Our Grand Adventure

Lately, Patrick and I have been working to get ourselves more responsible about house work and our budget (yes, I know you've heard that before). Blogging, while enjoyable, hasn't seemed to fit my schedule lately (that also sounds familiar, I'm sure). Cooking has hardly fit my schedule lately (a theme of familiarity in this blog it seems), which has been to the detriment of our budget... Its been a cyclical mess, to be honest (yes, yes, Kelly, get on with it).

We, however, have a plan. The plan went into action this week. It was not completely successful, however, and for good reason.

The plan you ask?

No television.

Well, I should say no television unless we're cleaning (or unless the house is mostly clean). So if I'm folding clothes, I'm allowed to watch a movie or a tv show on my laptop. If I'm doing dishes, the same applies. We're not supposed to watch television while we eat anymore either - for several reasons, really. I eat faster and therefore more if I eat in front of the television. We also tend to just keep sitting on the couch after dinner rather than getting up and cleaning the kitchen like we do if we're sitting at the table. When I know the chores are looming, I'll actually go back for seconds to extend the couch time rather than because I'm hungry. We also don't talk while we're watching television like we do when we're sitting at the table.

This week we gave in to the television because it was just a long week - like giving in to "cheating" on a diet. In fact, I don't believe in "diets", per-say, for this very reason. This has made me realize that the No Television rule is probably a bit too extreme.

Everything in life should be taken in moderation, and moderation should be defined for each person on an individual basis. This is why "diets" don't work. And when I say "diets" I mean deprivation. Deprivation, doesn't work. If you are forced to live without something, you will make do, but when you choose to live without something, its much more difficult; damn near impossible, in fact. Eating healthfully, and living healthfully, is about moderation not about setting a rule of "no sugar" or "no chocolate" or "only cabbage for a week". Eating healthfully is about indulgence as truly indulgence should be - not eating an entire jumbo bag of -insert terrible food that you love here- but enjoying the very first bite of that food you love, savoring it for everything you love about it, eating a small amount so that you are only slightly satisfied and so that you can experience the same joy again in a week or a day or whatever is a reasonable amount of time.

When I eat a jumbo anything I'm not really enjoying a single bite. When I sit and watch television for 3 hours, I'm not really enjoying a single minute. I do laugh and I do forget about the dishes and my grading but that's not enjoying the television. That's not even enjoying the time I'm not working. Its purposefully avoiding the feelings of guilt I have over not working.

The whole thing sounds asinine, doesn't it? I'm an intelligent and introspective girl, I shouldn't be doing such silly things. I am only human, however.

One of these days, I will master moderation. Moderation, for me, is feeling good and dammit, I deserve to feel good!

I just have to figure out what that means - again.

Life is a pretty grand adventure, isn't it?