Perfection. It is unachievable. It is unrealistic. It is unnecessary. We need to learn to accept our imperfections and live our imperfect life to the fullest. As a recovering alcoholic, I understand the danger of a downward spiral. It happens with more than addiction, and it occurs when we expect nothing less than perfection. We don't realize that having to be flawless is the flaw. The inability to accept imperfection is the inability to accept ourselves.
We wake up in the morning ready to make our "fresh start." We are going to eat better, exercise, drink more water, and take control of our life.
But we wake up late and skip our morning workout, which we will get to this evening. We drink a pre-made protein shake and have to pack a half ass lunch so we can get out the door. We are fine. We still got this.
We threw an apple, a banana, a low carb yogurt, and a protein bar in our lunch sack. By nine fifteen we have eaten the banana and the yogurt. On our ten o'clock break we eat the apple and the protein bar. By the time lunch rolls around we are ravenous and out of food. We run out to grab something quick, but there is no quick because every drive thru has a line. By the time we get to place our order there us no time to eat a salad, and that would not have satisfied us anyways. We order the double bacon cheeseburger, large fry, and a large soda (not of the diet variety either).
We get back to work having stuffed our lunch down our throat on the drive back. We feel pretty good. Ten minutes go by and we begin to get a sick feeling in our stomach. We ate wrong. We ate too fast. We ate too much. Now all we want to do is take a nap. On our afternoon break we need a pick me up, so we grab a soda or a candy bar. That just makes things worse.
We get home and we are all out of whack. We are sick, tired and dehydrated because all that water we were going to drink went by the wayside. We lay down hoping a nap will re-energize us. When we get up we will make a nice dinner, do some housework, and pack our lunch for tomorrow. We will be better prepared to face the day, after all a lack of preparation is what threw us off to begin with.
We wake up a couple of hours later and realize we don't feel like cooking or cleaning. We order a pizza, a sub, and a two liter of soda. We decide we will kick back and watch a couple of episodes of a show we have fallen behind on.
Half a pizza, half a sub, and most of the two liter are going into the fridge. We didn't prep anything for tomorrow, so the pizza, pop and sub go into the lunch bag. What we did was sabotage the coming day before it even got here. We over ordered knowing there would be left overs, and now could not dream of throwing it away.
So we hit the "f@#k it" button and for the second day we are spiraling out of control. For me this would bring me one step closer to "poppin' a top" or unscrewing a cap. But just for the night. Tomorrow we start fresh . Then that tomorrow never comes. We let one bad choice spiral into another. We let one mistake turn into a series of mistakes that turn into a catastrophe.
Why do we wait to make that "fresh start"? Do we have to go to bed and wake up before we can make a change? Every time we inhale we take in fresh oxygen, new life. Every time we exhale we release the bad. So, why can't we make a fresh start in the moment? Why continue on a destructive path waiting for tomorrow to make things right? Live in the moment, for the moment, by the moment. Make every moment count. It only takes a moment to get off track - but it also only takes a moment to get back on as well.