Reflection Post #5

Hello Readers!
                I am reporting to you with my fifth reflection post on my progress with my Genius Hour thus far, and I must confess, I have made a slip up! I may or may not have binged on a ridiculous amount of chocolate chip cookies over the weekend and I was super disappointed in myself!
You may notice I used a past tense word when describing my feelings on this cookie-binging incident, and I’ll tell you why after I give you the play-by-play of how this happened.
                Essentially, I was at a Shoppers Drug Mart waiting for prescription to be processed. There were issues with my benefits and the prescription form being lost, so I had some time to kill while I waited for everything to get sorted out. As I’ve talked about previously, wandering in the grocery store is not a good idea! You are vulnerable to impulse buys that put you over your budget and/or buying unhealthy things that you didn’t plan to get. In my case, it was my favorite brand of chocolate chip cookies on display and the end of the aisle AND on sale! Talk about my kryptonite, chocolate cookies on sale. So against my better judgement, I grabbed a bag with the ever-so-common mantra of “treat yourself” in mind. I thought, hey I’ve been good! I’ve barely had any sweets in weeks, even months! Every once in a while it’s fine to indulge. Unfortunately, this indulging turned into basically eating the entire box with my boyfriend with milk while watching Netflix that night. Talk about indulging and treating yourself!
                Immediately after the binge, I felt so crappy about it! I made the mistake of looking at the nutritional information after we finished and that certainly didn’t make me feel any better. I was shaming myself for even buying it in the first place, and being disappointed in myself that I didn’t contain myself and only have a few. I spent some time reflecting on my Genius Hour journey thus far, and that’s when I had a change of heart and decided to take it easy on myself. I realized that it’s not really realistic to cut all the unhealthy things you enjoy out of your life altogether permanently! Balance is important, and indulging in little bits sometimes is fine. It’s not going to totally derail your health to have a few cookies here or there or a chocolate bar every once in a while. I’ve been considering that it might be better to have that period indulgence so that you don’t overdo it when you finally let yourself have a “weak moment”. I think that if I take on this perspective, I will be healthier in the long run because I won’t overindulge at random times like I did that night.
                I think my overall lesson from this experience is, don’t be too hard on yourself! We’re not perfect! Unless you’re trying to become a body builder or have serious fitness goals, the occasionally sugary snack is not the end of the world!