I Dare Myself

I have been dreading another post. It's hard to compete with such a lovely picture. How could I possibly have something more exciting than that to blog about? I don't. But don't worry, exciting or not, I have had something on my mind.

Angela decided not to eat sugar for two months. I lied and said I'd try to do it with her. Never did I intend on committing to such an awful thing. Sugar keeps me ALIVE. Last month I have at least four pictures of Clara licking beaters from making treats.

But then that thought ran into another random thought in my brain...

A while ago I read a book by Steven W. Allen called Founding Fathers Uncommon Heroes. The first man discussed is Benjamin Franklin and one of the most fascinating things I remember reading about him was his desire to be morally perfect. He picked 13 virtues (which, by the way, are all fantastic) and made charts in a notebook he carried around and put a little black dot by the virtues he wasn't perfect in for that day. I've thought about this a lot in the years since I've read the book (it's been at least 6, I believe), always amazed at this lofty goal.

While I don't think I'm quite ready to commit to being perfect in 13 virtuous areas, especially all at once, I've decided I do need to work on self mastery. So every month, I'm going to have a new "thing" that I will strive to be perfect in. For one month, I will, for the first time in my life, go on a sugar-free diet. I'm kind of having a panic attack thinking about it, but it will just be for a month (a month I'm trying to strategically pick that will have less temptations... :)). Other "things" I've considered: no eating out, exercising 6 days a week, not going to bed with dirty dishes in the kitchen, going to bed before Midnight every night, etc. My goal isn't to stay perfect after the trial month, but rather to develop better habits. So instead of going to bed six nights a week with dirty dishes in the kitchen (like now), maybe someday I will go to bed six nights a week with NO dirty dishes in the kitchen.

So, wish me luck and please give me some ideas of "things" I could pick to do each month.