Wanting is a scam

When I want to be healthy, I police my environment.

No chocolate, liquid calories, nor bakery items can be within walking distance of my desk unless they’re being guarded by a series of social interactions and financial consequences.

Avoid the temptations of glazed donuts and pavlova cake long enough and you start realizing that you feel better without it. Personally, this is the exact moment I typically like to let my monkey brain take the wheel.

I don’t cheat my diet by sneaking an Oreo and choosing not to log its 55 calories. I quickly identify and procure the densest sources of carbohydrates within a 5km radius of my apartment and pay several strangers to simultaneously deliver them to me as fast as possible.

The best part of this glorious feast? The moment I pull up a chair to my kitchen table, covered in a full spread of all the flavors I could ask for. My satisfaction levels dip the moment I take my first bite.

I was scammed by desire. I believed that I could relieve my wanting by giving into its demands. I believed that the wanting would go away if only I gave it what it asked for.

Today it’s a dozen plain Krispy Kremes. Tomorrow it’s whatever new product Apple releases. Next week it’s something, anything, that’s 65% off for a limited time only. Wanting never ends.

Sustaining habits may become significantly easier once we can reframe wanting from something that requires action, to something that requires acceptance.

I wouldn’t know. I love Krispy Kreme.