Every year the legal department throws a BIG holiday luncheon pitch-in. We all sign up to bring in something to share, and we spend the afternoon eating goodies, nibbling on this and that and socializing with our co-workers and the visiting retirees. It is usually pretty fun, and the food is awesome.
However, while Diet Girl has managed to build up her resistance to donuts and her will power against pints of ice cream, she isn't a saint. If you put me in a room filled with delicate pastries, a Dairy Queen cake, cheesy potatoes, sourdough bread, a Hardee's Frisco Thickburger, and a nice garden salad...I'm not going to be craving the salad, believe me! Yes, I like salads, and I no longer drown them in dressing, but given the choice between healthy and calorie-laden, I'm gonna be bad. So to resist temptation, I just run the other way most of the time. I don't give myself the option to cheat.
So a fellow legal assistant and I have already worked out our plan for that day. We are going to sneak out on our lunch hour, enjoy a healthy meal at a local restaurant and then come back after our lunch break and join in the festivities and socialize with the rest of the gang. The party goes on until mid-afternoon anyway, and so we wouldn't be missing out on much at all. For us, it is our attempt to have the best of both worlds. Sounds like a great plan, right?
Well, then today we got an email from the planning committee about a holiday cookie exchange during the luncheon as well. Each person is being asked to bring a couple dozen homemade cookies to share, etc. I read that email and just starting laughing. I couldn't hold myself back. I said out loud: "Asking me to bring cookies is like asking a recovering alcoholic to bring the wine! NO WAY!" So I went and talked to my friend on the committee, and told her just that, and she laughed and totally understood. I'm all for sharing, but I don't have any business making cookies or having cookies in my house at all!
Other co-workers have different opinions...Just take a day off from your diet. Live a little and don't be so hard on yourself.
But I can't do that. I've lived for 34+ years -- all the while giving myself allowances, indulging bad eating habits, overeating, emotional eating, etc. And THAT is all part of how I got to a seriously unhealthy place. I have to be strong. I have to be disciplined. I have to live in a cookie-free zone. It's all for the best right now.
3 comments:
your last paragraph is so inspiring! I am going to try to keep that in mind when I am getting this extra coat off of me ; )
You go girl!!! You are inspiring all of us.
Mel, I really do take notes from your disciplined, purposeful way of living in an overly indulgent world! I might make candy cane cookies or cutouts with the kiddos, but then I want to give them away! I really don't want sweets in my house, not b/c I can't enjoy a cookie now and again, but b/c as you said, I have enjoyed a few too many cookies all my life and need to just say no.
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