Submitted by Tyke Crowley on
The BEST HOLIDAYS YET! Herculean Willpower—or Not (Part 3) This part will show you how to keep your willpower and waistline intact over the holidays. This is Part II of a three part series exploring how to have the BEST HOLIDAYS YET. Part I: Curb those Grinches touched upon why emotional conversations happen and how to curb those arguments. Part III, The Contagiousness of Celebration, explores how to literally spread the spirit and have the BEST HOLIDAYS YET. But this entry is focused on those, wonderful, tempting sweets and goodies.
Like the siren singing sisters, pastries, candies, cookies and brownies call out to your willpower. Why do these sweets weaken our resolve with each bite and how to enjoy the holiday treats without losing yourself?
Why do the holidays bring about a weakening of my willpower? Willpower is like muscle; it fatigues easily without exercise and tires with overuse. In Part I, we talked about how there is this perfect storm of emotions, lack of sleep and yes, those devilishly good sweets. Any one of these would sap our willpower; all three drain our willpower just like leaving our car lights on a cold December evening. So, just tell me where there is a sale to buy two units of willpower and get the third at half price, right?
Willpower is the often this mystical force that some people seem to have and some don’t. Actually, willpower can be grown and developed. Remember that rider and elephant, while think of willpower as the reigns that connects the two. It takes conscious effort and focus to force the elephant to act or refrain from doing something. Willpower is noted to have three parts—I will, I won’t and I want (the pure, raw desire of the elephant unchecked.) This last aspect of willpower, I want, is the weak link and also your strongest shield against those tempting sweets.
Check out the next entry to learn how to turn your weakness into an iron willpower.