I used to be a smoker. I know that may surprise some people. It definitely won't shock others, but yes, I used to be a smoking fool. Between the ages of 16-34, I probably smoked more than 125,000 cigarettes. (Wow! That's a little eye opening.) It was one of those habits I tried to kick every 2 or 3 years, but failed. It wasn't until I was forced to spend a week with my family where I didn't smoke that I finally stopped for good. On December 9th, 2008 I was done. It has been more than three years, and I certainly can say that I don't have a craving anymore.
Bad habits...there are so many of them in this world, and it seems like everyday people are coming up with more and more. When I was a kid, picking your nose, or cracking your knuckles or biting your nails were all considered bad habits. As I grew up addictions to many different things, including alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs is considered a bad habit. Not only were they bad habits, but they were considered filthy or nasty by others. Most of the bad habits we can think of are easily recognizable because someone much older and wiser at some point told us not to do them or said things like, "Do as I say, not as I do" whenever we caught them in the act.
Good habits...the other side of the bad habit coin are the good habits we employ all the time. Washing our hands after using the bathroom is a good habit. Flossing every day is a good habit. Closing your mouth when you chew is another example. Good habits seem to be those things that our parents, especially our mothers start to instill in us when we are very young. I remember that my grandmother tried to get me to take my hat off indoors. That is more of a good manner, but if I did it automatically, then I guess it would be a habit. I am wearing a hat right now, and I am not sitting outside.
Then there are the other habits. These are neither good nor bad, they are just sort of there. Some will debate this of course, but these are things that aren't going to hurt anyone, but they don't save lives either. I am talking about turning on the TV when you walk in the door, hitting the snooze button 4 times before you get up in the morning, or rinsing your plate in the sink after you are done eating. Throughout the years there are just certain things that we do, that we don't even think about anymore. We just go about our day and do them on a regular basis. And because no one looks twice at what we are doing, these habits really don't have any affect on how we live our lives.
Hmm, or do they? It seems to me that I may have stumbled upon a grey area here. Why? Because, there are some things that we do in life that others won't question, yet do have consequences in our lives. Let's get back to me. I am still fat. In fact, one of those habits I am talking about is in the way that I have eaten over the years. In the past, when I would go through a drive through, I would have a set number of things that I would order. Usually this would consist of at least two sandwiches, depending on the size. It could be three if they were coming of the dollar menu. There was always some type of french fries or onion rings, and a large diet coke. (I know the hypocrisy of eating all that food with a diet coke.) This was the norm for me, and I always went big too. Up sizing was another one of those habits that no one batted an eye at, but was clearly BAD!!!
It got worse when I was in a bad state emotionally. When Heather is deployed, I can have some bad thoughts which almost always translated into bad days. I would go to McDonald's for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I remember one time in college, I had had a particularly bad day at work, and without even thinking about it, I scarfed down 2 Subway footlong sandwiches with chips, cookies and the soda. The sandwiches were tuna, and steak and cheese by the way. I guess emotional eating or stressful eating was definitely a bad habit of mine, but unlike people constantly telling me that I should quit smoking, no one was telling me that I should quit eating.
The problem is that to this day, we still don't believe that eating poorly can as dangerous for us as smoking or excessive drinking or doing drugs. While I certainly don't condone any of those activities, I can no longer say that it is not just as dangerous a habit to have. I used to have to have chips in the house. I used to have to have chocolate at least once a day. I used to down bowls of sugary cereals just out of boredom. These things were as addictive and habitual for me as the cigarettes were, and yes, they were killing me. Just like cigarettes, the Big Macs, Twinkies and Pringles were slowly robbing years off of my life. I just didn't want to admit it, and because no one would hold me accountable like they would if they caught me smoking...I never had to think about it.
I think I have discovered that this weight loss thing is all about correcting bad habits and making them good. Making the right choices automatic in my life is important. I once heard that it takes 30 days to make something a habit. So I think I can begin there. If I write a 30 day exercise plan and a keep track of my food for 30 days hopefully it will become a habit. Hopefully, the right decisions and good habits are about making changes 1 day at a time for a month. After that, we can do it long term with much less effort. There will still be relapses and issues, but after 30 days, I should know how to handle it.
1 Corinthians 10:23 says, "You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is good for you. You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is beneficial." Life will continue in one of two ways. It will follow the status quo, where I eat what I want to eat and stay as lazy with my life as I want, or it can change. I can eat a pizza, or I can go for a run. I can scarf down some burritos, or I can choose a salad with grilled chicken. I can settle for a splurge meal every once in a while, or I can splurge all the time letting my instincts and desires take over. I am allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for me. I guess I should make it a habit to find out what is!
Great post Steve!
ReplyDeleteJohn Shockey