Have you ever had that one thing or person that you know is just bad for you but you keep around, or continuously let back in your life, knowing they are just bad news bears? I think we all do. Those toxic friends, temptations, ice cream parlors, etc that we just can’t shake? (mmmm shake…) There are times when I think I have shunned such things and people from my existence…I delight in my ability to cast off that thing/person….washing that man outta my hair, as the song says… But then they reappear, either by their own doing or by my own addictive tendencies. Can people and (non drug related) things be addicting?

Of course I have people in my life that keep finding their way back, or that I think I have left behind that always pop up, adding a sometimes disguised toxicity to my very being. I am going to leave the people portion out of this post, however, and focus on the things portion. I met a woman the other day who was mourning the loss of her husband. He had been diagnosed as diabetic and despite all the horrendous things that would happen to him as his condition got worse, he continued to skip his exercise for lounging and ignore his doctor recommended diet for his favorite greasy and sweet foods. He was truly so attached and addicted to these things that even the threat of death and the pain inflicted on his loved ones could not force him to stop indulging in these poor habits. His wife resented him for so long before his death and is still having a difficult time forgiving him, because he could have prevented the chain of events around his passing and chose not to, because he couldn’t…or thought he couldn’t. The reason why I tell this story is that I’ll find myself often creating goals, whether diet and exercise or work/life related, and no matter what great intentions I have, the pull for what is “wrong” can be so great that I fail in my plan or goal because I kept coming back to what was bad for me.

So what can I do moving forward? What will it take for me to say, this is it, (fill in the blank) is worth the sacrifice, no matter the pain, discomfort, or temporary hunger? I always have such great plans, great ideas…and many times they are ruined at the mercy of a craving or a minor setback. Day 29, pushing past the temptations, the bad things, and the bad people (which i will discuss another day). The rewards and outcomes are always worth the sacrifice, because often the sacrifice itself is the reward. Disciplining ourselves to not “want” as much and focus on the true “need”, not the manufactured need that we create that actually is just derived from want.