…like, I guess, smoking, or eating that third/fifth donut/slice of pizza, or sitting on your butt instead of going to the gym or walking… and asking yourself the whole time, “Why am I doing this bad thing to myself?” or “Why am I NOT doing this thing that’s good for me?”
If you do have these conversations with yourself, how do you reply to yourself?
My inner monolog is often telling me to stop eating/stand up straight/blanace the chechbook. Most of the time I ignore it. And here I am: fat, slouching and uncertain how much money I have. If beign those things bothered me more, I’d do what the voice says, but I just don’t want to.
Oh my yes. But I am not a regretful sort of person, and I make an effort to be at least moderately healthy, so if I reach for a third donut or stare at SDMB at five in the morning and wonder why I still haven’t slept, I just think of what would make me most happy. Will I really be happy hungry and four-hundred calories lighter? Probably not. Will I be happier if I go to sleep and catch at least a few hours of shut-eye before work? Probably. Bugger. Better sleep, then.
It’s all about weighing the options and making the best choice for the moment, whether or not that’s the “good” or “smart” choice. At heart I’m a hedonist.
I use an evidence-based system where I try to tie the bad behavior to a specific consequence that I know I don’t like. Looking at food that I know isn’t good for me, I try to conjure up the feeling of being bloated and uncomfortable that I know will follow. Late at night on the Dope, I try to remember that lack of sleep = exhaustion = anxiety at work the next morning. Sometimes thinking of the consequences will help me to stop the behavior. Sometimes I don’t even bother to think about the consequences, because I know it will be painful and I just want to keep doing what I’m doing.
Only when I stay up too late at night. I indulge myself without regret when it comes to food, but I get very hard on me when I stay up past my bedtime.
I just tell myself that no matter how healthy a lifestyle I live, no matter what I eat, or how active I am, or whether I smoke or drink or use drugs or not, all I’m doing is putting off the inevitable.
And so is everyone else.
I don’t have that many bad habits, but one is that I love to lay out in the sun on the beach in the summer.
I exercise five or six days a week, never eat dessert, I eat healthy meals, and snack minimally (and when I do it’s usually something like dried fruit or trail mix). But every couple weeks I’ll be sitting on the couch, watching TV before going to bed, and decide that I want some Oreos, so I’ll eat about a dozen. I justify it by saying, I’ve been good, I deserve it.
My loose definition of living is doing something stupid. Today due to not paying attention I nearly rear-ended a car - most alive I’ve been all day. And its well known that MOAIs make everything more fun - so chain-smoking and drinking >20 cups of coffee a day are a definate must.
Okay, I’ve got to ask - what does MOAI stand for here?
Hmm. I don’t consider lying on the beach to be an unhealthy habit. To me it’s almost a form of worship!
maybe Moments Of Accidental Idiocy?
Every day. I don’t reply 'cause I don’t talk to strangers.
I’m type 2 diabetic, but eat chocolate, and take sugar in my coffee.