Temptation...

"Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell." - Author Unknown



This is a photo I took of a candy bar that has been sitting in my freezer for the past 5 months. I won it at a Christmas party held by my brother-in-law and his wife from a Scattergories game. There's a reason it has sat in the freezer all this time. It's a reminder, a reminder of who I was and of who I am now. The me from 2 years ago would have devoured that candy bar before we even got home that night. The temptation was there, believe it. But I had maxed out the calories for that day and could not consume it for fear of going over.

Temptation is all around us. Advertisers feed on using imagery to tempt us into buying or consuming their product. The luscious colors, textures, smells, feels, emotions, all combine to urge us into action. Reminds me of a line from a Survivor song that became popular in the movie, Rocky IV:

"In the warrior's code, there's no surrender
Though his body says stop, his spirit cries never
Deep in our soul a quiet ember
Knows it's you against you the paradox that drives us on
It's a battle of wills, in the heat of attack
It's the passion that kills
The victory is yours alone" - Survivor, "Burning Heart"

Our spirit may be strong at times, but it's the weakness of the flesh that succumbs to temptation. In the back of my mind I know that candy bar is sitting in the freezer, and honestly I think about consuming it when there doesn't seem to be anything in the house to eat. But, I also reflect on that and remind myself of the reason it is there.

I know it's hard to resist temptation sometimes and you need to learn what tempts you and do what you can to avoid those situations. In the beginning of my journey I could not eat at an all-u-can-eat buffet. I was very undisciplined and afraid of falling into a spiral of packing away the amount of food I used to. Now I am able to control my portioning and allow a little extra for those times that I do visit buffets. Maybe it's fast food for you or that cappucino in the morning. Maybe it's chocolate or some other food that makes you weak. You need to avoid these things for a short time, until you have been into a routine and feel you can control yourself. Some situations you may not be able to avoid, especially in a social setting. If you do succumb to temptation and fail, DON'T GIVE UP! Pick yourself up and get back on track right away. Do not let this side-track you into a spiral of self-pity and failure. I have fallen many times, the difference being I chose to press on and not wallow in the self-pity.

Temptation is a part of life (unfortuanately) but it is something we can do our best to conquer. We may not win all the time, but we can choose to deny it continued power over our lives.

"A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.... A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in." - C.S. Lewis

Matty