sun is shining. I should be outside. Why don’t I just bring my books outside and read there? What a great idea. I’m glad I thought of it. I should bring a snack as I go outside, so that I don’t have to get up again, and I can keep right on reading. “Good idea. So far so good, you think.
Then I approach the snack zone: I should have carrot sticks for a snack. Yes, and some chocolate. It’s dark chocolate, so it’s healthy. Well, maybe just the carrot sticks. I am sitting on my rear after all. That healthy chocolate has more calories in it than I will burn while studying. Yes, but brains run on glucose. That’s sugar. The carrot sticks are healthy, and the dark chocolate is healthy. Plus dark chocolate has lots of healthy antioxidants. Remember?
The good news is that when you argue with yourself, you win every time. The bad news is that you also lose every time. The long and the short of it is that healthy snacking is harder than it sounds. We want to make healthier choices. But then we really want what we want. Conflicting information can get you when you least expect it, especially when you really, really want some chocolate.
I’m sure we will all lose an argument with ourselves some time along the way. At that point, give yourself a stern talking to, and vow to do better next time. Then do it!
Who ever heard of eating carrot sticks and chocolate anyway?