Dudes and dudettes, dear friends! It’s been a while since I published the last blog post. But, worry not, you haven’t missed much…
In the meantime, I started taking diatonic harmonica lessons, learned how to repair MacBook Power Adapter (and actually repaired it), designed a video game, sold the remaining stuff from the basement on ebay, got a pair of brand new teeth, gained some weight and… I decided to quit eating sweets. Again. Only, this time I really mean it. No more sugar for this guy. It’s already 4th day today since I quit eating any kind of sweets.
Chocolate? Nope, I don’t eat chocolate anymore. Cookies perhaps? No. Cheese cake? Nah. I’m not even eating dates, which used to be my favourite sugar substitute. Since I’ve never been a fan of Coke and co. anyway, essentially – I just had to get rid of typical sweets from my diet.
But why did I suddenly decide to stop eating sweets, you’re asking? Well, last week at work, our cleaning guy came to pick up my trash bin in order to empty it, just like he does every other day. That trash bin was full of chocolate wrapping papers, soft cake packagings etc. He looked at the trash bin, then he looked at me, as if he feels sorry for me and said: “Hey capitan, what’s wrong?” He just shook his head and moved on, not waiting for an answer or an explanation. That very moment I decided to finally lose weight and stop eating sweets. Enough is enough.
From my experience, this process is very similar to quitting smoking (or overcoming any other addiction) :
– Admit (to yourself) that you’re addicted and that you need to quit
– Decide to break the addiction
– Find good reasons why you need to quit eating sweets
– Quit
1. Admit
In the very first step, you have to admit that you have a problem. Because, if you “don’t have a problem” (or more precisely: you don’t see a problem), you won’t be able to find a solution. That’s obvious, right?
2. Decide
Once you realised that you do have a problem with addiction (of any kind), it’s time for a decision. Decide to quit. You don’t have to actually action on it right now, just make a firm decision: e.g. “I’m not eating any sweets anymore”
3. Find reasons
You’ll need really good reasons to quit. The better reasons you have, the easier it will be to convince yourself that you need to break that bad habit.
4. Quit
Simply quit. If it’s smoking – just stop smoking. If it’s eating sweets – just stop eating sweets. As easy as that. Your reason(s) will support you in doing so.
And, as my favourite yoga book* suggests – this should be done not by forceful suppression but by detachement. If you suppress the desire, this desire is still there, just sitting and waiting for the right moment to come. Detachment is the key.
So I detached myself from the sweets for the time being. Let’s see how long I’ll stay sweets-free this time. 😀 I’ll keep you posted.
* Bases of Yoga by Sri Aurobindo
