Periodic cycles of review encourage us to give thanks for recent highlights and celebrate successful milestones on the personal growth journey. Review also calls us to face things that didn't go so well and to adjust course for the next time. We have heard that it is insane to keep doing the same things and expect different results. Review gives us the focus to plan a different approach.
Here at the beginning of another holiday season, I am (again) confronting my eating habits and working on ways to encourage healthy intake for the coming month. I am re-reading a book I found especially helpful last year (Eating Less by Gillian Riley). It portrays unhealthy eating as a type of addiction and suggests steps known to help with other impulsive patterns. I am using those principles to guide my path through the holiday-eating landmines I have learned to expect.
Impulsive snacking: This week I want to apply what I am reading by inserting a 15-
minute pause between feeling an urge and taking the first bite. I want to use that pause to evaluate my reason for eating, to consider alternatives when the reason is not hunger, and if it is hunger, to look for healthy options.
Preparation and convenience: I also want to prepare tasty, healthy foods and keep them close at hand. I have developed a list of simple recipes and a shopping list to go with it. With the extra time demands this time of year, I know I will reach for easy and appealing options. I want those options to be good and good for me.
Social settings: Finally, I am working yet again on strategies for holiday parties and potlucks. I have established the habit of taking simple fruits to share, and will continue doing so. Quartered clementines and a mix of green and red grapes are always popular, and I enjoy them too. Another option is to eat before going to the event, and save room for one special appetizer, beverage, or dessert. It also helps, with open house-type parties, to arrive toward the end, limiting the duration of potential excess.
While dealing with holiday overeating is almost a cliché, it illustrates the broader principle of learning from challenges and setbacks at any time of year. It points to the creative potential of trying something new if we want a different outcome.
I still remember harboring an expectation during my teens that, at some point, I would arrive. The mental and emotional chaos would clear, and I would handle events and circumstances with wisdom and perspective and grace. I would be calm and unflappable.
Next I remember a conversation in my early 20s with a friend in her early 40s. I was shocked to learn that she still struggled with many of the same issues that troubled me. She had more perspective with the additional years, but her "maturity" was still very much a work in progress. At almost-70 I now see our parents in their 90s dealing with new and different setbacks, challenged to learn and adjust as their minds and bodies change.
A profound shift occurs when we embrace the adventure of lifelong learning. A colleague once observed, "When you check the last item off your to-do list, you die." On a similar note, if I ever resolved all the conflicts and overcame all the addictions and knew without question all the correct answers and made the wise choice each and every time, what more would remain to be done? It's not over until it's over. We might as well enjoy the game.
