It's getting close to that time of year. We’ve all made resolutions, usually
about once a year when January 1 rolls around, resolutions about working toward
healthier habits, and ultimately, better health. And, we’ve all, at times
veered away from our best intentions, usually unintentionally. This says,
“we’re human. It’s what we humans do.” And, it also says we sometimes end up
doing what we don’t intend to do or want to do. That’s part of what makes us
human. When we make a resolution, or set our sights on a goal we want to
meet—and then we don’t, that also makes us human. Maybe not happy with
ourselves, but human.
So if we don’t give up, we try
again, and maybe we try harder. We fall down six times, we get up seven. But,
just how hard are we supposed to try? How hard is this wellness stuff supposed
to be?
Actually, it’s about as hard as we
make it. It’s really pretty simple. It’s just not easy. So, which is it?
Well,
like life, it’s a long chain of choices. There are “cues” all around us that
move us toward or away from the choices we make—and the reasons why. We make certain
choices because we think they are better for us. We associate the choices we
make with comfort or denial, success or failure. And, sometimes we choose one
thing over another without even knowing why. (Do you know that by simply believing something is good for you, or
believing it tastes good, you attribute a higher value to it—and eat more of
it. As an example, if you see an expensive looking name on a bottle of wine,
you will tend to drink more of it. If you buy it on sale, you’ll appreciate the
bargain and drink still more.)
Now, let’s think about less . . .
because less of something is also a choice. Less
isn’t necessarily about deprivation. As an active choice, less of something can
actually be more (no this isn’t gobbledygook, there is a point), depending on
how you choose to look at it. Less food can mean better health (more health). It can mean weight loss (more health). It can mean success as you
go after your New Year’s resolution (more
health). You probably have the idea by now. And, where ideas are concerned,
here’s a wild one . . . we know it’s socially acceptable to support each other
when we’re trying to break the smoking habit. Think what we could accomplish,
individually and collectively, if we made eating a less socially acceptable
habit?
Here’s a final thought on the
choices we make, the reasons we make them, and what we hope to achieve with our
New Year’s resolution of working toward better health and healthier habits. Have you ever thought about what you can accomplish if rather
than focusing on what you “have” to give up, you focus instead on what you will
get in return?
