One of the biggest things about becoming an adult for me is to avoid temptation, or at least try to stave it off as much as possible. In the world I live in, there is no shortage of temptations concerning food, games, entertainment, scenery, relaxation, etc., etc., lots and lots of things that promise to make us happy and increase our enjoyment. It's gotten to a point where I can probably spend the rest of my life doing those tempting things, but there would be severe consequences. So like any normal human being, I have to manage the temptations, enjoy them moderately,
The last few weeks in Chicago have been heavenly, full of unbelievable weather for a city that is known for unpredictable weather patterns. 60-70 degree days, not a cloud in the sky, late summer weather, some humidity but not suffocating humidity...perfect for any tourist or person who enjoys the outdoors. Yet I'm stuck indoors at my job for 12 hours a day, unable to reach out and grab that great weather, take full advantage of it. Resisting temptation is having to
Chicago, as a city, kind of reflects giving it to temptation, the most obvious one being food. This place is known for some famous foods like deep dish pizza, italian beef, and Chicago-style hot dogs, but while delicious those foods are also known for being extremely unhealthy and disastrous for one's waist line (MJ and I have been experienced this firsthand). Other cities definitely have their own temptations as well, but LA might have some other non-weight gain temptations like drugs, thrills, etc. Chicago's citizens on an average basis seem to have given into to the temptation based on the outer appearance of some people (and I'm not slender by any means, but some people can really seem pretty big). Food is the biggest temptation, because the joy is so instantaneous and the taste buds so easily reflect our desires, and we feel hunger every few hours or so, or about 3 times every day. When feeling really hungry, it's really hard to convince yourself to eat something healthy, I get it. Your body and overall health, though, is very dependent on you convincing yourself not to give in to temptation. What helps is "rewarding" oneself with a temptation after doing some rigorous discipline for awhile, that way you can have it on the horizon as a target and work hard towards it (eat healthy breakfast with hard boiled eggs and fruit and salad for lunch, THEN eat something zesty and tasty for dinner), otherwise there's no incentive for you to settle for the nutritious stuff.
Recently I've found that the same philosophy towards food applies towards one's thoughts and how our mind works: Our minds are working every second of the day but they're easily distracted by temptations like instagram, facebook, and other social media, plus all the random videos and ads and basically everything on the internet. We want those things badly, and instead of 3 times every day/ every 5 hours or so for food, brain wants those things EVERY SECOND. Which is why smartphones are bad, but anyway it's even tougher to control oneself from checking the internet every minute or so, to feed ourselves something that we're convinced is good. Same strategy: gotta come up with a reward system NOT to look online for a specified period of time or NOT UNTIL I finish studying for this test or write this paper. You can use your NEED for the internet and social media by diligently working for the opportunity to get those temptations, but only if you do the "healthy" stuff of real tasks and necessary stuff too. But in this era of millenials and smartphones, just like looking around a train and seeing the body weight of the people in the population, the giving in to temptation is demonstrated by how many people are just on their phones all the time, always distracted, not looking at each other, needing to feed off the internet. It's kind of sad and we all need to work on being more disciplined.
Top 5 worst feelings after succumbing to temptation:
1.) OH NO! I wasted 3 hours scrolling through internet articles and didn't really accomplish anything!
2.) Oh no I just ate this chocolate bar and now I want more! Too much sugar!
3.) Oh no I watched TV while consuming a lot of unhealthy foods and I feel even more sluggish and want to sleep and/or watch more TV and not do anything productive (MJ is very adamant about not eating and watching TV at the same time, it's a fair point because your body doesn't register how much food you're actually consuming and doesn't know when it's full)
4.) Oh no I wasted a whole day waiting in line to go to a sports game/concert!
5.) Oh no I was supposed to be studying for my test but then got wrapped up in idle chatter with my friend and complaining about things!
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