I know that I have an all-or-nothing type personality. I remember realizing it when I was in college. I had a snack machine right outside my dorm room suite door. I passed that machine every day and didn’t even think about it. But then one day about two weeks prior to the year ending, I decided to have a snack from the machine with a friend. That did it. I thought about a snack every time I walked by, and in those two weeks I had a snack from that machine every day. No will power for me. I either can’t think about something or when I do, I will fight it till I give in. Thank goodness I didn’t try it at the beginning of the year. Can’t imagine what I would have looked like.
I have known this about me for years, yet never really think about it too much. However I recently read and article by Gretchen Rubin on her blog about the One-Coin Argument. One coin doesn’t make you rich, yet at some point one coin will make you rich. A great paradox.
Over the last couple of years I have been changing my eating habits due to health issues. 6 months I stopped eating sugar in order to stop my dependency on sugar. I love me some sugar, but I knew it was causing some of my issues. The first three days were tough, but then I felt so much better when I wasn’t eating sugar. It made a huge difference, but I thought I couldnt’ NOT eat sugar always, so I have been trying to figure out how to incorporate it back into my diet in small amounts.
Well that hasn’t gone so well because of my all-or-nothing personality. I was telling myself one, small sugary snack wouldn’t make a difference. I did well at first, but then I travelled a lot in March and found that “one” didn’t make a difference but that I was regularly adding that “one coin” to my day. Before I knew it, “one” turned into “four”, I was back to being addicted to sugar.
So I am trying to re-regulate my body, and I am spending some time trying to figure out how I change my all-or-nothing personality when it comes to sugar. I can’t go on being addicted to sugar, I just don’t feel good when I do and it affects my family. Yet I am not sure how to incorporate a little in my diet without totally crashing and eating too much. Oh the joys of life. 🙂 I just know I am going to keep trying.
So what about you? Do you have a One-Coin mentality on something that you are working on getting out of your life or making it a habit?
Oh and yes, the photos are of some of my favorite sugar snacks. I have mostly given up Coke, but the other items still get me.
It's Still Life 
mmm chocolate covered raisins!!! those look delicious!
This post really resonates with me. I definitely have the “all or nothing” trait! I see it in all aspects of my life — my work habits, my diet, my thrifting, my perfectionism. I remember giving up smoking MANY years ago and knowing from the start that I could never have even a puff of a cigarette again. To this day, I refuse. I know I’d never stop with just one.
That said, your post has also made me hungry for a Cadbury egg and a coke! 😉
Heather, too bad we don’t live near each other; we could be great friends. I am so glad i am not the only one.
Karen, I’m also one of those, as well as in many aspects of my life – sugar rules, & tends to rule my life & always has. I know it’s not good, could catch up to me, but my recent physical didn’t warrant too much change, so I’ll continue to enjoy & trust in my ‘in moderation’ consideration of things as much as I still can for now ❤ Continue doing what you know is right & best for you – finding any little slight replacements along the way. ;o)
It is a daily balancing act. If I could just figure out how to let the all or nothing go. The “in moderation” just doesn’t seem to happen for me.