Used the reverse tool!

Last night I tried to run but my knee hurt, so I didn't even get a mile in.

I was frustrated and mad and upset, so my first inclination was to go buy a bag of Smarties to comfort myself: after all, if I could no longer run, who cares if I ate a bunch of candy, I might as well give in.

Talk about negative thinking, making a catastrophe out of one incident!

I'm usually really impulsive and once I have a thought in my head I do it, but I took a second and thought about what tools I could use (both from here and from BPDR).

I tried to "reverse engineer" the decision, thinking how I would feel after eating that whole bag of empty calories and sugar.

It was reallly difficult, because I kept trying to rationalise it by saying, "yeah, but it'll taste so good and feel so comforting that I don't CARE how I'll feel afterward."

But I focused on the physical nausea I'd probably have from eating so much sugar, and the guilt I would have from eating such crappy food and all the excess calories. I also told myself what a waste of time and gas it would be to go to the store.

I fought with myself the whole walk back from where I had to stop running, and I finally decided to just see how I felt when I got home (I couldn't make a firm decision to not go get the candy because it was such a big pull to me). Luckily by the time I got home, my attention had gone to other things and I totally forgot about the candy until thinking about it today.

I feel good about myself for how it turned out, even though I wasn't the most strong-willed I've ever been. But at least I tried instead of just giving in to impulsive thought and unhealthy behavior.

And the more I do this, the easier it'll be! 

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Tags: Anxiety, Eating, Tools To Life, Getting in Shape, Motivation, Visualization