I learn a lot from my clients and I do mean A LOT. I think sometimes I might learn more from them than they realize, which is totally good since I don’t want us *all* to be nutrition, fitness, wellness know-it-alls! 😉
One of my clients brought up a situation that he deals with on a semi-regular basis.
He calls it the “Oh f*ck it, whatever” moment. I cleaned it up a little but you get the point.
What does he mean by it?
He means that we all hit a point where we’re really trying hard to be healthy but we hit a roadblock. We stumble. We might even trip & fall & bloody up our knees a bit. It’s at that point where we can choose to dust ourselves off & keep at the healthy habits we’ve been working on OR where we just say, forget it & sink back into whatever self destructive habits we were trying to quit in the first place.
It’s the potato chip phenomenon. You open up a bag intending to really only have a few chips. You ignore it when your hand keeps traveling back to the bag, then to your mouth, then back to the bag & back to your mouth. You look down & see that you’ve easily worked through more than half the bag.
That is the moment. This is when you get to choose if you put the bag down & slowly back away OR if you just say f*ck it, whatever & finish off the bag.
There’s some rationalization. If the bag is there, I’m just going to finish it off eventually. I’ll either eat it now or eat it later, does it really make a difference? I’ve already fallen off the wagon so why not just go all out? Once the chips are gone, they’re gone. I will NOT be buying any more of those. They’re evil.
Which path do you choose? Which path is the right one? Is there a right path?
What I’m getting at is that this moment- this “forget about it, whatever” moment- is not the test that it appears to be. You aren’t choosing the good or evil path & sealing off your future. You’re just simply hitting an obstacle on your road to better health.
Of course this is a difficult & emotional moment for a lot of people. I know I struggle with it myself. But what it comes down to is pretty simple- what do you need to choose today to satisfy whatever is going on inside of you?
Do you need to eat the bag of chips? Do you need to eat only half of it? Do you need to even open it up?
Whatever the chips symbolize to you, the decision rests in your hands. But before you make the decision, you need to recognize the moment.
So today, tomorrow, or this week- watch & see if & when that moment hits you.
How do you react instinctively? What do you do?
If you able to, take out any judgment of right or wrong. Just look & see how you react.
Once you know what makes you tick, then you can start addressing what’s really going on.
Or maybe you’ll just be saying “f*ck it, whatever” & go for the whole bag of chips…
